title: Milky Way

text: Two spiral arms, the Scutum–Centaurus arm and the Carina–Sagittarius arm, have tangent points inside the Sun's orbit about the center of the Milky Way. If these arms contain an overdensity of stars compared to the average density of stars in the Galactic disk, it would be detectable by counting the stars near the tangent point. Two surveys of near-infrared light, which is sensitive primarily to red giants and not affected by dust extinction, detected the predicted overabundance in the Scutum–Centaurus arm but not in the Carina–Sagittarius arm: the Scutum–Centaurus Arm contains approximately 30% more red giants than would be expected in the absence of a spiral arm. This observation suggests that the Milky Way possesses only two major stellar arms: the Perseus arm and the Scutum–Centaurus arm. The rest of the arms contain excess gas but not excess old stars. In December 2013, astronomers found that the distribution of young stars and star-forming regions matches the four-arm spiral description of the Milky Way. Thus, the Milky Way appears to have two spiral arms as traced by old stars and four spiral arms as traced by gas and young stars. The explanation for this apparent discrepancy is unclear.


title: Milky Way

text: The "Near 3 kpc Arm" (also called the "Expanding 3 kpc Arm" or simply the "3 kpc Arm") was discovered in the 1950s by astronomer van Woerden and collaborators through 21 centimeter radio measurements of H (atomic hydrogen). It was found to be expanding away from the central bulge at more than 50 km/s. It is located in the fourth galactic quadrant at a distance of about 5.2 kpc from the Sun and 3.3 kpc from the Galactic Center. The Far 3 kpc Arm was discovered in 2008 by astronomer Tom Dame (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian). It is located in the first galactic quadrant at a distance of 3 kpc (about 10,000 ly) from the Galactic Center.


title: Milky Way

text: A simulation published in 2011 suggested that the Milky Way may have obtained its spiral arm structure as a result of repeated collisions with the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy.


title: Milky Way

text: It has been suggested that the Milky Way contains two different spiral patterns: an inner one, formed by the Sagittarius arm, that rotates fast and an outer one, formed by the Carina and Perseus arms, whose rotation velocity is slower and whose arms are tightly wound. In this scenario, suggested by numerical simulations of the dynamics of the different spiral arms, the outer pattern would form an outer pseudoring, and the two patterns would be connected by the Cygnus arm.


title: Milky Way

text: Outside of the major spiral arms is the Monoceros Ring (or Outer Ring), a ring of gas and stars torn from other galaxies billions of years ago. However, several members of the scientific community recently restated their position affirming the Monoceros structure is nothing more than an over-density produced by the flared and warped thick disk of the Milky Way. The structure of the Milky Way's disk is warped along an "S" curve.


title: Milky Way

text: The Galactic disk is surrounded by a spheroidal halo of old stars and globular clusters, of which 90% lie within of the Galactic Center. However, a few globular clusters have been found farther, such as PAL 4 and AM 1 at more than 200,000 light-years from the Galactic Center. About 40% of the Milky Way's clusters are on retrograde orbits, which means they move in the opposite direction from the Milky Way rotation. The globular clusters can follow rosette orbits about the Milky Way, in contrast to the elliptical orbit of a planet around a star.


title: Milky Way

text: Although the disk contains dust that obscures the view in some wavelengths, the halo component does not. Active star formation takes place in the disk (especially in the spiral arms, which represent areas of high density), but does not take place in the halo, as there is little cool gas to collapse into stars. Open clusters are also located primarily in the disk.


title: Milky Way

text: Discoveries in the early 21st century have added dimension to the knowledge of the Milky Way's structure. With the discovery that the disk of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) extends much farther than previously thought, the possibility of the disk of the Milky Way extending farther is apparent, and this is supported by evidence from the discovery of the Outer Arm extension of the Cygnus Arm and of a similar extension of the Scutum–Centaurus Arm. With the discovery of the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy came the discovery of a ribbon of galactic debris as the polar orbit of the dwarf and its interaction with the Milky Way tears it apart. Similarly, with the discovery of the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, it was found that a ring of galactic debris from its interaction with the Milky Way encircles the Galactic disk.


title: Milky Way

text: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey of the northern sky shows a huge and diffuse structure (spread out across an area around 5,000 times the size of a full moon) within the Milky Way that does not seem to fit within current models. The collection of stars rises close to perpendicular to the plane of the spiral arms of the Milky Way. The proposed likely interpretation is that a dwarf galaxy is merging with the Milky Way. This galaxy is tentatively named the Virgo Stellar Stream and is found in the direction of Virgo about away.


title: Milky Way

text: In addition to the stellar halo, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, XMM-Newton, and "Suzaku" have provided evidence that there is a gaseous halo with a large amount of hot gas. The halo extends for hundreds of thousand of light-years, much farther than the stellar halo and close to the distance of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The mass of this hot halo is nearly equivalent to the mass of the Milky Way itself. The temperature of this halo gas is between 1 and 2.5 million K (1.8 and 4.5 million °F).


title: Milky Way

text: Observations of distant galaxies indicate that the Universe had about one-sixth as much baryonic (ordinary) matter as dark matter when it was just a few billion years old. However, only about half of those baryons are accounted for in the modern Universe based on observations of nearby galaxies like the Milky Way. If the finding that the mass of the halo is comparable to the mass of the Milky Way is confirmed, it could be the identity of the missing baryons around the Milky Way.


title: Milky Way

text: The stars and gas in the Milky Way rotate about its center differentially, meaning that the rotation period varies with location. As is typical for spiral galaxies, the orbital speed of most stars in the Milky Way does not depend strongly on their distance from the center. Away from the central bulge or outer rim, the typical stellar orbital speed is between . Hence the orbital period of the typical star is directly proportional only to the length of the path traveled. This is unlike the situation within the Solar System, where two-body gravitational dynamics dominate, and different orbits have significantly different velocities associated with them. The rotation curve (shown in the figure) describes this rotation. Toward the center of the Milky Way the orbit speeds are too low, whereas beyond 7 kpcs the speeds are too high to match what would be expected from the universal law of gravitation.


title: Milky Way

text: If the Milky Way contained only the mass observed in stars, gas, and other baryonic (ordinary) matter, the rotational speed would decrease with distance from the center. However, the observed curve is relatively flat, indicating that there is additional mass that cannot be detected directly with electromagnetic radiation. This inconsistency is attributed to dark matter. The rotation curve of the Milky Way agrees with the universal rotation curve of spiral galaxies, the best evidence for the existence of dark matter in galaxies. Alternatively, a minority of astronomers propose that a modification of the law of gravity may explain the observed rotation curve.


