Trivia / Hulk Hogan

• Breakup Breakout: During their NWA and AWA days, Terry Bollea and Ed Leslie were a tag team of Unrelated Brothers, known alternately as Terry & Ed Boulder and Hulk & Dizzy Hogan. Hulk Hogan, of course, became Hulk Hogan. Ed Leslie became best known as either Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, or "that guy with a million ring names who only has a job because he's best friends with Hulk Hogan." In Ed Leslie's defense, he gained quite a bit of popularity after his Heel–Face Turn in '87 and he became a decent wrestler in late '89, and, unlike someone like Triple H, his connection to Hogan wasn't apparent at the time. Unfortunately, his para-sailing accident in 1990 put an end to all that and anything after really was riding Hogan's coattails.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Hulk Hogan blames himself for the disastrous match he and Ultimate Warrior had at the 1998 Halloween Havoc and if one had seen it, they probably know why. The part that isn't Hogan's fault is that the next match, Diamond Dallas Page vs Goldberg, called by some critics as the best match in the event's then eleven year history, was cut due to pay per view issues, meaning what was easily the worst match on the card was also the functional main event, making it that much more memorable.
  • Hogan mentioned on one podcast interview how he regrets the way the nWo became inflated during the height of its popularity and mentioned, if he had to do it again, he'd make the nWo a three-man team like The Shield.
  • Hogan has also stated that if there was one thing he could go back and change about his wrestling career, it would be his finishing move. Since Hogan was well-known for his huge arms, it made no sense for him to use a leg drop as his finishing move and he said he should have used something like the sleeper. The fact that the leg drop is likely the primary contributing factor to his hip and spine-related issues in his later years is also probably another reason he regrets using it. In Japan, he actually used the Axe Bomber (bent-arm clothesline) as his finisher instead, after once legitimately knocking out Antonio Inoki with it.
  • Hogan reportedly regrets doing Hogan Knows Best, the reality show that he and his family starred in. While the success of the show helped revive his slumping career somewhat, it was a stressful shooting environment for the whole family, and didn't help his struggling marriage much, leading him to divorce from his wife less than a month after the show ended.
• Dear Negative Reader:
  • Goodnight HULKAMANIACS and jabronie marks without a life that don't know it a work when you work a work and work yourself into a shoot,marks
  • "OBSERVE THIS, BROTHER!" Hogan burned a copy of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter on WCW World War 3 1995 after they alleged that Randy Savage had hurt his arm. (It turned out Savage really did hurt his arm, by the way, as noted by the obvious bandages he wore that night.) So, this happened in November 1995:
    1. Hogan won the following WON awards for 1994 (published in early 1995): Most Overrated, Most Unimproved, Most Obnoxious, and Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler.
    2. Hogan won the following WON awards for 1995 (published in early 1996, a few months after this promo): Most Overrated, Worst Major Wrestling Show (Uncensored which he headlined), Worst Feud of the Year (vs. the Dungeon of Doom), Most Unimproved, Most Obnoxious, Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler, Worst on Interviews, and Most Embarrassing Wrestler.
    3. WCW Saturday Night also won Worst TV Show both years, and WCW won Worst Promotion of the Year both years.
• Follow the Leader
  • The bodybuilder look, the long blonde hair, calling people "Brother," and even the "Twenty-four inch pythons" catchphrase all came from "Superstar" Billy Graham.
  • Before Hulkamania there was Idolmania. And Austin Idol himself took most of his gimmick from Super Star Billy Graham.
  • The nWo was conceived out of the shoot style versus strong style UWF invasion of New Japan and [1] canceled invasion of Smoky Mountain into WCW. WCW wouldn't have had the real WWF invade even if they could, but they could fool the fans for a bit before creating a group out of whole cloth.
• Lying Creator: Hogan is prone to repeating various anecdotes wherein the truth has been... blurred to say the least. Although in all due fairness, the man spent twenty-odd years traveling on a constantly exhaustive schedule in various nations as the biggest name in wrestling and spent a good deal of time having his body and head battered. Probably not all that surprising that events have become confused in the Hulkster's mind. ^note  Hogan acknowledged this during the Gawker trial, saying that the Hulk Hogan persona and Terry Bollea are not one in the same and what's true for Hogan might not be true for real life.
• Real Song Theme Tune:
  • Prior to the release of the WWF's first Wrestling Album, Hogan used Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" as his entrance theme (based on Hogan's appearance in Rocky III, which featured that song), which he carried over from his 1982-1983 run in the AWA.
  • Replaced briefly by "Hulk's Arena Theme" (which was used for his concurrent Saturday morning cartoon series and refurbished into Bonnie Tyler's "Ravishing" a little later) before using Rick Derringer's "Real American" starting in January 1986.
  • In Japan, his entrance was announced by Maynard Ferguson's rendition to Battlestar Galactica's theme.
