The Strangest Hulk Hogan Fact is Linked to the Silverdome

Hulk Hogan's X account was hacked to promote a new cryptocurrency seemingly branded in his image and somehow that wasn't the strangest thing I saw concerning him in the past week.

If you spend any amount of time with Hogan's name in your search bar, you're bound to find some strange facts, whether in his personal life or in his storied career.

For instance, Hulk Hogan was the last WWF Champion and the first WWE Champion. That happened in 2002, so keep that in mind as you read on.

It's true, one of Hogan's greatest accomplishments in his legendary professional wrestling career happened here in Michigan. In 1987 at WrestleMania III in the Silverdome, Hogan faced off with Andre The Giant for the WWF Championship.

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In one of the most iconic moments in wrestling history, Hogan bodyslammed the 7-foot-4, 520-pound giant and retained his championship. The moment legitimized WrestleMania as a spectacle event and has lived on through the decades as a defining moment of what makes professional wrestling so entertaining.

However, when the referee slapped the mat for a third time to cement Hogan's title defense, another piece of history was made that is often overlooked.

In a recent Reddit post, a user in /r/SquaredCircle asked for weird wrestling facts that sounded false but were actually true. The top response said "WrestleMania 3 was the last time Hulk Hogan successfully defended the world title on a WWE PPV."

Love him or hate him, Hogan is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, and he was notorious for his backstage politics to ensure he wouldn't lose often. Yet, as strange as it sounds, the fact holds true. Despite holding the WWF/E championship five more times after the fact, Hogan never successfully defended the title at a major pay-per-view event ever again.

Hogan's first reign with the WWF/E Championship lasted over four years and included his defense at WrestleMania III. That reign ended in 1988 before WrestleMania IV when he lost to Andre The Giant in Indianapolis.

Hogan's second reign began at WrestleMania V after beating Macho Man Randy Savage, and while it lasted a year until WrestleMania VI, Hogan didn't defend the title at the pay-per-view events between, participating in tag team main events at Summer Slam, Survivor Series, and No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie, and in the Royal Rumble match at the 1990 event.

Hogan's third reign lasted most of 1991, from WrestleMania VII until Survivor Series in Detroit where he lost to The Undertaker. Hogan teamed with Ultimate Warrior at Summer Slam that year, the only pay-per-view event between the events.

Hogan quickly won the title back from The Undertaker the following week only to see the title vacated through a storyline four days later.

At WrestleMania IX, Hogan had a strange impromptu match to win the championship from Yokozuna - who had just beaten Bret Hart in the main event. Hogan dropped the title back to Yokozuna at the next event, King of the Ring.

Of course, Hogan's title reigns in WCW don't count for this fact, and so nine years passed between his fifth and sixth runs with the WWF/E Championship.

He beat Triple H for the Undisputed WWF Championship at Backlash 2002, April 21. Two weeks later, WWF rebranded to WWE, hence the "last WWF Champion / first WWE Champion fact". However, Hogan lost the title to The Undertaker at the next event, Judgement Day, on May 19.

And so, Hogan's final successful defense of the WWF/E championship at a major event happened at the Silverdome.

How about a bonus Hogan-Michigan fact: Hogan lost his final WWE championship, the WWE World Tag Team Championships he held with Edge, at Vengeance 2002 to the Un-Americans, Lance Storm and Christian, which was held at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.