In 1995, Kevin Sullivan was tasked with placing Hulk Hogan in his comfort zone while not cluttering the WCW lineup with dated acts up and down the card. Thus, the Dungeon of Doom was born.
You can't talk about pre-nWo WCW for too long without mentioning the Dungeon of Doom. A bizarre cast of characters comprised of former WWE Superstars such as Earthquake, Kamala, Brutus Beefcake, and more, all joining forces under the control of the "Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan, with the main goal of destroying Hulkamania forever.
Kevin Sullivan was not only the top heel in this angle but the booker of the promotion as a whole. Sullivan is now explaining why he put this act together as part of his new podcast, "Tuesdays with the Taskmaster."
Sullivan says that because Hulk Hogan was given creative control in WCW, he surrounded himself with opponents and acts that he knew he could draw money with. However, Sullivan knew the industry was changing and balanced out the influx of former Superstars by trying to house them in one angle so that he didn't have to have too many dated names up and down the card.
"Well, somebody had creative control, meaning Hulk, and if you look at what Hulk was doing is, he was going back to the guys he drew money with. So [Paul Wight became Andre the Giant]. The Renegade, remember him? He became Ultimate Warrior until we got Ultimate Warrior," Sullivan recalled. "He surrounded himself with guys that he had drawn money with, Tenta, Duggan, Brutus; he brought all his friends in. The thing about all his friends, they had drawn money, but the business was rapidly changing, as you know.
"So my idea about the Dungeon of Doom was, 'Let me put them all in one segment and kind of encapsulate it there.' So I won't have to put them all through the show," he explained. "Because, like I said, it was changing rapidly. We had the luchadores and cruiserweights, and the business was rapidly changing. It was hard for him to see the business changing because he had been so successful."
The reason behind the Dungeon of Doom. #onesegment pic.twitter.com/t1HE9iqKyw
— Conrad the Mortgage Guy (@HeyHeyItsConrad) July 20, 2023
Of course, within a year of the formation of the Dungeon of Doom, hulk Hogan would turn heel and join the nWo, finally adding a new wrinkle to his character.
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