This day in Wrestling History is one that’s a fond memory for myself as it’s one of the last PPVs I bought as the WWE was entering new grounds following the Monday Night Wars.
The WWF and WCW World Heavyweight Championships had been unified through a tournament and was the one championship in the industry everyone adored.
At that time, championship reigns didn’t last long as the WWE was stoked full of main event talent, so several reigns lasted from one pay-per-view to another.
On April 21, 2002, Hulk Hogan faced Triple H for the Undisputed title at Backlash in a change of plans as Triple H was originally supposed to lose to the Undertaker, but Vince McMahon changed it due to Hogan’s popularity.
One for the record books
At this point in their careers, Hogan and Triple H had grown and were more about what worked best for the business, as Hogan talked about in his Hollywood Hulk Hogan book.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the excerpt.
“By the time I got to WWE, Triple H had secured his position as a main event wrestler and become very solid in his work. And with a couple of years of Titan Training, he had become even more solid as a person. He doesn’t care anymore who throws the first punch or who knocks whose tooth out. He doesn’t care who wins or loses. He just wants to do what’s good for business. So what a nice surprise it was to meet Triple H again. Triple H the businessman has so much in common with me, I think we could actually become very good friends.
“Vince was saying he wanted me to work with Triple H. I said, ‘Sure, I’ll put him over.’ Wrestling Triple H was what we had talked about a year earlier. Vince booked the match. Then a week later, he decided he wanted me to beat Triple H and win the belt. I said, ‘Fine.’ The match came up and once again, the fan reaction was tremendous. For the sixth time, I had won the championship, something I never thought would happen. It’s funny. The one guy who didn’t believe in Hollywood Hulk Hogan was me.”
Hogan winning wasn’t as surprising as it sounds as many of us were still stoked following his match against the Rock at WrestleMania 18.
I wasn’t much of a Hulkamaniac growing up, but I enjoyed his run in WCW and he won me over on his return to the WWE.
In the end, we all find a way to delve into our nostalgia and this gave myself and others a second chance.
For me, that makes this day in wrestling history a special one.
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