Outside of someone like Brock Lesnar or Andre the Giant, no one in the history of professional wrestling was more protected than Hulk Hogan. His losses were few and far between, and they usually came at the hands of major stars like Ultimate Warrior and Sting.
That is not to say that Hogan has not lost to some surprising superstars over his career. Whether during his original WWE run, were losses often happened due to disqualifications or count outs, or in his WCW run with the nWo, Hogan suffered a handful of defeats that shocked fans. Here are 10 wrestlers you might not remember hold wins over Hulk Hogan.
10 KURT ANGLE (KING OF THE RING 2002)
Kurt Angle worked around Hulk Hogan a few times in his career. He was there with Hogan when WCW shut down and the nWo showed up. He was also with Hogan in TNA Impact Wrestling as well. It was the early stop with the nWo in WWE that saw the two face off.
The Olympic gold medal winner battled Hulk Hogan at the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 2002. The heel Angle ended up beating Hogan by submission, and this was a landmark decision. No one in WWE had ever made Hogan submit before in a match.
9 TRIPLE H (SMACKDOWN, 6/4/2002)
Hulk Hogan and the nWo invaded WWE when Ric Flair was the acting general manager. Mr. McMahon hired them to spread their cancer through the locker room. Soon, Hogan was a babyface again after his match with The Rock, and he moved on to another world title reign.
Hogan beat TriplH for the world title at Backlash in 2002, and then Triple H left for SmackDown during the brand split. Despite this, they fought again after Undertaker won the title to determine the number one contender, and Triple H got his one win over Hogan on SmackDown.
8 VAMPIRO (NITRO, 5/22/2000)
In the later days of WCW, Vince Russo was trying hard to bring up a new youth movement in the company. However, with the New Blood storyline, he just had a bunch of young guys start beating the older veterans, and fans never really bought it.
At this time, Sting was feuding with Vampiro, but Hogan got involved too. The two had a match on Nitro, where Vampiro brought a blowtorch and a can of gas. Billy Kidman, who was feuding with Hogan, ran in and knocked Hogan out with the blowtorch, allowing Vampiro to pin Hogan.
7 MIKE AWESOME (NITRO, 5/1/2000)
Hulk Hogan had it tough in WCW in 2000. Remember in July, Jeff Jarrett laid down for Hogan, and Vince Russo cut a worked shoot promo, firing him. As mentioned, at the end of May, Hogan was already jobbing for Vampiro. That was after he lost to Mike Awesome.
The worst part is that WWE was completely wasting Awesome, who was incredible in ECW and became a comedy character in WCW. Just like the Vampiro match, Billy Kidman also interfered during this match, this time knocking out Hogan with a chair and setting the stage for Awesome to pin Hogan on an episode of Nitro.
6 JACQUES ROUGEAU (WCW, 1997)
In one of the strangest and lesser-known Hulk Hogan losses of his career, the Immortal One lost to Jacques Rougeau. Jacques was one-half of the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers — the one who didn't become The Mountie.
Hogan was the WCW Champion at the time, but this was a non-WCW show taking place in Montreal and ran by Rougeau. The rumors indicate that it only took $10,000 and the promise that this wouldn't air for WCW fans to convince Hogan to lose to Jacques on this show.
5 ARN ANDERSON (NITRO, 2/12/96)
In the main event of Nitro on Feb. 12, 1996, Arn Anderson wrestled Hogan. Yes, Anderson of the Four Horsemen and Ric Flair's best buddy and Enforcer. This was around the time that Hogan was still a babyface, pre-nWo.
Anderson had Woman (Nancy Benoit) in his corner, and Ric Flair wasn't far behind. Of course, Flair interfered when he came down with Elizabeth. Woman then threw powder in Hogan's eyes and held his leg while Anderson shockingly got the three count and beat Hogan.
4 EARTHQUAKE (MSG SHOW, 11/24/90)
During the heyday of Hulkamania, there were not many people who got a pinfall win over Hulk Hogan. However, there were still a handful of other surprising names that got a win over the Immortal One in different ways. In the late '80s, Hogan was still lining up monsters and knocking then down.
Earthquake was the next big monster and looked dominant when he injured Hogan's ribs. Of course, Hogan won the feud. However, along the way, they fought at Madison Square Garden, where Earthquake ended up winning by count-out following interference by Dino Bravo.
3 LANNY POFFO (MAIN EVENT, 11/25/89)
When it came to who fans thought could beat Hulk Hogan during the '80s in WWE, Leaping Lanny Poffo would have had to be pretty far down that list. Sure, Hogan and Poffo's brother Macho Man Randy Savage had great matches. But, The Genius?
The match occurred on Saturday Night's Main Event in 1989. Genius and Hogan battled for over eight minutes, which was surprising in itself. The match ended when Mr. Perfect interfered, causing Hulk to be counted out, giving The Genius a win over Hogan.
2 TONY ATLAS (MSG, 3/16/81)
Before Hulkamania was running wild, Hulk Hogan wasn't the biggest name in wrestling, but he was still practically unbeatable. At a Madison Square Garden show in 1981, Hulk Hogan took on a significant name in WWE in Mr. USA Tony Atlas.
Even though Hogan wasn't a huge name, this was still the last match on the card. Hogan was a heel at the time, while Atlas was a beloved babyface. Freddie Blassie was Hogan's manager. The match went seven minutes, and Atlas pinned Hogan, although Hogan's foot was on the ropes.
1 DUSTY RHODES (NJPW, 12/9/80)
When The American Dream Dusty Rhodes was in WWE at the same time as Hulk Hogan, they were both babyfaces. When Hogan went Hollywood in WCW, Rhodes was pretty much finished as a full-time wrestler. However, they did wrestle in Japan in 1980.
Hogan had a few losses in his NJPW run, including to Antonio Inoki, Andre the Giant, Bob Backlund, and yes, Dusty Rhodes. The two battled at the 1st Annual MSG Tag League. With The Dream bleeding following a relentless beating by the Hulkster, the latter hit the referee, allowing Rhodes to defeat Hogan by disqualification.