Did Hulk Hogan Nearly RUIN Impact Wrestling? 

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The answer is yes.

As I once read, if someone ever writes a book about the history of TNA/Impact, the cover needs to be Dixie desperately holding onto Hogan’s leg

Hogan didn't screw Impact... Impact screwed Impact. By hiring Hogan.

Sidebar, I think Dixie Carter should get her own video in the future. Whether it's her heel run or a character study, she is worthy of an examination.

It’s pretty hilarious how many times that Hogan failed at recreating the nWo. -The Band (Middle Aged nWo) -Immortal (Unrecognizably Watered-Down nWo) -Aces & Eights (Hell’s Angels nWo)

The funniest thing about the attempt at a second Monday Night War that Hogan & Bischoff tried doing with TNA is that Spike was never committed to it. Even when Impact aired on Monday nights against Raw, Spike would still air that same episode later that same week on Thursday, as usual, so there was literally no reason at all to ever watch Impact on Monday, since you could just watch it later in its entirety on Thursday.

The sad part is that TNA was on a bit of a course correction by the end of 2009. They finally put the title on AJ. They signed Nigel McGuinness and put him in a feud with Kurt Angle. The tag team scene was rolling again with MCMG, British Invasion, and Beer Money, and they signed the Young Bucks at the end of 2009. They had the potential to do great things. Then Hogan pretty much undid everything on his first day.

I was there that night 20:24. It was so awkward watching Dixie holding on to Hulk as he walked away. Rather than saying fuck you, we dont need you...she made everyone watching feel less than as if TNA wouldnt survive on their own without the mighty hulkster. It was sad and felt sorry for everyone on the roster seeing it. It was my only TNA show I would attend.

I remember they announced Spike was cancelling Impact the night that Samoa Joe debuted in nxt and I described it as "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"

I was at that Genesis PPV and several other shows in 2010. To say the shows got worse quickly over that year is an understatement.

Is that the WCW Hardcore Championship Belt I see in the background? If so…. FREAKIN AWESOME!!

These Hulkamaynia videos make me appreciate Bobby "the Brain" Heenan and Jesse "the Body" Ventura even more! Those two guys had so many great one-liners about Hogan. Sadly, the 2010 decade was the start of the current rosters (TNA and WWE) being treated as second rate

I distinctly remember being in a doctors office with my dad and being in a waiting room where maury or something was on. A TNA commercial came on hyping up hogans return and this little old lady next to me says "Don't that Hulk Hogan know hes too old to be wrastling now" followed by a chuckle. Dont know why but that popped me pretty good.

The change to a four sided ring was actually welcomed by the wrestlers, because the six sided ring was much harder to bump on. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels I think brought it up in their interviews.

Dixie: "If you dont want to be here, you can leave!" Lo-Ki: "aiight, ima head out"

TNA had issues long before Hogan came in, over reliance on past stars, booking issues, lack of advertising, not paying wrestlers on time and fairly. If Hogan and Bischoff had taken the time to understand the companies strengths and weaknesses and then worked to improve them, they could've made a positive impact. Instead they ended up compounding a lot of the issues. AJ Styles expressed his frustration about the situation in the interviews he gave after leaving TNA. He was particularly angry about Hogan not promoting the company and thought Hogan was embarrassed by the poor attendance at house shows. Kurt Angle said the company almost went under due to Hogan and Bischoff's spending. I think the bright side of this is that Dixie Carter was forced to relinquish control of Impact by selling it to Anthem Sports.

I'm starting to fear for Brian's mental well-being after seeing that intro.

TNA had a really great roster during Hogan's time in the company but unfortunately, they fucked it up in spectacular fashion.

They shoulda kept the six sided ring. It was definitely unique

Watching several videos on Hulk Hogans time in TNA recently, it's become very clear that Bully Ray was the biggest success story during the Hulk Hogan era.

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain" - I think perfectly sums up HH

9:26 the six-sided ring is known to be hard to work and at least slightly more risky to use, but damn if it wasn't cool and iconic and a major part of Impact's DNA. It's not the same without it.

I'm a little sad you didn't mention that Flair's group Fourtune... the successor to the Four Horsemen... with Four in it's name.. had like... 6 people in it...

