In 1994, WCW executed one of its biggest free agent signings when it scored Hulk Hogan. The company was never the same. With Hogan as the new centerpiece of on air storylines and a behind-the-scenes power broker, the company’s whole presentation shifted. Gone was much of the old Jim Crockett Promotions aesthetic WCW had carried into the early 1990s.

RELATED: Every Year Of WCW, Ranked From Worst To Best

Traditionalists balk at how Hogan’s rise in WCW undermined tradition. By contrast, Eric Bischoff has explained ad nauseam on his 83 Weeks podcast how Hogan drew in a broader audience and facilitated important business relationships. Still, for all of the good Hogan did, there certainly were times and ways in which he failed the company.

10 Resisting The Heel Turn

Hulk Hogan In WCW

Both Kevin Sullivan and Eric Bischoff have discussed in shoot interviews and their respective podcasts that they suggested Hulk Hogan turn heel months, or perhaps over a year before it happened. The rationale: fans simply weren’t into the red-and-yellow good guy anymore.

Bischoff has tempered the point by suggesting Hogan took being a role model seriously and was reticent to hurt his fans. However, after the opening months of Hogan in WCW, the novelty wore away. WCW took off when Hogan turned heel. The heel turn resuscitated his career, and turning earlier might have sparked all of this success sooner.

9 Not Putting Over Sting Clean

Hogan Sting Starrcade

Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan was one of the best built rivalries of either man's storied career. After a believable falling out with other faces, Sting lurked in the rafters, building anticipation until fans had reached a fever pitch in time for Starrcade 1997.

The obvious, satisfying story to tell would have seen Sting decisively crush Hogan. Instead, the finish grew horribly muddled with a false finish and Bret Hart intervening. Hogan can’t take all the heat for the poor execution.  Still, the general consensus is that The Hulkster had the power to at least influence this huge disappointment.

8 Pushing For “His Guys”

Hogan Sting Starrcade

Eric Bischoff has discussed at some length on his podcast that, while Hulk Hogan had influence, he was never in charge of booking, nor talent relations. However, even Bischoff has conceded that The Hulkster had certain opponents and a certain style he was comfortable with, especially when he first started in WCW, and that entailed bringing in “his guys.”

RELATED: 5 WCW Wrestlers Hulk Hogan Loved (& 5 He Had Backstage Heat With)

Hogan’s arrival in WCW closely coincided with a host of 1980s and early 1990s WWE stars coming into the company. It’s telling that his early WCW opponents included Ric Flair, Avalanche, The Butcher, and Big Bubba Rogers—talents he was very familiar with from WWE or personal relationships. It would have been nice to have seen other WCW stars like Dustin Rhodes, Steve Austin, or William Regal get a crack at working first-time matchups with Hogan.

7 Fingerpoke Of Doom

WCW Finger Poke Of Doom

One of WCW’s most poorly received moments was the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom. Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash were set to clash in the first Nitro of 1999, only for them to reveal a conspiracy to put the title back on Hogan, and Nash collapsed to be pinned after a simple poke.

Like other moments when WCW was unintentionally funny for how poorly it came across, fans can’t place all the blame on Hogan. Still, given his influence, and all the more so his integral involvement in this angle, he certainly could have called for a change. Instead, he was the face of plot contrivance, misleading advertising, and cheapening the world title's value.

6 Misnaming The NWO

NWO Launch Hogan Hall Nash

Arguably Hulk Hogan’s most important promo in WCW came at Bash at the Beach 1996 when he turned heel to join Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. He cut a promo in the middle of the ring while fans threw trash at them and declared the launch of the New World Organization.

The moment was easily enough white-washed in an era when fans couldn’t stream PPVs over and over or watch highlights on YouTube. WCW simply referred to them as the New World Order moving forward, and even the WWE Network version of the show has corrected audio for the verbal gaff. Nonetheless, the biggest star in wrestling misnaming the new biggest faction in wrestling upon its debut, perhaps foretold all the mistakes WCW would make with the nWo in the years to follow.

5 Selling For Jay Leno

Leno Vs Hogan

Road Wild 1998 saw WCW put on one of its most unusual main events, as the unlikely tag team of Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff squared up against Diamond Dallas Page and late night TV personality Jay Leno. While there was a history of celebrity involvement in WCW,  Leno was hard to buy as a wrestler.

There were ways to book celebrities successfully, but Leno out-grappling Hogan—particularly with an interminably long arm bar early in the match—wasn't one of them. With zero wrestling experience, and minimal recognizable muscle, Leno dominating Hogan was farcical, and too overtly designed to cater to the photographers at ringside who captured the moment for newspaper stories.

4 The Doomsday Cage Match

WCW Doomsday Cage

One of Hulk Hogan’s most infamous WCW matches saw him and Randy Savage fight their way down a multi-tiered cage, through eight heel foes in The Doomsday Cage. No, the action wasn’t great. Yes, eight heels--including main eventers Ric Flair and Lex Luger--looked terrible. Worst of all, the match made no logical sense as the brawl left the cage altogether at times and color commentator Bobby Heenan confessed to not knowing how someone could win.

The match was the embodiment of stale narratives, with Hogan overcoming insurmountable odds. The battle has become more of an inside joke among hardcore fans, than the unforgettable spectacle Hogan and WCW might have hoped for.

3 Taking Advantage Of David Flair

Hogan Whips David Flair

David Flair made one of his earliest appearances for WCW at Souled Out 1999, when he teamed up with his father to battle the nWo’s Curt Hennig and Barry Windham. Things took a turn when Hollywood Hogan entered the proceedings, joining a crew of nWo cronies in attacking the Flairs.

Hogan memorably whipped David over and over with his weight belt. As Ric recounted in his book, it was only supposed to be a couple lashes, but Hogan went overboard in delivering far more blows and rendering the younger, inexperienced Flair bloody. Whether it was showmanship, getting caught up in the moment, or a rib gone wrong, it was one of Hogan’s least defensible moments in WCW.

2 The Warrior Match

Hogan Warrior WCW

One of Hollywood Hogan’s most infamous WCW rivalries was his issue with the man once billed as The Ultimate Warrior in WWE. The two had had an iconic match together at WrestleMania VI, and though each man was past his physical peak, it made sense that at wrestling’s peak popularity in the late 1990s, a rematch would draw.

RELATED: 10 WCW Rematches That Were Worse Than The Original

As Pat Patterson wrote about in his book, he masterminded the original Hogan vs. Warrior match. Without such a virtuouso to plan out the action, the match and its participants were exposed in WCW. The match was dull and plodding, only to reach its embarrassing climax with Hogan botching the use of flash paper so that the fireball he was supposed to use to beat Warrior instead blew up in his face.

1 Toying With A WWE Return

Hogan And McMahon

It hit dirt sheets in 1998 that Hulk Hogan was toying with a WWE return, despite still ostensibly riding high with the New World Order in WCW at the time. Bruce Prichard went so far as to acknowledge on his Something to Wrestle podcast that conversations had taken place and there was some brainstorming about how Hogan might have fit into the thick of WWE’s Attitude Era.

Eric Bischoff has expressed the WCW perspective on his 83 Weeks podcast. He acknowledged that Hogan may have had such negotiations, but less with an intention of actually leaving than ensuring he his contract carried the dollar value he felt he deserved, by playing the two sides off each other. It isn’t a great look for the biggest star in a wrestling company hint he has a foot out the door at the height of their competition with another brand.

NEXT: Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan: Who Was WCW's Best World Champion?