title: Milky Way

text: The Milky Way began as one or several small overdensities in the mass distribution in the Universe shortly after the Big Bang 13.61 billion years ago. Some of these overdensities were the seeds of globular clusters in which the oldest remaining stars in what is now the Milky Way formed. Nearly half the matter in the Milky Way may have come from other distant galaxies. Nonetheless, these stars and clusters now comprise the stellar halo of the Milky Way. Within a few billion years of the birth of the first stars, the mass of the Milky Way was large enough so that it was spinning relatively quickly. Due to conservation of angular momentum, this led the gaseous interstellar medium to collapse from a roughly spheroidal shape to a disk. Therefore, later generations of stars formed in this spiral disk. Most younger stars, including the Sun, are observed to be in the disk.


title: Milky Way

text: Since the first stars began to form, the Milky Way has grown through both galaxy mergers (particularly early in the Milky Way's growth) and accretion of gas directly from the Galactic halo. The Milky Way is currently accreting material from several small galaxies, including two of its largest satellite galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, through the Magellanic Stream. Direct accretion of gas is observed in high-velocity clouds like the Smith Cloud. Cosmological simulations indicate that, 11 billion years ago, it merged with a particularly large galaxy that has been labeled the Kraken. However, properties of the Milky Way such as stellar mass, angular momentum, and metallicity in its outermost regions suggest it has undergone no mergers with large galaxies in the last 10 billion years. This lack of recent major mergers is unusual among similar spiral galaxies; its neighbour the Andromeda Galaxy appears to have a more typical history shaped by more recent mergers with relatively large galaxies.


title: Milky Way

text: According to recent studies, the Milky Way as well as the Andromeda Galaxy lie in what in the galaxy color–magnitude diagram is known as the "green valley", a region populated by galaxies in transition from the "blue cloud" (galaxies actively forming new stars) to the "red sequence" (galaxies that lack star formation). Star-formation activity in green valley galaxies is slowing as they run out of star-forming gas in the interstellar medium. In simulated galaxies with similar properties, star formation will typically have been extinguished within about five billion years from now, even accounting for the expected, short-term increase in the rate of star formation due to the collision between both the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. In fact, measurements of other galaxies similar to the Milky Way suggest it is among the reddest and brightest spiral galaxies that are still forming new stars and it is just slightly bluer than the bluest red sequence galaxies.


title: Milky Way

text: Globular clusters are among the oldest objects in the Milky Way, which thus set a lower limit on the age of the Milky Way. The ages of individual stars in the Milky Way can be estimated by measuring the abundance of long-lived radioactive elements such as thorium-232 and uranium-238, then comparing the results to estimates of their original abundance, a technique called nucleocosmochronology. These yield values of about for CS 31082-001 and for BD +17° 3248. Once a white dwarf is formed, it begins to undergo radiative cooling and the surface temperature steadily drops. By measuring the temperatures of the coolest of these white dwarfs and comparing them to their expected initial temperature, an age estimate can be made. With this technique, the age of the globular cluster M4 was estimated as . Age estimates of the oldest of these clusters gives a best fit estimate of 12.6 billion years, and a 95% confidence upper limit of 16 billion years.


title: Milky Way

text: In November 2018, astronomers reported the discovery of one of the oldest stars in the universe. About 13.5 billion-years-old, 2MASS J18082002-5104378 B is a tiny ultra metal-poor (UMP) star made almost entirely of materials released from the Big Bang, and is possibly one of the first stars. The discovery of the star in the Milky Way galaxy suggests that the galaxy may be at least 3 billion years older than previously thought.


title: Milky Way

text: Several individual stars have been found in the Milky Way's halo with measured ages very close to the 13.80-billion-year age of the Universe. In 2007, a star in the galactic halo, HE 1523-0901, was estimated to be about 13.2 billion years old. As the oldest known object in the Milky Way at that time, this measurement placed a lower limit on the age of the Milky Way. This estimate was made using the UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph of the Very Large Telescope to measure the relative strengths of spectral lines caused by the presence of thorium and other elements created by the R-process. The line strengths yield abundances of different elemental isotopes, from which an estimate of the age of the star can be derived using nucleocosmochronology. Another star, HD 140283, is 14.5 ± 0.7 billion years old.


title: Milky Way

text: According to observations utilizing adaptive optics to correct for Earth's atmospheric distortion, stars in the galaxy's bulge date to about 12.8 billion years old.


title: Milky Way

text: The age of stars in the galactic thin disk has also been estimated using nucleocosmochronology. Measurements of thin disk stars yield an estimate that the thin disk formed 8.8 ± 1.7 billion years ago. These measurements suggest there was a hiatus of almost 5 billion years between the formation of the galactic halo and the thin disk. Recent analysis of the chemical signatures of thousands of stars suggests that stellar formation might have dropped by an order of magnitude at the time of disk formation, 10 to 8 billion years ago, when interstellar gas was too hot to form new stars at the same rate as before.


title: Milky Way

text: The satellite galaxies surrounding the Milky way are not randomly distributed but seem to be the result of a break-up of some larger system producing a ring structure 500,000 light-years in diameter and 50,000 light-years wide. Close encounters between galaxies, like that expected in 4 billion years with the Andromeda Galaxy rips off huge tails of gas, which, over time can coalesce to form dwarf galaxies in a ring at an arbitrary angle to the main disc.


title: Milky Way

text: The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are a binary system of giant spiral galaxies belonging to a group of 50 closely bound galaxies known as the Local Group, surrounded by a Local Void, itself being part of the Local Sheet and in turn the Virgo Supercluster. Surrounding the Virgo Supercluster are a number of voids, devoid of many galaxies, the Microscopium Void to the "north", the Sculptor Void to the "left", the Boötes Void to the "right" and the Canes-Major Void to the "south". These voids change shape over time, creating filamentous structures of galaxies. The Virgo Supercluster, for instance, is being drawn towards the Great Attractor, which in turn forms part of a greater structure, called Laniakea.


title: Milky Way

text: Two smaller galaxies and a number of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group orbit the Milky Way. The largest of these is the Large Magellanic Cloud with a diameter of 32,200 light-years. It has a close companion, the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Magellanic Stream is a stream of neutral hydrogen gas extending from these two small galaxies across 100° of the sky. The stream is thought to have been dragged from the Magellanic Clouds in tidal interactions with the Milky Way. Some of the dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way are Canis Major Dwarf (the closest), Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy, Ursa Minor Dwarf, Sculptor Dwarf, Sextans Dwarf, Fornax Dwarf, and Leo I Dwarf. The smallest dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way are only 500 light-years in diameter. These include Carina Dwarf, Draco Dwarf, and Leo II Dwarf. There may still be undetected dwarf galaxies that are dynamically bound to the Milky Way, which is supported by the detection of nine new satellites of the Milky Way in a relatively small patch of the night sky in 2015. There are also some dwarf galaxies that have already been absorbed by the Milky Way, such as the progenitor of Omega Centauri.


