Vince didn't decide to goto smaller guys, he had no choice its all that was left. It proved that the big man was not as important to pro wrestling as Vince believed and truthfully still does. You said without Hogan Triple H and Shawn Michaels wouldn't have a place to shine. This may be true, but Hogan also put WCW on the map, and due to the polititcs that kept Hogan on top, people got bored and tired of Hulk Hogan, and the company fell into the whole even with Hogan there still pushing himself to the top. And when Russo went into buisness for himself and rebooked the WCW Title it was too late for WCW to recover from. Granted I agree that Hogan may be the most popular of all time, but one thing will not change that proves that Flair has stood the test of time better then Hogan. Sure, Hulk Hogan gets in a ring after being out of sight for awhile. The fans cheer louder then they do for anyone. But within a month that cheering has started to die down. Sure he's still mostly cheered, but wrestling fans as a whole realize that his time has come and gone years ago. When Ric Flair gets in the ring fans cheer, they bow at ring side. There is always a very positive reaction to Flair. And thats with him still being on active rosters week in and week out. Hogan has to leave or risk being booed out. And finally, during any match, in any wrestling promotion in the world, when someone hits a chop the whole crowd yells, "Woooooooo". Hulk Hogan is not even thought about during most wrestling shows unless he's on it.