Hogan's TNA theme is actually just the nWo theme you would hear on the Playstation games.

I was hoping you’d get to this. Can’t wait to watch

Short Answer: Yes Long Answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeees

We Need More TNA Videos - Jeff Hardy - Perc Angle (Kurt Angle) - Main Event Mafia - Scott Steiner - Triple H Vs Jeff Jarrett Reign Of Terror

Ngl. I know many look on this poorly, but it certainly was entertaining in number of things. Like Joker Sting was one of the best things ever. Angle vs Jarrett was a great feud. Anderson in the main event scene, the guys within Fortune. Bully Ray's rise, Bobby Roode's rise. Just some of the bright sparks, shame it slowly started going down hill bit by bit, to the point the mid 2010s was kinda eeehhh, and I say that as one who loved TNA/Impact those years.

"In this ring right now are the guys that reinvented this business...and Sean Waltman."

In reality I blame Dixie Carter cause she pretty much treated the classic TNA Roster like mid carders cause much of the roster was cut within 6 months. Think about it in 2007, 2008 and 2009 had a very deep roster, and by 2010 they had some former WWE and WCW talent and a lot of the TNA Originals were gone in favor of them. Now I was happy to see Jeff Hardy and RVD back but having AJ Styles turn into a Ric Flair rip-off was ridiculous and the bookers and Dixie are to blame for TNA's downward spiral.

One of my “favorite” Hogan promo lines from Impact: “The main problem that we have is that we have a problem.” Uh huh.

I remember when TNA moved to Mondays. My friends and I managed to get 2 televisions hooked up on the living room and watched both shows. We only did that for 2 weeks.

Their biggest blunder was treating TNA like there was something wrong with it when they arrived. They had just had their best 3 years before this, and it seemed like it was crescendo-ing to this moment that would push them to the next level But instead Bischoff and Hogan set out to change everything about TNA that set it apart. So it became an island of WWE castoffs making a WWE-lite without any of the aura, name value, or majesty that WWE has. They brought in Vince fucking Russo 11 years after his last good idea ffs

Jim Cornette had the perfect line to describe Impact you can be in the witness protection program and be on Impact and nobody would notice

I remember Hogan in TNA My dad told me on January 4th 2010 that you can either watch Hogan's Debut in TNA or see Bret Hart return to WWE Well I picked Bret Hart Make his WWE Return

Another person who suffered from the Hogan regime was Nigel McGuinness (fka Desmond Wolfe) As a former ROH Champion, he was super over with the IWC, and they kept fan voting him into giving him a massive push, but since they were trying to make Abyss the next big thing, Wolfe was punished for getting over on his own

Love it when Brian Zane reviews TNA stuff

“I’ve been in the back all day long with all the talent that are running so hard!” Okay Hogan, name 5 of those guys right off the top of your head

Honestly I became a wrestling fan at the start of the 2010's, so Hogan's TNA is the TNA that always comes to mind for me

The Lapsed Fan Podcast is currently doing their "TNH" (Total Nonstop Hogan) series, and its pretty clear to me that nobody knows what they're doing in this company. What a cluster fvck!

as Worf said, "You cannot tarnish a rusty blade."

The one good thing Hogan did there was bringing back the traditional square ring. Yes, the hex ring was different and made them stand out. But wrestlers HATED running the ropes and bumping on it. Just ask Sting. The ropes and canvas were so much stiffer, leading to much more long-term wear-and-tear. It's why I'm so surprised AJ Styles' career has lasted as long as it has.

Brian's impression of Hulk Hogan should be used on every episode of this series because it is hilarious.

