It's really not even close on this one because with all due respect to The Rock and Austin, Hogan was basically the Michael Jordan of wrestling. I am a fan of all 3 but without Hogan, wrestling's history would have been significantly different. I grew up through all of them as wrestling basically exploded right in front of my eyes during the 80's and then the late 90's and politics aside, Hogan was the major dude during those times.
(1) For those of you who may not remember, Hogan basically took the WWF from high school gyms to selling out arenas across the country. You couldn't find one single wrestler (other than haters) who didn't hope they were on a card with Hogan because they knew they stood to benefit
(2) Hogan took wrestling mainstream (i.e. MTV, NBC, Wrestlemania, Rocky III, etc.) The man headlined the first 3 Wrestlemania's and was the single greatest and most popular icon ever. His pop has gone on for years for almost 30 years, not 3-4 years or 5-8 years, 30 years! Yes there will be some that get tired of seeing him but look at the fact that years after his hey dey the man still out-popped The Rock at Wrestlemania and if he'd won that match the place would've exploded
(3) Hogan didn't just do it as a face, he revolutionized the business both as a face and as a heel with the NWO. No two single eras in their prime did more for wrestling than Hogan's 80's run through the WWF and the NWO's (The real NWO's) run in the 90's. Austin's run in WWF is right there but that was big time in response to the NWO stuff and had WCW not screwed up with Sting or Brett Hart as poorly as they did and the sale of the product that brought in absolutely incompetent wrestling people, WCW would have been around.
(3) It's much harder to pave the way than it is to follow once the road has been built. Hogan did all of that and while there were some big time guys along the way (Piper, Savage, etc.) Hogan was the deal. He did movies, cartoons, late night TV shows, etc. before anyone ever thought they could.
You gotta give credit where credit is due, the only problem with Hogan besides the other issues personally now is he's just gotten older and that's what happens to everyone. Austin's pop was maybe 1/3 of Hogan's in terms of the number of years and if Hogan came back tomorrow the place would go crazy. Why do you think Austin won't come back (save the injury stuff) because he knows that if he wanted to do right by the business then he'd have to put Hogan over and it kills him to admit that.
Personal stuff aside, Hogan's biggest mistakes in his career is he really should've made it very difficult to beat him towards the end. Beating Hogan should've been huge and for those who don't agree, the man paid his dues to get what he got, he came up the real way and earned it. I can't tell you how frustrating it was for fans to watch Verne Gagne continue to put Bockwinkel over in the 80's in the AWA and step on Hogan but he got what he should've when Hogan left for the WWF. Hogan paid his dues and when he took the belt he ran with it and was the single most popular and charismatic wrestler ever.
(4) He put over the Ultimate Warrior and the Warrior dropped the ball. When you consider true pop in the history of wrestling, with the exception of the Ultimate Warrior in his prime (sad but true), the Rock, and Austin, name one other wrestler who Hogan should've put over. There really isn't one. HHH, Shawn Michaels, Savage, Bret Hart, Sting, Flair, etc. were all quality guys but none with perhaps the exception of Michaels in his prime had the real juice and charisma to carry the torch so to speak and carry it for years until another came. Hogan knew it because all of those guys were coming up while he was doing his thing with the exception of Flair. The only problem Michaels had is that he's always been a spoiled brat in the ring. His lack of class when he had to put Hogan over at SummerSlam and how he dealt with it afterwards is exactly the reason why he was never the guy. It was always about him and not the fans or wrestling and before you jump on Hogan remember than he's the one that did pass the torch and gave up all his juice and all his pop for the good of wrestling when he put over the Ultimate Warrior only to have the Warrior completely drop the ball and cause wrestling to go into a tail spin for years until the NWO hit and Hogan made the turn followed by the Austin/McMahon angle which together saved wrestling across the board. Hogan had built his juice/pop for years and gave it all up while still in his prime to the Warrior. You can only do that once and I don't blame him for being political for years after that, wouldn't you? In reality, he really did it twice and both times got burned because the Warrior dropped the ball and then the Rock left wrestling. I named 3 guys who should've had a chance and he put 2 of them over and both left the business so what was the point of him losing to them. Hogan gave his life to the business and did what he could to both protect the brand and his character/pop, which was important. If guys across the board defeated him then what did it say about the business as a whole? He let more guys beat him than he should've anyways (Goldberg, HHH, Taker, the UFC guy (why name him), etc.) Yes Taker is great but he can never be the face of wrestling (i.e. kids, moms, grandmas, NBC, etc.) but he could've been the greatest heel ever.
Last but not least, who's the only wrestler ever to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated?
Popularity between the 3
1. Hulk Hogan
2. Steve Austin
3. The Rock (only behind Austin because he left the business because he's really the only one who could've done it like Hogan for years because he was young and had major charisma and the
