In 1993, Hulk Hogan‘s tenure with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) came to an end with his final match against Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX.
Hogan had been a mainstay in the WWF for over a decade, bringing the company unprecedented success and popularity during the 1980s wrestling boom.
His departure marked the end of an era and left fans wondering what would come next for both Hogan and the WWF. With the era of Hulkamania now coming to close, could the company push younger stars like Bret Hart to the forefront – and would Hogan put him over on his way out?
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at Hogan’s last match in the WWF in 1993, his cancelled matches with Bret Hart and what he did after leaving the WWE.
Hulk Hogan’s Last WWE Match Before Joining WCW
Hulk Hogan’s last match in the WWE was part of a series of house show matches against Yokozuna, leading up to Hogan leaving the company in August 1993.
Hogan had been feuding with Yokozuna since WrestleMania 9. The WWE Hall of Famer had taken the spotlight away from Bret Hart, who was facing Yokozuna for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania that year.
After Hart lost to Yokozuna by nefarious means, Hulk Hogan came out at the end as a surprise, challenging (and beating) the champion and winning his 4th WWF Championship.
This was not well received by anybody involved whatsoever. Most of all Bret Hart, who Hogan refused to work with and put over, as had been agreed. Instead, he dropped the belt two months later at King of the Ring, which would be Hulk Hogan’s last match on PPV before leaving.
Hulk Hogan vs Bret Hart was supposed to happen at Summerslam 1993, but Hogan would rather lose to Yokozuna than the Canadian hero.
This continued on the house show circuit, and saw Hogan face the Samoan champion nightly. The Hulkster naturally won every single match, although it was by DQ to avoid giving him the belt again.
Hulk Hogan’s last match in the WWF in 1993 took place in Sheffield in the UK, on August 6th, 1993 as part of the WWF Summer Tour. He won the bout by DQ and was released soon after.
All in all, he won eight matches in a row on the WWF’s European Tour, with Yokozuna failing to win any, despite being the WWF Champion.
Hogan Wrestled In NJPW After Leaving WWE
After leaving the WWE, it was expected Hulk Hogan would take a hiatus from wrestling to work on his movie career.
However, he instead went back to Japan to test his mettle against the toughest that New Japan Pro Wrestling had to offer.
Hogan had previously wrestled in Japan for many years, even winning the G1 Climax and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He also wrestled for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship whilst holding the WWE title, insulting his own title in the process, calling it a “Toy Belt”.
He wrestled a number of matches in NJPW from 1993 to 1994. Hulk Hogan’s last match in NJPW was against WWE Hall of Famer Tatsumi Fujinami at the Tokyo Dome, on January 4th, 1994.
Of course, being Hulk Hogan, he won his last match in NJPW in 1994. He would return for one more match in Japan in 2003, once again winning as he took on Masahiro Chono at NJPW Ultimate Crush II.
