Hulk Hogan taking over TNA both on-screen and behind the scenes led to massive changes for a rebuilding period. Dixie Carter viewed Hogan as the biggest realistic name that would join the company for brand recognition and to create real competition against WWE. Hogan and Eric Bischoff joining was meant to replicate their accomplishments in WCW taking the fight to Vince McMahon.
The first show featured Hogan flat out telling everyone that things were changing with TNA looking to reach new heights. There was a lot of criticism towards Hogan for his decisions failing to make a positive change. TNA did have their fair share of good moments in between the ups and downs as well. The following changes showed how much Hogan shook up TNA.
10 Ditching Six-Sided Ring
One of the first moves by Hulk Hogan to upset TNA fans saw him getting rid of the six-sided ring. Most fans didn’t care about this, but TNA did a great job hyping up their ring as being different from any other wrestling promotion.
Hogan going back to the traditional four-sided ring made sense in some ways until he cut a promo about it. Fans chanting “we want six sides” at Hogan saw him responding with some insulting comments about TNA never accomplishing much before he arrived. Hogan and Eric Bischoff hating the six-sided ring got them off to a rocky start in TNA.
9 Moving To Monday Nights
Another bold change from Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came from the desire to follow their previous WCW blueprint of the Monday Night Wars. TNA foolishly listened to Hogan when moving their weekly TV show from Thursdays to compete with WWE on Monday nights.
Even with a small uptick in viewership at first, TNA was nowhere near the WWE audience and lost momentum each week. TNA eventually realized that the Monday time slot was going to kill them off before moving back to Thursdays.
8 Bubba The Love Sponge Replacing Jeremy Borash
TNA made multiple moves that saw the live audience reacting negatively to Hulk Hogan’s era. One of the smaller moves to upset fans featured Hogan’s radio personality friend Bubba the Love Sponge joining the company for backstage interviews.
Eric Bischoff suspended TNA fan favorite Jeremy Borash to explain him being removed from the role in favor of Bubba. The horrible stint of Bubba always received boos and forced TNA to change it back to the ideal scenario of Borash asking the questions.
7 Older Roster
The first night of Hulk Hogan’s regime featured many older names from other companies joining the roster. Ric Flair, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman showed the old WCW names that Hogan and Eric Bischoff felt would help increase viewership.
Hogan reached out to friends like the Nasty Boys, Val Venis and a few other names past their prime to add roster depth. TNA became an older place with veterans on the roster taking away television time from the previously established homegrown stars.
6 Option X
TNA came up with a unique concept a couple of years into the Hulk Hogan era when Austin Aries was the X-Division Champion. Aries was over enough to move into the main event scene and pitched the “option X” clause for an X-Division Champion to cash that in for a TNA World Championship shot.
Bobby Roode’s longest world title reign reached the end when Aries received his title shot and won in an underrated match. TNA has kept this concept around for years and still uses it in the current era to elevate X-Division talents.
5 AJ Styles Turning Heel
AJ Styles was finally getting pushed as the top face in TNA in the months before Hulk Hogan joined the company. The TNA World Championship reign of Styles continued at the start of Hogan’s run with a couple of classic matches against Kurt Angle.
However, Hogan’s big idea for Styles was to have him becoming the new protégé of Ric Flair after a heel turn. AJ completely shifted towards a poor man’s Flair with the robes, blonde highlights and models walking him to the ring. This act felt so forced that it ruined Styles’ momentum as TNA’s top superstar.
4 Gut Check Segments
Hulk Hogan’s TNA regime featured many names like Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff, Bruce Prichard and others involved in the creative side. The original Gut Check segment started during Hogan’s time with everyone feeling it could create interest.
TNA had unsigned wrestlers having tryout matches with judges reviewing their performances and voting on if they get a contract. Ric Flair infamously hired someone that TNA didn’t want to win a contract to show how unpredictable things could get on the fly.
3 More Top Factions
The Main Event Mafia, Frontline and Planet Jarrett were the only strong TNA factions to have main event presences before the Hulk Hogan era. TNA relied more on groups with a quite a few top angles revolving around stables growing.
Jeff Hardy’s heel turn to form Immortal was meant to TNA’s version of the New World Order. Ric Flair leading Fortune was a new generation version of the Four Horsemen. The Aces & Eights group had a longer stay on top with long-term storytelling. All three major factions became huge parts of the show and arguably the top act at their respective peaks.
2 Dixie Carter Used On Screen More
TNA showed Dixie Carter in the crowd or acknowledged her before the Hulk Hogan regime, but she was never really part of the storylines. Dixie had a minimal presence to show herself to fans without becoming a constant on the program.
Hulk Hogan turning heel to try to take over the company with Immortal saw Carter involved more trying to get her company back. Dixie’s heel turn even came during the Hogan era right before his contract ran out. Many wrestlers felt that Hogan and others wanted Carter on television more to earn stronger favor with her by building up her ego.
1 Joker Sting
One of the bigger yet overlooked changes for an important TNA figure during the Hulk Hogan era was Sting. Fans loved the various versions of Sting throughout the years with the Surfer look, Crow character, Wolfpac stint and a few other ideas.
TNA took a bigger risk by introducing the Joker Sting character when playing mind games with Hogan and Eric Bischoff. Sting has gone on the record expressing praise for this as one of the happiest times of his career getting to experiment with a new character that late into his career.