title: Milky Way

text: In 2014 researchers reported that most satellite galaxies of the Milky Way lie in a very large disk and orbit in the same direction. This came as a surprise: according to standard cosmology, the satellite galaxies should form in dark matter halos, and they should be widely distributed and moving in random directions. This discrepancy is still not fully explained.


title: Milky Way

text: In January 2006, researchers reported that the heretofore unexplained warp in the disk of the Milky Way has now been mapped and found to be a ripple or vibration set up by the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds as they orbit the Milky Way, causing vibrations when they pass through its edges. Previously, these two galaxies, at around 2% of the mass of the Milky Way, were considered too small to influence the Milky Way. However, in a computer model, the movement of these two galaxies creates a dark matter wake that amplifies their influence on the larger Milky Way.


title: Milky Way

text: Current measurements suggest the Andromeda Galaxy is approaching us at . In 4.3 billion years, there may be an Andromeda–Milky Way collision, depending on the importance of unknown lateral components to the galaxies' relative motion. If they collide, the chance of individual stars colliding with each other is extremely low, but instead the two galaxies will merge to form a single elliptical galaxy or perhaps a large disk galaxy over the course of about six billion years.


title: Milky Way

text: Although special relativity states that there is no "preferred" inertial frame of reference in space with which to compare the Milky Way, the Milky Way does have a velocity with respect to cosmological frames of reference.


title: Milky Way

text: One such frame of reference is the Hubble flow, the apparent motions of galaxy clusters due to the expansion of space. Individual galaxies, including the Milky Way, have peculiar velocities relative to the average flow. Thus, to compare the Milky Way to the Hubble flow, one must consider a volume large enough so that the expansion of the Universe dominates over local, random motions. A large enough volume means that the mean motion of galaxies within this volume is equal to the Hubble flow. Astronomers believe the Milky Way is moving at approximately with respect to this local co-moving frame of reference. The Milky Way is moving in the general direction of the Great Attractor and other galaxy clusters, including the Shapley Supercluster, behind it. The Local Group (a cluster of gravitationally bound galaxies containing, among others, the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy) is part of a supercluster called the Local Supercluster, centered near the Virgo Cluster: although they are moving away from each other at as part of the Hubble flow, this velocity is less than would be expected given the 16.8 million pc distance due to the gravitational attraction between the Local Group and the Virgo Cluster.


title: Milky Way

text: Another reference frame is provided by the cosmic microwave background (CMB), in which the CMB temperature is least distorted by Doppler shift (zero dipole moment). The Milky Way is moving at with respect to this frame, toward 10.5 right ascension, −24° declination (J2000 epoch, near the center of Hydra). This motion is observed by satellites such as the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) as a dipole contribution to the CMB, as photons in equilibrium in the CMB frame get blue-shifted in the direction of the motion and red-shifted in the opposite direction.


title: John Candy

text: John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its "SCTV" series, and through his appearances in comedy films, including "Stripes" (1981), "Splash" (1984), "Summer Rental" (1985), "Spaceballs" (1987), "Uncle Buck" (1989) and "Cool Runnings" (1993), portraying Chester "Chet" Ripley in "She's Having a Baby" and "The Great Outdoors" (both 1988), as well as more dramatic roles in "Only the Lonely" and "JFK" (both 1991). One of his most renowned onscreen performances was as Del Griffith, the talkative shower-curtain ring salesman in the John Hughes comedy film "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987).


title: John Candy

text: In addition to his work as an actor, Candy was a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and the team won the 1991 Grey Cup under his ownership. Candy died in 1994 at the age of 43. His final two film appearances, "Wagons East" and "Canadian Bacon", are dedicated to his memory.


title: John Candy

text: Candy was born on October 31, 1950, in Toronto and grew up in Newmarket, Ontario. The son of Sidney James Candy (1920–1955) and Evangeline (née Aker; 1916–2009) Candy, he was brought up in a working-class Catholic family. His childhood home was 217 Woodville Ave in East York, Ontario. Candy's mother was of Polish descent. His father died of complications of heart disease at age 35 in 1955 when John was five years old.


title: John Candy

text: Candy studied at Neil McNeil Catholic High School in Toronto. He originally aspired to become a football player for the Toronto Argonauts, but a knee injury in his junior year of high school prevented him from pursuing the sport. He later enrolled in Centennial College to study journalism, and then went to McMaster University. He started acting while at college.


title: John Candy

text: In 1971, John Candy was cast in a small part as a Shriner in "Creeps" by David E. Freeman, a new Canadian play about cerebral palsy, in the inaugural season of the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto.


title: John Candy

text: Candy guest-starred on a Canadian children's television series, "Cucumber", and made a small, uncredited appearance in "Class of '44" (1973).


title: John Candy

text: He had a small part in "The ABC Afternoon Playbreak" ("Last Bride of Salem") and had a regular role on the TV series "Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins" (1974–75).


title: John Candy

text: In 1975 he played Richie, an accused killer, in the episode "Web of Guilt" on the Canadian TV show "Police Surgeon". He was in "It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time" (1975), shot in Canada, as well as the children's sitcom "Coming Up Rosie" (1975–78) with Dan Aykroyd.


title: John Candy

text: In 1976, Candy played a supporting role (with Rick Moranis) on Peter Gzowski's short-lived late-night television talk show "90 Minutes Live". In 1978, Candy had a small role as a bank employee (with Christopher Plummer and Elliott Gould) in the Canadian thriller "The Silent Partner".


title: John Candy

text: Candy became a member of Toronto's branch of The Second City in 1972. He gained wide North American popularity as a member of the enterprise, which grew when he became a cast member on the influential Toronto-based comedy-variety show "Second City Television" ("SCTV"). NBC picked the show up in 1981 and it quickly became a fan favorite. It won Emmy Awards for the show's writing in 1981 and 1982.


title: John Candy

text: Among Candy's "SCTV" characters were unscrupulous street-beat TV personality Johnny LaRue, 3-D horror auteur Doctor Tongue, sycophantic and easily amused talk-show sidekick William B. Williams, and Melonville's corrupt Mayor Tommy Shanks.


