Hulk Hogan’s ultimate betrayal moment that changed wrestling forever

Hulk Hogan was the poster boy for every single American and wrestling fan around the world, then one act changed everything.

Hulk Hogan betrayal that changed wrestling forever

Hulk Hogan was the hero in the ring. The All-American icon who all but relayed the message of stay in school and don’t do drugs.

He was the poster boy for Americans and wrestling fans around the world idolised the larger than life figure who sadly passed away on Friday at the age of 71.

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It’s no secret that wrestling follows a script with fans most of the time knowing and seeing what is coming there way.

But there’s still the occasional moment that will catch the fan base off guard, just look at last month when R-Truth returned after he was reportedly let go only weeks earlier.

But for the most part the bombshell twists aren’t really that shocking … Hulk Hogan however was different.

The face of the organisation authored one of the most jaw-dropping pivots that changed wrestling forever when he turned to the dark side.

Watch the moment Hogan changes wrestling forever in the video player above

At WCW’s “Bash at the Beach” in Daytona, Florida on July 7, 1996, Hogan turned heel — wrestling parlance for a hero transforming into a villain — and aligned himself with fellow ex-WWE stars Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to form the New World Order (nWo) that completely changed the industry.

Fans go wild thinking Hulk Hogan is there to save the day.

MORE:Surprise fortune Hulk Hogan left behind

On that fateful night, Hall and Nash were locked in a main event fight against heroes Sting, Randy Savage and Lex Luger.

With a mystery third man yet to appear, it was Hogan who came marching down to the ring with fans going crazy thinking the biggest hero of all was coming to vanquish the bad guys.

Hall and Nash quickly slid out of the ring as Hogan took centre stage, but then in a moment nobody saw coming … he turned on the heroes.

“Hulk Hogan has betrayed WCW … he has sold his soul to the devil,” one commentator proclaimed as fans all around the stadium rained down boos on the ring before pelting the trio with garbage.

Hogan stunned the world when he turned into the heel.

The nWo was born and the game was never the same.

The formation of the nWo flipped the wrestling business on its head. The black nWo shirt with white lettering became immensely popular and WCW ended up beating WWE in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks.

Hogan had gone from the adoring American icon, to the king of grunge with his all black wrestling gear and black beard now the face of the game.

The nWo movement changed wrestling forever and saw the industry tap into a wider cultural shift in the late 90s.

“The antiheroes became the main characters. And pro wrestling was never the same again,” Marc Raimondi wrote in his book Say Hello to the Bad Guys.

With their distinctive black and white branding and anti-establishment personas, the impact of then nWo’s arrival was so significant that even the WWF would follow suit by launching their own Attitude Era with Stone Cold Steve Austin and shortly after Degeneration X.

Ultimately thanks to the success of Hogan turning into the antihero, the WWF bout out its rival in March 2001.

NBA superstar Dennis Rodman, center, even joined the nWO and helped Hogan during a match. (AP Photo/Paula Illingworth, File)

Hogan and Nash briefly rehashed the group under the WWF banner, but Vince McMahon put a stop to it all and announced the New World Order had been disbanded in 2002.

But it mattered little, the impact had been ingrained and while it was no longer making appearances in the ring … the nWo lived on.

“The nWo was more than just a wrestling faction; it was a cultural phenomenon that redefined the landscape of professional wrestling,” Raimondi wrote.

Former nWo member Scott Hall, who died in 2022, summed up what the group meant to him during his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.

“Hard work pays off — dreams come true,” he said. “Bad times don’t last. But Bad Guys do.”

- with Gavin Newsham and Justin Tasch, NY Post

Originally published as Hulk Hogan’s ultimate betrayal moment that changed wrestling forever