With the rumors of AEW potentially getting a 500 million dollar TV deal and a huge Wembley show, it makes TNA look even more pathetic in retrospect. TNA, at different points, had WCW legends including Sting, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner and Booker T. They had ECW legends including Mick Foley, Sabu, Rhino and Raven. They had Jeff Jarrett, the epitome of and old southern heel. They had Christian coming into his own as a main eventer. They had the top drawing wrestler of all time, Hulk Hogan. They had the greatest wrestler of all time, Ric Flair. They had legendary tag teams New Age Outlaws (VKM), Dudley Boyz (Team 3D), and the Hardy Boyz. They had future WWE Champions Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley. The had the future recognized best wrestler in the World, AJ Styles. They had Desmond WolfeThey had a ton of other "Originals" with upside, including Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Bobby Roode, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley, Eric Young, Petey Williams, James Storm, and Chris Sabin. They had Abyss, which started as a bad Kane ripoff and took on a life of its own. They had the Young Bucks, who became AEW centerpieces, and buried them in the X Division. They had Okada, the greatest Japanese wrestler ever, and turned him into a Green Hornet parody. They had CM Punk, and let him go to WWE to become a star. They had Jon Moxley for like 10 seconds. They had EC3, a great talker with serious star potential. They had Rockstar Spud, the next coming of a great comedy wrestler They had Xavier Woods, the mouthpiece for one of the greatest stables in WWE history. They had Eli Drake, a current rising WWE star with Rock-like qualities, and they couldn't get him over. They had Gail Kim, one of the greatest female wrestlers of all time. They had Awesome Kong, one of the great Female Monster heels. They had The Beautiful People, one of the greatest female stables who drew legitimately high ratings for a while. They picked up WWE greats Victoria and Mickie James to round out the division. They had Broken Matt Hardy, the most innovative pioneering gimmick of the past 20 years. They had the Allie-Laural-Braxton love triangle, which gave us awesome heel Maria, hot mess Chelsea Green, and my favorite wrestling wedding segment of all time. They had stables like Main Event Mafia, TNA Front Line, and Aces & Eights. And, most of all, they had PERC FREAKIN ANGLE! That alone should've taken them to another level. AEW got where it did starting with a Chris Jericho, a Japanese Gaijin, a WWE mid carder, and a merry band of Indie darlings and their friends. Dixie Carter is the single worst wrestling promoter in the history of our sport. And despite all this, after losing everything, Scott D'more has booked one of the better wrestling shows since 2017 with next to nothing in terms of star power.

Hogan's debut on Impact took place just as Raw was starting, which kicked off with Bret Hart making his first live WWE appearance in over a decade. The closest we'll get to seeing Bret vs Hogan (not counting their Nitro encounter)!

I just remember watching that first Monday episode of IMPACT, and the very second they went to a commercial, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels hugged in the ring on RAW. I knew right then this experiment was going to fail miserably.

"Laaaaaaaazy Booking!" Glad to see you're still a Corny fan.

3 years felt way longer than that lol

These are the videos I absolutely love! A video revolving a certain wrestlers time in a particular company. Still to this day I rewatch Vader in WWF, Roddy in WCW, etc. and now add this to the list of great classic videos. Thank You Brian!!!!! Awesome work as always!!

I grew up on Hogan and I will still never understand how/why companies kept going back to him as if he was going to turn things around.

I love it when you do videos like this as TNA is such a blindspot in wrestling for me. Isn't it rather sad that Hulk Hogan's last match was some six-man tag at a house show and not some grand retirement match 10 years earlier?

Honestly, between what was going on here in TNA with this and what WWE was doing (and going to do in 2010), it was THOSE companies like Chikara (damn, that takes me back), ROH, and PWG that kept my love of wrestling alive. Without them, I probably would have lapsed out of wrestling around this time.

I think it would be fitting if Brian reviewed the whole Immortal storyline in TNA, as ties into both this video and Aces and Eights creating a trilogy of sorts.

I remember watching the first Monday night TNA shoe and will never forget that incredibly stupid domed cage match with the hole at the top that NOBODY it seemed tried out beforehand since NOBODY could get out! The crowd showered the arena with boos, laughs , and a lot of change the channel. I rewatched it on the replay a few days later and they piped in cheers and cut the match by a lot! The poor boys never had a chance at getting out of that thing. Surprisingly I don't think that ever had that kind of match again. I only say that because of how many times TNA did dumb things over and over. Does anyone else remember that?