title: John Candy

text: During the series' run he appeared in films such as "The Clown Murders" (1976) and had a lead in a low-budget comedy, "Find the Lady" (1976). He guest starred on such shows as "The David Steinberg Show" and "King of Kensington" and had a small role in the thriller "The Silent Partner" (1978).


title: John Candy

text: In 1979, Candy took a short hiatus from "SCTV" and began a more active film career, appearing in a minor role in "Lost and Found" (1979) and playing a U.S. Army soldier in Steven Spielberg's big-budget comedy "1941".


title: John Candy

text: He returned to Canada for roles in "The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog" (1980) and the action thriller "Double Negative" (1980). He had a supporting role as easygoing parole officer Burton Mercer in "The Blues Brothers" (1980), starring Aykroyd, and did an episode of "Tales of the Klondike" (1981) for Canadian TV.


title: John Candy

text: In 1980, Candy hosted a short-lived NBC television program, "Roadshow", described by The Washington Post as "improvisational journalism." Appearing as himself, Candy and a video crew travelled in a tour bus to Baton Rouge, LA (home of Louisiana State University), and Carbondale, IL (home of Southern Illinois University), and interviewed college students amid party atmospheres such as the latter's Halloween street celebration. He also obtained backstage access to interview Midge Ure, the lead singer of the UK electronic band Ultravox, which performed a concert on the SIU campus the evening of 10/31/80. It's unknown if more than two episodes aired.


title: John Candy

text: Candy played the lovable, mild-mannered Army recruit Dewey Oxberger in "Stripes" (1981), directed by Canadian Ivan Reitman, which was one of the most successful films of the year. He provided voices for multiple characters in the animated film "Heavy Metal" (1981), most notably as the title character in the "Den" segment, which was well-received, including by the character's creator, Richard Corben, who singled out Candy's humorously lighthearted interpretation of the title character as excellent.


title: John Candy

text: From 1981 to 1983, Candy appeared in "SCTV Network" on television. He made a cameo appearance in Harold Ramis's "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983), his first collaboration with John Hughes, who wrote the script.


title: John Candy

text: Candy appeared on "Saturday Night Live" twice (hosting in 1983) while still appearing on "SCTV". According to writer-comedian Bob Odenkirk, Candy was reputedly the "most-burned potential host" of "SNL", in that he was asked to host many times, only for plans to be changed by the "SNL" staff at the last minute.


title: John Candy

text: Candy headlined in the Canadian film "Going Berserk" (1983). He was approached to play the character of accountant Louis Tully in "Ghostbusters" (1984), starring Aykroyd and directed by Reitman, but ultimately did not get the role because of his conflicting ideas of how to play the character; the part went instead to SCTV colleague Rick Moranis, whose ideas were better received. However, Candy did make a contribution to the franchise, as one of the many people chanting "Ghostbusters" in the video for Ray Parker Jr.'s hit single for the film.


title: John Candy

text: Candy played Tom Hanks's womanizing brother in the hit romantic comedy" Splash", generally considered his break-out role. Following the success of the film, he had signed a three-picture development and producing deal with Walt Disney Pictures, and he would develop and executive produce various theatricals as planned starring vehicles for himself.


title: John Candy

text: Candy went back to Canada to star in "The Last Polka" (1985), which he also wrote with co-star Eugene Levy. He was Richard Pryor's best friend on "Brewster's Millions" (1985) and had a cameo in the "Sesame Street" film "" (1985).


title: John Candy

text: Candy's first lead role in a Hollywood film came with "Summer Rental" (1985), directed by Carl Reiner. He was reunited with Hanks in "Volunteers" (1985), though the film did not do as well as "Splash". He had a cameo in "The Canadian Conspiracy" (1985) and appeared alongside Martin Short in "Dave Thomas: The Incredible Time Travels of Henry Osgood" (1985) in Canada.


title: John Candy

text: Candy's second starring role in a Hollywood film was "Armed and Dangerous" (1986) with Levy and Meg Ryan. He had a cameo in "Little Shop of Horrors" (1986) and appeared in "Really Weird Tales" (1987). He also had a supporting role in Mel Brooks's "Spaceballs" (1987).


title: John Candy

text: Candy had a hit film when he starred in "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" (1987) with Steve Martin, written and directed by John Hughes. He appeared in a cameo role in Hughes's "She's Having a Baby" (1988) and then starred in a film written by Hughes, "The Great Outdoors" (1988), co starring Aykroyd.


title: John Candy

text: Candy provided the voice for Don the horse in "Hot to Trot" (1988) and starred in a flop comedy, considered by some to be a cult classic, "Who's Harry Crumb?" (1989), which he also produced. He was one of several names in "Cannonball Fever" (1989) and had another hit film with Hughes in "Uncle Buck" (1989).


title: John Candy

text: Candy also produced and starred in a Saturday-morning animated series on NBC titled "Camp Candy" in 1989. The show was set in a fictional summer camp run by Candy, featured his two children in supporting roles, and also spawned a brief comic book series published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint.


title: John Candy

text: Candy made "The Rocket Boy" (1989) in Canada and had a cameo in two more films written by Hughes, the blockbuster hit film "Home Alone" (1990) and the box office flop "Career Opportunities" (1991).


title: John Candy

text: He provided the voice of Wilbur the Albatross in Disney's "The Rescuers Down Under" (1990) and had a supporting role in "Nothing But Trouble" (1991), Dan Aykroyd's notorious box office flop.


title: John Candy

text: During this time, Candy played a dramatic role as Dean Andrews Jr., a shady Southern lawyer in Oliver Stone's "JFK" (1991).


title: John Candy

text: In 1991, Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky, and Candy became owners of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts. The celebrity ownership group attracted attention in Canada, and the team spent a significant amount of money, even signing some highly touted National Football League prospects such as wide receiver Raghib Ismail. The Argonauts took home the 1991 Grey Cup, beating Calgary 36–21 in the final. Only McNall's name was etched onto the Grey Cup trophy as an owner of the team, but the CFL corrected the error in 2007 and added Candy's and Gretzky's names as well.


title: John Candy

text: From 1988 to 1990, Candy hosted "Radio Kandy," a hot adult contemporary radio music countdown syndicated by Premiere Networks.


title: John Candy

text: Chris Columbus wrote and directed "Only the Lonely" (1991) starring Candy and Maureen O'Hara, which was well reviewed but not a big hit.


title: John Candy

text: Also unsuccessful were the comedies "Delirious" (1991) and "Once Upon a Crime..." (1992). He had a cameo in "" (1992) and the successful "Rookie of the Year" (1993).


