In a newly published interview with Fighting Spirit Magazine, TNA Wrestling Superstar Hulk Hogan claims that he had proposed to turn heel six years before he actually did in World Championship Wrestling, during the 1990 build-up to his all-babyface WWF Championship match against Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VI.
“Vince and I were best friends, but when we talked about money, we were enemies,” said Hogan. “So I went [to WCW] with the red and yellow, beat Ric Flair, and Hulkamania took off again. Then, creatively, I turned into a bad guy, which I always wanted to do in the WWF, but nobody wanted me to. I always said, ‘I could be the best bad guy ever. Just let me do it’, but no-one wanted me to be a bad guy.
“At Warrior’s time, I really wanted to fuck him as a bad guy; I wanted to beat The Ultimate Warrior in Toronto, but as a heel. I just thought it would be intense, and I would be the best bad guy ever. I could have done it, and then said, ‘Forget the prayers and the vitamins, I did it for the money!’ But it’s just creative differences, and Vince knows what he’s doing, believe me. I just wanted to try something different in the WWF.”
When Hogan turned heel to form the New World Order with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash at Bash at the Beach on July 7, 1996, he was very hesitant on the career-altering maneuver. Former WCW boss Eric Bischoff stated in his 2006 autobiography, Controversy Creates Cash, that Hogan was initially dismissive toward his idea of leaving the red and yellow behind to become a villain. Then shortly after Hall and Nash became a force on WCW programming, Hogan, who had not spoken to Bischoff in months, proposed that he be the third man in the group. Up until the pay-per-view event at Daytona Beach, Bischoff was unsure if Hogan would follow-through on the idea, and had Sting agree to join the New World Order in case “The Hulkster” changed his mind at the last minute.