I was in the crowd for the taping of the two go-home shows for Bound For Glory 2011 (Hogan's pretend retirement). The audio was so bad, you couldn't even tell who's music was playing, much less understand what was being said on the mic. That whole segment was baffling live and nobody in the crowd had any idea what was going on. This was my experience of that segment: Hogan came out for the long "THANK YOU HOGAN" entrance, talked for a few minutes, then Sting came out, said something unintelligible, the video played on the big screen (with unintelligible audio), Hogan got all worked up and screamed something into the mic, Sting looked happy about that, said something else that nobody in the arena understood, and left while Hogan flipped out in the ring. WTF!? In those days, TNA needed a better sound system more than anything. Even WWE house shows were far superior, sound-wise.

16:53 wrestling fandom as a whole would come off a lot better to outsiders if we would take this perspective on many events in the business. We love to hate certain matches, moments, things & people in the business for good reasons, but a lot of them came about because we fans begged for it. I feel like Brian had a healthy take on it here & I wish more would see it like this.

Careful Brian, I think "lazy booking" is copyrighted by Cornette.

this video unlocked so many memories of watching this era of tna lmfao. like my family still quotes the “is it me or is it friggin hot in here?” from when taz joins aces and eights😭

I remember watching TNA during this time as well as RAW and Smackdown. I was only watching Wrestling since 2006, but TNA had wrestlers that I was fans of: AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, The Pope D’Angelo De’nero, James Storm and Christopher Daniels. However, during 2010: it was just the most trainwreck tv show with TNA: failed Monday night wars, ABYSS goes from monster, to poor wish version hulk, to talking about they. Then the Immortal nonsense. And that was just in 2010.

Oh man, the Hogan and Bischoff Era of TNA Wrestling feels like a bad childhood fever dream nowadays I’ll give this era some credit, it did create the iconic Bryan Alvarez “Gold Boat” TNA Rant which is still the greatest moment in the history of Wrestling Observer Radio

8:29 even Russo haters (some justified) have to give the man credit for being the first to rip on Hulk publicly in a way he'd had coming for a very long time. Vince went to bat for the WCW young guns at the time against Hogan, despite knowing he'd be castigated for it (at the time).

That Hogan/Sting match at BFG wasn't all that bad as the action was decent considering both men's respective ages and the finish made sense a far cry from their previous encounters Plus, it did give us that iconic Hogan face turn after the match

The Nasty Boys splatter paint gear is a guilty pleasure for me

One thing I remember from his TNA run was his encounter with LAX and I can't remember which member accused him of discrimination and Hogan responded with "I'm not racist" which aged like milk

Did you know Hogan and The Rock are the only guys in the WWF/E to hold 4 different versions of that title. Undertaker, Cena, Triple H and Bob Backlund held 3 versions. (I'm not including custom like Stone Cold and Edge.)

To answer the question...No, because they were headed in that direction anyway, but his presence didn't give them the boost they hoped for. Russo did significantly more damage to the brand (and having Dixie's support for awhile was a red flag)

07:26 *A WILD SLAPNUTS APPEARS!!*

Brian in this video: "Bischof doesn't get enough credit for what he did in WCW." Brian later in this video: "Bischof's last great idea was 20 years ago and it wasn't even his idea!"

Hulk is iconic but he is also the kind of guy that makes it hard to like him for sure.

The frustrating thing is that it's not hard to book something amazing with Hogan - Book the Old Hogan redemption angle. An old deluded heel with huge ego who can't really wrestle, having bad matches and winning anyway t massive boos... But eventually he gets humbled by something, and he becomes a mentor to some young guy you want to push, and eventually he agrees to one last match where he just takes a lot of punishment but refuses to go down. He hulks up for the last ever time for the win, then gets carted out because his knees exploded.

ur stealing the HAWK's Thunder Zayne......

C'mon, Brian, surely you remember the appropriate schoolyard couplet for that situation is "Are they kissing? Yes they are!"

You can't convince me that Hulk Hogan doesn't want to have relations with his own daughter. He's more loving and more intimate with her than he is with his own wife. It's insane what you don't notice when you're a teen watching this stuff unfold.

I bought the January 4th episode through the PlayStation store way back when, and it’s still on my PS3 til this day. Was hoping Homicide’s awkward climb out of the Xscape hole would be preserved in full but no such luck lol

Thanks for all the work you put into this month... Brother Jack Brian Zane Dude!!