title: John Candy

text: He made his directorial debut in the 1994 comedy "Hostage for a Day". His last appearances were in "Canadian Bacon" (1995) and "Wagons East".


title: John Candy

text: Candy was in talks to portray Ignatius J. Reilly in a now-shelved film adaptation of John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel "A Confederacy of Dunces". He had also expressed interest in portraying Atuk in a film adaptation of Mordecai Richler's "The Incomparable Atuk" and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in a biopic based on the silent film comedian's life. These three shelved projects have been alleged as cursed because Candy, John Belushi, Sam Kinison, and Chris Farley were each attached to all three roles, and they all died before they could make any of these films.


title: John Candy

text: Candy was originally considered to play Alec Guinness's role in the remake of the 1950 film "Last Holiday", with Carl Reiner directing. Eventually the role was played by Queen Latifah in a loose remake released in 2006.


title: John Candy

text: Candy was also slated to collaborate with John Hughes again in a comedy opposite Sylvester Stallone, titled "Bartholomew vs. Neff". Candy and Stallone were to have portrayed feuding neighbors.


title: John Candy

text: In the animated Disney film "Pocahontas", the role of Redfeather the turkey was written for him but was subsequently cut from the film after his death.


title: John Candy

text: In addition to his work as an actor, Candy was a co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) with Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky. The team won the 1991 Grey Cup under his co-ownership.


title: John Candy

text: Candy died on March 4, 1994, while filming "Wagons East"; a spokeswoman said that his cause of death was a heart attack in his sleep. He was 43 years old. In addition to his obesity, he tended to binge eat in response to professional struggles and weighed in excess of at some points in his life. Candy had a number of risk factors for heart attack, including a strong family history (his father had died prematurely of a heart attack, although his children say he was unaware of his genetic risk), smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, obesity, heavy alcohol use, and use of cocaine. Candy was concerned about his weight. He once lost 100 pounds over a summer while preparing for a new film role with Steve Martin. He frequently dieted and exercised with trainers because of his family history.


title: John Candy

text: Candy's funeral was held at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Los Angeles. Candy was entombed in the mausoleum at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City. His crypt lies just above that of fellow actor Fred MacMurray. On March 18, 1994, a special memorial service for Candy, produced by his former improvisation troupe the Second City, was broadcast across Canada.


title: John Candy

text: "Wagons East" was completed using a stunt double and special effects and released five months after Candy's death. His final completed film was "Canadian Bacon", a satirical comedy by Michael Moore that was released a year after Candy's death. Candy played American sheriff Bud Boomer, who led an "invasion" of Canada. Candy recorded a voice for the TV film "The Magic 7" in the early 1990s. The film remained in production for years owing to animation difficulties and production delays, and it was eventually shelved.


title: John Candy

text: Candy was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998. In May 2006, Candy became one of the first four entertainers ever honored by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp. On October 31, 2020, Toronto Mayor John Tory proclaimed "John Candy Day" in honour of what would have been John Candy's 70th birthday.


title: John Candy

text: "Blues Brothers 2000" is dedicated to three people, including Candy, who played a supporting role in the original "Blues Brothers". A tribute to Candy was hosted by Dan Aykroyd at the 2007 Grey Cup festivities in Toronto in November 2007.


title: John Candy

text: Experimental rock band Ween's album "Chocolate and Cheese", released in 1994, is "dedicated in loving memory to John Candy (1950–1994)". At the time, lead singer Gene Ween remarked, "There was so much going on about [the suicide of] Kurt Cobain, and nobody mentioned John Candy at all. I have a special little spot in my heart for him."


title: John Candy

text: The John Candy Visual Arts Studio at Neil McNeil Catholic High School in Toronto was dedicated in his honour after his death. Candy, one of the school's most famous alumni, said during one of his annual visits to the school, "My success is simply rooted in the values and discipline and respect for others that I was taught at Neil McNeil." It has been suggested, among others, that the Canadian Screen Awards be given the official nickname "The Candys," both in honour of the actor and because the name suggests Canada.


title: Viola Davis

text: Viola Davis (; born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards, she is the only African-American to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. She is also tied for the most film wins for an actress at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and with six overall wins, she is the most awarded African-American. "Time" magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017, and in 2020, "The New York Times" ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century.


title: Viola Davis

text: Davis began her career in Central Falls, Rhode Island, appearing in small stage productions. After graduating from the Juilliard School in 1993, she won an Obie Award in 1999 for her performance as Ruby McCollum in "Everybody's Ruby". She played minor roles in several films and television series in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before earning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Tonya in the 2001 Broadway production of August Wilson's "King Hedley II". Her film breakthrough came with her role as a troubled mother in the drama "Doubt" (2008), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Viola Davis

text: In the 2010s, Davis won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Rose Maxson in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play "Fences". For starring as a 1960s housemaid in the comedy-drama "The Help" (2011), she won a Screen Actors Guild Award and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. From 2014 to 2020, she played lawyer Annalise Keating in the television drama series "How to Get Away with Murder", for which she became the first black actress to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2015. In 2016, she reprised the role of Maxson in the film adaptation of "Fences", for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2016, she made her debut as Amanda Waller in the DC Extended Universe film "Suicide Squad" and has reprised the role in subsequent DCEU media. In 2020, she portrayed Ma Rainey in the biopic "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", for which she received a fourth Academy Award nomination, becoming the most-nominated black actress in Oscar history.


title: Viola Davis

text: Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, are founders of a production company, JuVee Productions. Davis is also widely recognized for her advocacy and support of human rights and equal rights for women and women of color. In 2017, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 2019, she became a L'Oréal Paris ambassador. She released her memoir, "Finding Me" (2022), which earned her a Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording nomination for its accompanying audiobook.


title: Viola Davis

text: Davis was born on August 11, 1965, in St. Matthews, South Carolina, to Mae Alice Davis (née Logan) and Dan Davis. She was born on her grandmother's farm on the Singleton Plantation. Her father was a horse trainer, and her mother was a maid, factory worker and homemaker. She is the second youngest of six children, having four sisters and a brother. Soon after she was born, her parents moved with Davis and two of her older siblings to Central Falls, Rhode Island, leaving her other siblings with her grandparents.


title: Viola Davis

text: Her mother was also an activist during the Civil Rights Movement. When she was two years old, Davis was taken to jail with her mother after she was arrested during a civil rights protest. She has described herself as having "lived in abject poverty and dysfunction" during her childhood, recalling living in "rat-infested and condemned" apartments. Davis is a second cousin of actor Mike Colter, known for portraying the Marvel Comics character Luke Cage.


