Hogan clashed with some of his greatest rivals throughout the ’80s and ’90s across the Lone Star State.
DALLAS — Hulk Hogan, who died Thursday morning at 71, had countless legendary rivalries in his prime in WWF. And many of those rivalries saw Hogan and his opponents clash in big arenas across Texas.
Throughout the mid-’80s and even through the early ’00s, Hogan wrestled some of the biggest names in wrestling in the Lone Star State in front of big crowds.
Perhaps the most famous of these matches took place on Dec. 3 at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, where Hogan defeated The Undertaker to win back his WWF Championship at This Tuesday in Texas.
The match saw Hogan win in 13 minutes with a roll-up on the Phenom, after throwing a handful of ashes from Paul Bearer’s urn into his eyes for good measure. This came just a few weeks after Undertaker had defeated Hogan at Survivor Series to win his first world championship.
This reign wouldn’t last long, though. As a week later, WWF stripped Hogan of the title due to the controversial way he won the match, leaving it vacant.
Anyone who wants to see the match for themselves can watch it on Peacock.
Hogan’s very first match in Texas took place on Jan. 17, 1985 at the State Fair Arena in Dallas. That night saw Hogan successfully defend his WWF Championship against The Iron Sheik — the man he defeated to win that same title nearly one year beforehand.
Just a month later, Hogan would be back in State Fair Arena to defend his title against “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, arguably his greatest rival in the WWF. As it was still a crowd largely devoted to Fritz Von Erich’s World Class Championship Wrestling, the show only drew a crowd of 1,900 people.
Texas was a regular stop on the circuit for Hogan and whichever wrestler he was feuding with at the time. He also wrestled Sheik and Orndorff in that same time period at Astro Arena and The Summit, both in Houston. And in 1987, Hogan would wrestle “The Ugandan Giant” Kamala at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston in front of a crowd of more than 4,200 people.
Hogan also wrestled on the retirement show for legendary Houston wrestling promoter Paul Boesch at Sam Houston Coliseum, where he faced the One Man Gang in front of about 12,000 people. He beat One Man Gang to retain his title in just a little more than six minutes.
And in Austin, on WWF’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, Hogan defeated Mr. Perfect on April 23, 1990 at the Frank Erwin Center in front of about 8,500 people.
Hogan also wrestled several times in Texas while he worked for WCW, including in Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso and South Padre Island. Some of his opponents around this time included Randy Savage, Diamond Dallas Page and, who could forget, The Wall.
But Hogan’s last match in Texas would again be with WWF, shortly before it was renamed to WWE. It took place on April 16, 2002 during a WWF Smackdown taping at the Compaq Center in Houston. Hogan teamed with Triple H to wrestle Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle in a match that went to a no contest decision after almost nine minutes.