Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair: The Match Destined to Never Happen at WrestleMania

Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair came close, yet never wrestled one another at a WrestleMania

This is part of the Sports Illustrated Road to WrestleMania series.

Throughout their respective careers, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair carved out places as two of professional wrestling’s most legendary figures.

Yet a match between the two never took place at WrestleMania.

Hogan vs. Flair was one of professional wrestling’s true dream matches. As Hulkamania ran wild in the World Wrestling Federation during the 1980s, Flair was busy wrestling many of the industry’s most compelling matches as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Remarkably, when Flair suddenly became undervalued in WCW, he turned the business on its head when he signed with Vince McMahon’s WWF in 1991.

Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair in 1991 / Courtesy WWE

Right from the start, Flair targeted Hogan. That was evidenced as far back as SummerSlam in ’91, when Bobby “The Brain” Heenan was denied access to Hogan in his dressing room–as he wanted to warn him that “The Real World’s Champion” was coming. Flair arrived that fall, and while his first feud was with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, there was a clear build to a showdown with Hogan. Flair cost Hogan the world title that November at the Survivor Series, then famously won the vacant title in January of ’92 at the Royal Rumble.

Between the fall of ’91 and spring of 1992, they wrestled over two dozen singles matches against one another at live events. This was the way to prepare for a marquee event at WrestleMania VIII at the Hoosier Dome. Yet somewhere along the way, plans changed. Flair wrestled the “Macho Man” Randy Savage at WrestleMania VIII–marking the first time there was a world title match and it did not close out the event–and Hogan wrestled Sid Justice–as part of a double main event.

“Me and Flair had magic in the old WWF,” said Hogan. “But there was more than one agenda there. It wasn’t just that Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan were going to be the guys driving the WWF train. I think Vince was thinking in multiples. We weren’t the only game in town. He got what he needed, then spread us apart.”

Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and The Undertaker at the Survivor Series in 1991 / Courtesy WWE

There are plenty of reasons why Hogan and Flair did not headline WrestleMania VIII. At the time, Flair simply did not fit the formula that McMahon had used to perfection with Hogan. The most seminal matches in Hogan’s career up to that point were against giants (he headlined WrestleMania II against King Kong Bundy, then had the famed WrestleMania III bout against Andre The Giant–and the two had a rematch the following year) or best friends-turned-enemies (like “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorf and Savage). There was a showdown with the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI before good overcame evil against Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter at WrestleMania VII, yet there was no one on that list quite like “The Nature Boy”.

“I wanted to work with Ric,” said Hogan, who was adaptable to a wide array of opponents. “There’s no doubt he was one of the greatest ever. Earlier in my career, I wanted to work with Piper and Orndorff. Later on, I loved working with Chris Jericho. He was just amazing. I wrestled a match with Randy Orton, and I loved that. I always loved wrestling, and I liked the challenge of working with different guys. I loved wrestling The Rock. If you’re going to create magic, there is a formula, a feel, a timing, and a placement. That’s the ‘It Factor’–you need to be able to see it and feel it.

“I know I wrestled a lot of giants, and I enjoyed that too, but I also knew I didn’t need to get squashed by Earthquake to make the crowd respond. If Piper brought me down to one knee in the sleeper, we could make the place rumble. Nowadays, you see that in Roman’s matches. You see it with Randy Orton, too. There’s a feel for the crowd, and they have it. I think me and Ric would have had it there, too.”

Another major reason why a match with Flair did not happen at WrestleMania VIII was Hogan’s impending departure from the company. His match against Sid was billed as potentially his last match, which obviously was not the case, but he did take a hiatus of nearly a year following WrestleMania as the company’s steroid scandal played out in mainstream news. While Flair continued with the company, even regaining the title that September, he had returned to WCW by the time Hogan was back in a WWF ring.

With Hogan taking a break from the company, it simply did not make sense to have Flair defeat him on the way out. Ultimately, if the match was going to take place, especially at WrestleMania, it was going to end with Hogan as the winner.

When Hogan signed with WCW in June of 1994, there was no hesitation in booking a match against Flair. They wrestled in Hogan’s WCW debut in July at Bash at the Beach ’94, a card that earned a higher revenue on pay-per-view than WWE’s SummerSlam the following month.

Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair at WCW's Bash at the Beach in July of 1994 / Courtesy WWE

That Bash at the Beach was not a WrestleMania, but it was loaded with superstars. In addition to Flair and Hogan, that card also featured Terry Funk, Orndorff, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Dustin Rhodes, Arn Anderson, Vader, the Big Boss Man (then wrestling as The Guardian Angel), and Vader. There was also plenty of pomp and circumstance surrounding Hogan’s debut, as Muhammad Ali, Shaquille O’Neal, Mr. T, and Jimmy Hart all celebrated his victory over Flair, who was managed by the legendary Sherri.

“We never really had the chance to run wild together in WWF,” said Hogan. “That gave us a chance for it to happen in WCW. That was round two for us. People wanted to see it, and you’ve got to give the people what they want to see.”