Torch Passing from Hulk Hogan

When Vince McMahon FORCED Hulk Hogan to "Pass the Torch" to The Rock, it meant that Hogan had no choice but to do so. But Hulk Hogan did not want to pass the torch to The Rock because Hulk Hogan did not believe The Rock was capable of carrying the mythical "Torch."

Sure enough, of all the people who ever tried to take "The Torch" from Hulk Hogan, we saw that The Rock was BY FAR the WORST at this! In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that The Rock essentially dropped the Torch on himself and burned his career the moment the referee counted to three!

Hulk Hogan was "the bad guy." The Rock was "the good guy." The moment The Rock wins the match, the fans start BOOING him and CHEERING for Hogan!

As Hulk Hogan accurately said on the Larry King Show, McMahon's plan for that match was "A disaster."

This FORCED The Rock to become a bad guy -- meaning that he definitely was NOT holding "The Torch." In other words, "The Torch" stayed with Hulk Hogan.

This was not the first time Vince McMahon foolishly tried to have Hulk Hogan pass the torch to someone else before the time was right.

The first time this happened was when McMahon wanted Hulk Hogan to pass The Torch to The Ultimate Warrior. The Ultimate Warrior held the torch for a much longer time than The Rock did, but eventually the people got tired of watching The Ultimate Warrior run to the ring, shake the ropes, and be in a psychotic interview where NOBODY understood what he said! It didn't take long before people wanted a new champion.

The main reason why Vince McMahon liked the idea of passing The Torch from Hulk Hogan to The Ultimate Warrior is because McMahon knew that Hogan couldn't last "forever," but McMahon realized that The Ultimate Warrior was a character that -- like The Undertaker -- could always exist, even if different people played the role.

The next person Vince McMahon tried to pass The Torch to was Lex Luger. McMahon tried to make the body slamming of Yokozuna something similar to Hulk Hogan's legendary bodyslamming of Andre the Giant. But what we ended up with was Lex Luger only doing a "hip toss" of Yokozuna. This resulted in Hulk Hogan once again being brought back (although wearing a mask and being introduced with the music of I am a Real American) and bodyslamming Yokozuna.

The one and only person Hulk Hogan approved of passing The Torch to was Bill Goldberg while the two were in WCW. Sadly, when Hulk Hogan left WCW, the company was sold to WWE -- a company where Vince McMahon's arrogance refused to allow Bill Goldberg (someone Hulk Hogan selected) to carry The Torch. Instead, Vince McMahon wanted Brock Lesnar to beat Bill Goldberg and carry the Torch. But this never had a chance of happening because, as we saw, Brock Lesnar is a LOSER!

This caused all the fans of Bill Goldberg to stop watching. This also caused Bill Goldberg to be very angry -- to the point that he left the wrestling industry. Brock Lesnar ranks #2 in terms of who did WORST at carrying The Torch. However, it is The Rock who is ranked #1 at who was the absolute WORST at carrying The Torch!

Hulk Hogan still carries this "Torch." We saw proof of this two years ago when he came out on TNA Wrestling on Thursday nights on Spike TV. The ratings shot up to 2.5 Million viewers!

Unfortunately, people then realized that Hogan was not going to be wrestling -- which is what everybody wanted. The injury to Hogan's back makes it so he only plays the role of a General Manager. This isn't what Hulk Hogan is all about. Nevertheless, if the right guy came along, it is Hulk Hogan who possesses the ability to "Pass the Mythical Torch."

And for the record, Hulk Hogan didn't have The Torch "passed" to him from Andre the Giant. Hulk Hogan TOOK the Torch from Andre the Giant long before Wrestlemania III, and Hulk Hogan raised the Torch to an even higher level. Hulk Hogan did this again when he returned to the industry in the WCW and almost put the WWE out of business when he became Hollywood Hulk Hogan.