In short yes , yes it did

As someone who spent a few years on the outlaw mudshow southern indy wrasslin scene, "pilly gimmick" makes me laugh every time I hear it. Everything is a gimmick, my friends. 😂

Challenge for this video: see how long it takes for Ed Leslie to show up. For wherever the Hulkster goes, the Beefer is never far behind. EDIT: Mentioned at 4:42, there we go. xD

23:02 This statement here sums up post 1980's Hulk Hogan so perfectly!¡!¡! Not to say that he's never done the job for anybody ever but there are so many instances where he delayed a guys push or contributed to the demise of their career altogether just because "that didn't work for him brother". For years an up and coming babyface would've gotten massive (good) heat by beating Hogan clean yet you really don't see any instances of that. The same could be true of a heel beating Hogan whilst he was a babyface, resulting in massive heat to compliment the push. He could've helped sooooo many of the boys later on in his career yet he rarely (if ever) did so.

Ngl I kinda liked the Joker Sting, Sting/Hogan feud

I remember watching this whole experiment and praying that it would end quickly. I hated everything about it, especially the immortal storyline The Aces and Eights was good

Love the videos as always, BZ stays supplying great content.

I'll give Hogan credit. His on-screen exit was and still is hilarious.

Dixie is ultimately to blame, since she wanted to be in charge over any logical sense, and had no intention of selling her company even when it was painfully clear she was in over her head.

To hell with the algorithm I want the full intro

10:29 Haha Orlando Jordan vs. Rob Terry I miss that feud xD

it's pretty obvious, but I'm inclined to reframe the Hogan & Co period of TNA as more the most visible symptom of what happens when you have Dixie's insane infatuation with ex-WWF/E guys and giving them boatloads of money for the pleasure of showing up. taking into account Kia basically saying they gave her $40k a year, Daniels saying he was damn near the red in his bank account, all the bullshit with Joe, and not paying AJ, it's becoming clear that it wasn't just a story of not appreciating what you have in favor of finally getting the toy you always wanted as a kid, but that they never once cared about the talent that gave TNA its identity. it almost seems inevitable.

Gotta be honest Brian, youre the only creator I dont skip product placements, love seeing Claude and Big Haas’ vignettes

TNA was great in the early 2000's with the likes of Styles, Daniel's, Abyss, Samoa Joe, Jarrett, Raven, Petey Williams, Sting, Hernandez etc. The six sided ring and the hardcore attitude along with the NWA title and the look of the Impact zone gave it a great ambience and made for exciting television....They should have just kept that format and the stars they had. Instead of bringing in "politicians" like Hogan who was just out for himself.

Brian, have you listened to Bischoff and Prichard talk about this time in TNA? I found it quite enlightening. Hogan's gonna Hogan...he wasn't the main issue. The issues were in the back office, where Dixie and the Carters believed (amongst other nonsense) that they could just inject Hogan into the mix and that would be a panacea, and didn't know what they didn't know. As Bruce Prichard said, "you could have dropped the Undertaker and John Cena in the middle of a TNA ring in that time, and it would have barely moved the needle."

Crazy thing is Impact is still a thing. But between 2004-2007, shit was awesome.

i would like to see w3 cover dusty rhodes in wwf cause its interesting how vince kept trying to ruin the rhodes family even under his own brand

There was *one* appearance where Hogan did bring up TNA, and it was American Idol of all shows! It was a very brief mention that didn’t mean anything for them, but it still happened.

I was like 12 when Hogan came into TNA and I still remember that episode where the 6 sided ring changed. And I couldn’t understand it then and couldn’t believe how fast it went downhill

Man, I've had that intro in my head bad the past few days. "W,W,W, let's get it!"

We're at the point where this is becoming nostalgic to me. lol

If you think Brian Zane is miserable, The Lapsed Fan decided to go all in on everything Hogan in TNA, including his lawsuit against the spinal fusion company that promised him one last go in the ring.

Already rewatching this.

Impact Wrestling after this and the whole Styles baby Doll stuff is lucky to still be in business although not at the level it did during the TNA vs WWE Monday war aka the death of TNA as a WWE competitor