Hogan was the greatest hero because of Piper while feuding with Piper.
Hulk was the greatest hero because of the Iron Sheik when he won his first WWF title because Sheik was Iranian and there was that whole U.S. hostage thing going on in Iran at the time.
He was the greatest hero because of Andre because Andre was "unbeatable" and turned on the fans.
Hogan was only as good as all the heels he's worked with.
As soon as one program ended, they needed to get him into another as soon as possible because he needed the belt and he needed to defend it against a formidable opponent. That was his "thing."
Hot Rod spent the majority of his WWF run as a face, and it was hard to replace him with a comparable heel.
The next 3 Mania’s they had to feed Hogan monsters – Bundy & Andre – because no one else was a believable threat.
Andre & Hogan drew big $$, but I think if Piper had remained heel, they could have re-ignited the feud and had a longer run.
But there would also have come a time where Vince would need Piper to be pinned by Hulk, and Roddy’s only RARELY been pinned clean in his post-Portland years (perhaps one of the main reasons Vince only gave him one title run - how else could he lose the belt in the ring?).
He sure as shit would not have taken a dive against Hogan.
Maybe a count-out, or more likely a DQ, but not a pin job.
His rationale was if Hogan defeated him fair & square, his status and value in the business would plummet.
I preferred Roddy as a heel.
A lot of those TNT and SNME segments were great.