title: Viola Davis

text: Davis attended Central Falls High School, the alma mater to which she partially credits her love of stage acting with her involvement in the arts. As a teenager, she was involved in the federal TRIO Upward Bound and TRIO Student Support Services programs. While enrolled at the Young People's School for the Performing Arts in West Warwick, Rhode Island, Davis's talent was recognized by a director at the program, Bernard Masterson.


title: Viola Davis

text: After graduating from high school, Davis studied at Rhode Island College, majoring in theater and participating in the National Student Exchange before graduating in 1988. Next, she attended the Juilliard School for four years, and was a member of the school's Drama Division "Group 22" (1989–93).


title: Viola Davis

text: In 1992, Davis starred in her first professional stage role, an off Broadway production of William Shakespeare's comedy "As You Like It" as Denis alongside Elizabeth McGovern at the Delacorte Theatre. In 1996, Davis made her Broadway debut in the original Broadway production of August Wilson's "Seven Guitars" as the Vera, alongside Keith David. The play opened on Broadway on March 6 at the Walter Kerr Theatre. She earned critical praise for her performance. That same year, Davis received her Screen Actors Guild card in 1996 for doing one day of work, playing a nurse who passes a vial of blood to future "How to Get Away with Murder" co-star Timothy Hutton in the film "The Substance of Fire" (1996). She was paid $518. Davis continued acting off Broadway in various productions, and appeared in bit parts on television including episodes of "NYPD Blue" (1996), and "New York Undercover" (1996). She also appeared in the HBO television military comedy film, "The Pentagon Wars" (1996) starring Kelsey Grammer, and Cary Elwes. In 1998, she played a small role in Steven Soderbergh's crime comedy film "Out of Sight" (1999).


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2001, she returned to the Broadway stage in another play by August Wilson titled "King Hedley II", portraying Tonya, a "35-year-old mother fighting eloquently for the right to abort a pregnancy." Her performance earned critical attention, and she received her first Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award. She won another Drama Desk Award for her work in a 2004 off-Broadway production of "Intimate Apparel" by Lynn Nottage.


title: Viola Davis

text: Throughout the early 2000s Davis appeared in numerous films, including Soderbergh's "Solaris" and "Traffic", as well as George Clooney's "Syriana" (2005), which Soderbergh produced. Hers was the uncredited voice of the parole board interrogator who questions Danny Ocean (Clooney) in the first scene in "Ocean's Eleven" (2001). She also gave brief performances in the romantic comedy "Kate & Leopold" (2001) and the drama "Antwone Fisher" (2002). She also played secondary roles in Todd Haynes' costume drama "Far From Heaven" (2002), starring Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid. Her television work includes a recurring role in "", starring roles in two short-lived series, "Traveler" and "Century City", and a special guest appearance in a "" episode entitled "".


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2008, Davis played Mrs. Miller in the film adaptation of the Broadway play by John Patrick Shanley, "Doubt", with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. Though Davis had only one scene in the film, she remained a highlight of the film with noted film critic Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" specifically praising her performance writing, "It lasts about 10 minutes, but it is the emotional heart and soul of "Doubt", and if Viola Davis isn't nominated by the Academy, an injustice will have been done." Ebert would further go on to write, "She goes face to face with the pre-eminent film actress of this generation, and it is a confrontation of two equals that generates terrifying power." She was nominated for several awards for her performance, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2010, Davis returned to Broadway in her third August Wilson play, this time a revival of "Fences" as Rose Maxson, acting alongside Denzel Washington. Her performance received raves from critics in particular theatre critic Ben Brantley of "The New York Times" who described Davis' performance as "extraordinary", adding "Ms. Davis, who won a Tony for her performance in Wilson's "King Hedley II", may well pick up another for her work here. Her face is a poignant paradox, both bone-tired and suffused with sensual radiance." On June 13, 2010, Davis won her second Tony Award for her performance. She was the second African-American to win the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, after Phylicia Rashad.


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2010 Davis had small roles in the romantic comedy thriller "Knight and Day" starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz and the romantic comedy "Eat Pray Love" starring Julia Roberts. That same year she also played the role of Dr. Minerva in "It's Kind of a Funny Story" (2010), a coming-of-age film written and directed by Anna Boden with Ryan Fleck, adapted from the 2006 novel by Ned Vizzini.


title: Viola Davis

text: In August 2011, Davis starred as Aibileen Clark, a housemaid in 1960s Mississippi, in the film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel "The Help", directed by Tate Taylor and co-starring alongside Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Jessica Chastain. Davis described her performance in the film as channeling her mother and grandmother saying, "I feel like I brought my mom to life; I've channeled her spirit. I channeled the spirit of my grandmother, and I've kind of paid homage to how they've contributed to my life and the lives of so many people". She has since expressed deep regret over taking on the role; although she still admires the people she worked with, she does not think the story or portrayal is truthful about the lives of the black characters. Davis gained praise for her work and eventually won two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to receiving her second Academy Award nomination, as well as Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award nominations.


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2012, "Time" magazine listed Davis as one of the most influential people in the world. Also in 2012, "Glamour" magazine named Davis Glamour's Film Actress of the year. On June 12, 2012, Davis received the Women in Film's Crystal Award. In 2014, Davis reunited with "The Help" director Tate Taylor in "Get on Up", a biopic of James Brown, playing Brown's mother. Her daughter, Genesis, also appeared in the film.


title: Viola Davis

text: In February 2014, Davis was cast in Peter Nowalk's pilot "How to Get Away with Murder" (executive produced by Shonda Rhimes for her ShondaLand production company) as the lead character. Her character, Annalise Keating, is a tough criminal defense attorney and professor who becomes entangled in murder plot with her students. It began as a series in September 2014. In September 2015, Davis became the first African-American to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role on "How to Get Away with Murder". She received a second Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the role in 2016. Davis also won two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series in 2014 and 2015. She received nominations from the Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her performance on the show.


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2015, Davis appeared in "Blackhat", a Michael Mann-directed thriller film starring Chris Hemsworth. Davis also served as executive-producer of the crime drama film "Lila & Eve", starring herself and Jennifer Lopez in the titular roles. In 2016, Davis starred in the courtroom drama "Custody", on which she also served as an executive producer, and played Amanda Waller in the film "Suicide Squad", an adaptation of a DC Comics series of the same name.


