July 7, 2003 Observer Newsletter: Hulk Hogan leaving WWE
Hulk Hogan officially made public that he was parting ways with WWE once again on 6/30 in an interview that morning on the Bubba the Love Sponge show.
The split doesn’t appear to be an angle, but nothing can be ruled out absolutely, given Hogan’s track record in WCW. Hogan quit after the Smackdown tapings on 6/24 in Madison Square Garden. Hogan, who from all accounts, tore down the house live, and basically on his own did the Hogan posing routine after the TV taping ended for several minutes, was unhappy about how creative was handling the Mr. America character. He had come off losing to Vince McMahon in the arm wrestling match that didn’t seen to serve a purpose, and then losing to Big Show’s choke slam in the six-man tag, which was to set up Show for Zach Gowen and Stephanie McMahon. There had been talk that the booking plan for Mr. America had been for him to beat Vince McMahon in a hair vs mask match on 7/27 at the Vengeance PPV in Denver, although that has not been confirmed by anyone who would know other than Vince had talked about it.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.