Hulk Hogan

 Hogan began his professional wrestling career in the year 1977, but gained worldwide recognition when he signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. Hogan's reputation as an all-American legend helped kick off the professional wrestling boom of the 1980s. Hogan was the main event at eight of nine editions of Wrestlemania's initial nine editions. In his first year, he won the WWF Championship five times, and his reign was the longest in the championship's history. He is the first wrestler to take home consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in both 1990 and 1991. He beat Andre the Giant in the Main Event of WWF The Main Event, 5 February 1988. This match still holds American television viewership records with an 15.2 Nielsen rating and 33 million viewers. Hogan quit the WWF in 1993 to join the rival promotion World Championship Wrestling. Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest-running reign. He had a career turnaround in 1996 when he assumed the title as Hulk Hogan, the villainous New World Order (nWo) the stable leader. This made him a prominent figure during the "Monday Night Wars" another huge growth in professional wrestling that was mainstream. Three times he headlined WCW's flagship event Starrcade, including the most lucrative WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.