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Description
Once again, January 23 is upon us and that means its time for my annual picture celebrating the anniversary of Hulk Hogan's first title win against the Iron Sheik on that date in 1984.

But this time I wanted to do it with a twist, meaning not the standard Hogan picture I've done in the past where he pins Iron Sheik. Struck by the bug of doing Marvel/WWE crossovers recently I realized I wanted badly to pair Hogan against his comic book namesake, even though I'd just recently used the Hulk in a picture crossover against Bruno Sammartino. Knowing I'd likely go down the redundant route I shrugged it off and began thinking of ways to make a strong picture. Yes I could have done any number of things like having either Hulk doing a wrestling move but something about how fierce the old Face Off Hulk looked squaring off against my custom Hulk Hogan (which has the much fiercer Classic Superstars head from Jakks Pacific) so I left it at that as a homage to the famous Wrestlemania 3 stare down he had with Andre the Giant.

Small bit of trivia: because of Marvel's trademark on the name "Hulk" and even the phrase "Incredible Hulk" for years Vince McMahon had to pay to use that name whenever Hogan was advertised or announced, compounded more in the VHS and DVD age. When he left for WCW, the same deal followed until his heel turn and the addition of Hollywood to his name. He was still called "Hollywood Hulk Hogan" for awhile before it was just dropped to being Hollywood Hogan, and would be the same off and on from the end of his WCW time to his return in the WWE and his on-again/off-again relationship with them. After McMahon tried to run a legal loophole with Marvel when their initial contract came to an end in the 2000s, Marvel chose not to renegotiate with the company and as it stands now are in a participation deal directly with Hogan himself, which entitles most companies who wish to license Hogan's name for merchandise can do so through Hogan himself...barring Mattel which still has to go through WWE for approval on most figures.

Description
Once again, January 23 is upon us and that means its time for my annual picture celebrating the anniversary of Hulk Hogan's first title win against the Iron Sheik on that date in 1984.

But this time I wanted to do it with a twist, meaning not the standard Hogan picture I've done in the past where he pins Iron Sheik. Struck by the bug of doing Marvel/WWE crossovers recently I realized I wanted badly to pair Hogan against his comic book namesake, even though I'd just recently used the Hulk in a picture crossover against Bruno Sammartino. Knowing I'd likely go down the redundant route I shrugged it off and began thinking of ways to make a strong picture. Yes I could have done any number of things like having either Hulk doing a wrestling move but something about how fierce the old Face Off Hulk looked squaring off against my custom Hulk Hogan (which has the much fiercer Classic Superstars head from Jakks Pacific) so I left it at that as a homage to the famous Wrestlemania 3 stare down he had with Andre the Giant.

Small bit of trivia: because of Marvel's trademark on the name "Hulk" and even the phrase "Incredible Hulk" for years Vince McMahon had to pay to use that name whenever Hogan was advertised or announced, compounded more in the VHS and DVD age. When he left for WCW, the same deal followed until his heel turn and the addition of Hollywood to his name. He was still called "Hollywood Hulk Hogan" for awhile before it was just dropped to being Hollywood Hogan, and would be the same off and on from the end of his WCW time to his return in the WWE and his on-again/off-again relationship with them. After McMahon tried to run a legal loophole with Marvel when their initial contract came to an end in the 2000s, Marvel chose not to renegotiate with the company and as it stands now are in a participation deal directly with Hogan himself, which entitles most companies who wish to license Hogan's name for merchandise can do so through Hogan himself...barring Mattel which still has to go through WWE for approval on most figures.