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2016, Davis reprised her role as Rose Maxson for the film adaptation of "Fences" directed by and starring Denzel Washington. Her performance garnered critical acclaim and she received her third Academy Award nomination, making her the first black actress in history to achieve this feat. She subsequently went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.


title: Viola Davis

text: On January 6, 2017, Davis was presented with the 2,597th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by her "Doubt" co-star and friend Meryl Streep. While accepting the honor, Davis said: "It's like my life flashing before my eyes, and all I can say is, God has blessed my life in abundance." Davis was also listed among and a featured cover star of "Time" magazine's "100 Most Influential People" List for the second time, her first being in 2012. Streep penned the article in the magazine, referring to Davis as having "carved a place for herself on the Mount Rushmore of the 21st century", commenting that "her gifts as an artist are unassailable, undeniable, deep and rich and true. But her importance in the culture – her ability to identify it, her willingness to speak about it and take on responsibility for it – is what marks her for greatness." In March 2017, Davis was awarded the Artist of the Year Award at Harvard University.


title: Viola Davis

text: Also in 2017, Davis announced that she would write the sequel to the classic picture book "Corduroy", titled "Corduroy Takes a Bow". In a press release, Davis stated that "Corduroy has always held a special place in my life, first as a child paging through it, and then again with my daughter, introducing her to the adventures of that adorable teddy bear". On March 13, 2018, Davis shared the cover of the book on her Twitter account. The book was published by Penguin Random House on September 4, 2018.


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2018, Davis debuted "Two-Sides", a documentary series exploring police brutality towards the African-American community. The series debuted on TV One, running through till mid-February. Davis also starred alongside fellow Shondaland costar Kerry Washington for a special two-hour crossover episode of "How to Get Away with Murder" and "Scandal", aptly titled "How to Get Away with Scandal". Davis's guest appearance garnered her a fourth Emmy Award nomination, and her first for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. That same year, Davis starred in the Steve McQueen heist thriller "Widows" alongside Cynthia Erivo, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, and Liam Neeson. The film was an adaptation of the popular 1983 British miniseries. She received critical acclaim, with film critic Eric Kohn of "IndieWire" writing, that the film "largely belongs to Davis...the actress has never been more commanding". She received her second British Academy Film Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance.


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2020, Davis served as an executive producer and appeared in the documentary film "Giving Voice", following students entering the August Wilson monologue competition for a chance to compete on Broadway. The film had its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on January 26 and was released by Netflix on December 11, 2020. That same year, she starred alongside Chadwick Boseman, his final onscreen performance, as the titular character in the biographical drama "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", based on the 1982 play of the same name and directed by George C. Wolfe. She received critical acclaim and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her performance, in addition to her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination and her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, her fourth nomination overall. With that nomination, she became the most-nominated black actress in the history of the Academy Awards, as well as the first black actress to have been nominated for Best Actress more than once. She also appeared on the cover of the July/August 2020 issue of "Vanity Fair", photographed by Dario Calmese.


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2021, Davis reprised her role as Amanda Waller in the superhero film "The Suicide Squad". Also in 2021, she appeared alongside Sandra Bullock in the drama film "The Unforgivable", directed by Nora Fingscheidt and released on November 24, 2021. Davis appeared uncredited as Amanda Waller in 2 episodes, "A Whole New Whirled" and "It's Cow or Never", in season 1 of the show ""Peacemaker", a spin-off of "The Suicide Squad", and in the film, "Black Adam". Davis executive produced and played former First Lady Michelle Obama in "The First Lady", a Showtime drama series. It premiered in April 2022. After receiving criticism on social media for her portrayal, Davis responded by calling the disapproval "incredibly hurtful" and saying "it is my job as a leader to make bold choices." In 2018, Davis announced that she would star in "The Woman King", inspired by true events that took place within The Kingdom of Dahomey. The film tells the story of Nanisca, the general of an all-female military unit, played by Davis, and her daughter Nawi, played by Thuso Mbedu. Davis was the narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional at Disneyland December 3-4 2022.


title: Viola Davis

text: In January 2017, it was announced that Davis would star alongside Julia Roberts in the film adaptation of Jodi Picoult's novel, "Small Great Things".


title: Viola Davis

text: In 2011, Davis donated funds to her hometown public library in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to assist in preventing its closure due to a lack of city funding. In 2018, Davis donated funds to her alma mater, Central Falls High School, for its theater program.


title: Viola Davis

text: Since 2014, Davis has collaborated with the Hunger Is campaign to help eradicate childhood hunger across America. Speaking on her work, Davis said that "seventeen million kids in this country, so one in five kids in this country, go to bed hungry. I was one of those kids, because I grew up in abject poverty; I did everything that you could possibly imagine to get food: I rummaged in the garbage cans, I stole from the local store constantly." As an honoree at the 2014 "Variety" Power of Women luncheon, Davis further commented that "the thing that made me join...was the word 'eradicate', 'get rid of' - not by thirty-percent not by twenty-percent not by fifty-percent, but to do away [with it]. Because everyone should be a child, and should grow up and have a chance at the American dream". In September 2017, Davis started the $30K in 30 Days Project with Hunger Is, awarding a $1,000 grant to the Rhode Island Community food bank in her home state.


title: Viola Davis

text: As part of her partnership with Vaseline to promote the Vaseline Healing Project, Davis attended the groundbreaking of a free community health center in Central Falls, Rhode Island in October 2016 that was sponsored by the project. The project provides dermatological care to help heal the skin of those affected by poverty around the world. She was also a speaker at the 2018 Women's March event in Los Angeles.


title: Viola Davis

text: Davis married actor Julius Tennon in June 2003. In 2011, the couple adopted an infant daughter named Genesis. Davis is also a stepmother to Tennon's two children from previous relationships.


title: Viola Davis

text: Throughout her career, Davis has received numerous industry and critic awards. For her stage work, she has won two Tony Awards, three Drama Desk Awards, an Obie Award, and a Theater World Award. She holds the distinction of becoming the first actress of color to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and is the first African-American to win five Screen Actors Guild Awards. She has also received nominations for six Golden Globes Awards and three British Academy Film Awards, winning one of each, in addition to winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in "Fences" (2016). This led to her becoming the first black performer to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting by winning a competitive Oscar, Emmy and Tony. She is also the first actress of color to have received four Academy Award nominations. Davis was awarded an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from her undergraduate alma mater, Rhode Island College, in 2002. On January 20, 2020, Davis was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in fine arts from Indiana University.


title: Viola Davis

text: Davis has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the following films:


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 1980s, as well as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1983. There, his persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom, where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of WWF's flagship annual event, WrestleMania. During his initial run, he won the WWF Championship five times, with his first reign being the second-longest in the championship's history. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991. His match with Andre the Giant on WWF The Main Event on February 5, 1988, still holds American television viewership records for wrestling with a 15.2 Nielsen rating and 33 million viewers.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: In 1993, Hogan departed the WWF to sign for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, and holds the record for the longest reign. In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable. As a result, he became a major figure during the "Monday Night Wars", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times, including the most profitable WCW pay-per-view ever, Starrcade 1997.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning the Undisputed WWF Championship for a record equaling (for the year) sixth time before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) – where he won the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship – and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA – now known as Impact Wrestling).


title: Hulk Hogan

text: During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in "Rocky III". He has starred in several films (including "No Holds Barred", "Suburban Commando" and "Mr. Nanny") and three television shows ("Hogan Knows Best", "Thunder in Paradise", and "China, IL"), as well as in Right Guard commercials and the video game, "Hulk Hogan's Main Event". He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, "Hulk Rules", reached 12 on the "Billboard" Top Kid Audio chart in 1995.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Terry Eugene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) of Italian descent and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. ("née" Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011) Bollea of Scottish and French descent. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida. As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He attracted scouts from the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury ended his baseball career. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes, and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention toward Superstar Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, he dropped out of the University of South Florida. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco, two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsudathe man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)to make him a potential trainee. In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. After Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in CWF. A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and opened a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique; Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: In Alabama, Bollea and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Leslie were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series "The Incredible Hulk". The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: On December 1, 1979, Bollea won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. He dropped it in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong. He briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Later that year, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Hogan wrestled his first match in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on November 17 defeating Harry Valdez on "Championship Wrestling". He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug. After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor he repaid during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship, and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used the "Axe Bomber", a crooked arm lariat, as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and the first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship, that is defended regularly.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in a championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: After filming his scene for "Rocky III" against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last for long as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at the end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell, after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans, began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save. Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: On the January 7, 1984 episode of "Championship Wrestling", Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden. The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: He delivered steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he got a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers pointing at the opponent (later accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – followed, ensuring victory. That finishing sequence occasionally changed depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to a quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of the earnings, if Titan held no interest). This extended to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics. (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) In a story in 1988's "Marvel Comics Presents #45", a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name."


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in the back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On "Saturday Night's Main Event I", Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of "Sports Illustrated" (the first and , only professional wrestler to do so), "TV Guide", and "People" magazines, while also appearing on "The Tonight Show" and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled "Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling". Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted "Saturday Night Live" on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW).


title: Hulk Hogan

text: On "Saturday Night's Main Event II", he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk, Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick "Super Strong Machine". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of "Piper's Pit", Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days). In front of 33 million viewers, Hogan finally lost the title to André on "The Main Event I" after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As a result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in a double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André the Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam. They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers: Akeem and Big Boss Man.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at a Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series "Are You Serious?" in 2012.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989, the duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on "The Main Event II", when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage, who slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in a steel cage match on the "Saturday Night's Main Event XXI", which was aired on May 27. In May on "WWF on NESN", Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on "Saturday Night's Main Event XXII" saw the title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie "No Holds Barred", which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was jealous over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). Hogan easily beat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus met at the Survivor Series, where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect before Zeus then dominated Hogan until Zeus was disqualified by referee Dave Hebner. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view First WWF UK Event at London Arena. During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match, before losing to Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on "The Brother Love Show" in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam, and he for several months dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment – believing in yourself, and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The challenge went unmet, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series. Jack Tunney immediately granted Hogan a rematch at This Tuesday in Texas six days later, which he won. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match, but Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Flair the winner and new champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on "Saturday Night's Main Event XXX" against Flair and Undertaker, but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of "The Arsenio Hall Show" to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs, taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Hogan went into the match sporting a cut above a black eye. The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying a group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion Yokozuna in his first title defense since defeating him at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a "Banzai Drop". This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund—who was now a WCW employee—visited him on the set of "Thunder in Paradise" episodes. Hype then built over whether Hogan should remain with "Thunder in Paradise" or instead join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair. On the May 28, 1994 episode of "WCW Saturday Night", Hogan tore up his "Thunder in Paradise" contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued a telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios. The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach. Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on the "Clash of the Champions XXVIII", thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee) that Hogan won.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade (Starrcade: Triple Threat) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader, who challenged him for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V, where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored. Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach, where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on "Nitro" in September 1995. The October 9, 1995 broadcast of "Nitro" was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom, which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting) won. Hogan's fifteen-month title reign (which is the longest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in the title history at 469 days) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III, where The Giant cost Hogan the title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI, where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: On the August 4, 1997 episode of "Nitro", Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission. Five days later at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on "Nitro", where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. Savage took the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever bat match.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night on "Nitro" for the world title. In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and hit a powerbomb on Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night, but Bret Hart interfered moments later and jumped in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions – Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac that feuded with each other for the remainder of the year. Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches: his second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach, and at Road Wild he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks. Hogan also had a critically panned rematch with The Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: On the Thanksgiving episode of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States. Campaign footage aired on "Nitro" of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. Both announcements were false and made as publicity stunts to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him. After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999, episode of "Nitro" to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which Hogan won for the fifth time, but many people found the title change to be "scandalous". As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Hogan lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a steel cage First Blood match. Later, Hogan was severely injured in a Texas tornado match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship featuring him, Diamond Dallas Page, Flair, and Sting at Spring Stampede On the July 12 episode of "Nitro", Hogan made his return as a face for the first time in three years and accepted an open challenge from Savage, who had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Nash turned on him the next week, and the two began a feud that lasted until Road Wild.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: On August 9, 1999, Hogan started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main event six-man tag team match. Hogan then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Injuries and frustrations mounted, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book "Hollywood Hulk Hogan", Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan came to the ring in street clothes, lay down for the pin, and left the ring.


title: Hulk Hogan

text: Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial work with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to challenge Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Before the match, there was a backstage dispute between Hogan and Russo; Hogan wanted to take the title, but Russo was going to have Jarrett win, and lose it to Booker T. Russo told Hogan that he was going to have Jarrett lie down for him, simulating a real conflict, although Jarrett was not told it was a work. When the bell rang, Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring while Russo threw the WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt in the ring and yelled at Hogan from ringside to pin Jarrett. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" After winning and being announced as the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan immediately took the WCW title belt. Moments later, Russo returned to the ring, angrily proclaiming this would be the last time fans would ever see "that piece of shit" in a WCW stadium. This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan could control what would happen with his own character, without anyone else telling him no. In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!". Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jarrett later that night.