  • As part of the nWo and during his WWE run in '02 he used Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"
• Referenced by...: Climate Town: "The Suburbs Are Bleeding America Dry" uses a couple of clips of Hulk Hogan to interrupt Rollie for jokes that tie into his point.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor:
  • The early '90s steroid scandal. Although Hogan would remain one of the most popular wrestlers in America for a long time afterwards, his numbers (house show, TV, pay-per-view) took a nosedive almost immediately after the revelations hit the airwaves, and he never really reached the same peak of popularity.
  • He was re-signed to the WWE on a legends deal, including making appearances at WrestleMania 30 and 31, however, in July 2015, they terminated their contract with him after audio surfaced of a racist rant he made during his infamous sex tape with Heather Cole.
• Screwed by the Network: Jerry Lawler is among the few wrestlers who is allowed to work both for WWE and whoever else he wants to so long as it doesn't conflict with him getting to Raw, but in 2007 WWE decided to deprive Corey Maclin's version of Memphis Wrestling of Lawler since Hogan was going to be on the show as well. Maclin died before he could successfully prove violation of the Sherman antitrust act.
• Streisand Effect: Once sued Post Cereals for a Cocoa Pebbles commercial that had a Hulk Hogan parody who gets beat up by Bam Bam. Apparently, Post agreed to stop airing the commercial, but not before bringing it attention it would not have otherwise received. Seen here.
• Wag the Director: The consensus among modern wrestling fans is that yes, Hogan is very much a prima donna, both onscreen and in Real Life. Listing every example would probably fill a page of its own.
  "Who sold out Shea Stadium? Who put 94,000 people in the Pontiac Silverdome? Who slammed a 700-pound giant?".
• What Could Have Been:
  • Hogan's entire career could have been perceived much differently from the get go in the US. The man was trained by Hiro Matsuda who was not only a great technical wrestler, but a legitimate shoot fighter who broke Hogan's leg the first day he'd come to his wrestling camp to see if Hogan had the desire to really be a wrestler. Hogan came back and Matsuda trained him to wrestle a very technical style, but American promoters wanted him to wrestle like a generic big guy wrestler. Hogan still used his more technical style in Japan, and in 1993 just after winning his fifth WWF World Title had a match with The Great Muta that saw him use an ENZUIGIRI on the man. When American fans finally got to see this side of Hogan when that match among others of his days working in Japan popped up on YouTube, many of Hogan's detractors had their jaws firmly planted somewhere in the lower levels of their homes. One can only guess what might have happened if Hogan had been able to use the style Matsuda trained him to use in the US.
  • During his first run in the WWF, Vince McMahon Sr. wanted Hogan to dye his hair red (since Hogan is an Irish surname). He refused because he was already balding at the time.
  • Also during his first run in the WWF, there supposedly was a series of matches signed for Hogan to face Bruno Sammartino, who in early 1980 was still one of the sport's top draws, if not the top draw. From there on we have two versions of the story:
    • Sammartino in an online interview, noted that these matches never took place because Hogan knew he would be beaten swiftly and surely in the ring. Which — at this stage in the game in Hogan's career — is likely true; indeed, Hogan no-showed for these events. What is unclear is who arranged for the no-shows, and one possible explanation is that it was Vince McMahon Sr. (still in charge in 1980), who knew that Sammartino was far-better conditioned and ring savvy than the (then) still relatively inexperienced Hogan, and that the elder Vince knew that Hogan's credibility as a serious if not dire threat to both Bob Backlund, André the Giant and future opponents — and his overall credibility as a wrestler — would be all but destroyed if a Sammartino-Hogan match were to have taken place.
    • The other version says that Vince Sr. arranged the no-showings or nixed the idea completly, given Sammartino almost got paralized by a botched Bodyslam perfomed on him by Stan Hansen on Apr. 26 1976, fearing the still green 6' 7'' / 303 pounds may have had injure or worse the still ailing former champion. Keep in mind this was a year before the seeds of Hogan's rise to superstardom began (albeit in NJPW and the rival AWA) two years before Vince Jr. took over and roughly two and a half years before Hogan just knocked-out cold Antonio Inoki accidentally and win the IWGP Heavyweight title.
  • He was on top in the AWA for two years, and while they might not have had the national reach of the WWWF at the time, they still had a pretty good chunk of the country. Plus Hogan was in Rocky III while in-between deals with the McMahons. If Verne had wanted to put the AWA world title on Hogan, who knows where things could have went? Greg Gagne has stated that his father actually did intend to make Hulk the AWA World Heavyweight Champion and work a program with André the Giant in 1984 that would have seen at least one match aired nationally on CBS. Hogan didn't know this, as Verne was not one to share his future plans outside of his circle, so a frustrated Hogan went to the WWF instead.
  • Hogan has stated on both Talk is Jericho and The Steve Austin Show that he wanted to turn heel, attack the Ultimate Warrior and become "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan after losing to Warrior at WrestleMania VI. Vince vetoed the idea, not thinking Hogan could pull off being a heel (despite Hogan having been a heel for most of his career before his second run in WWF). Imagine what would have happened if Hollywood Hogan came about during the Hulkamania heyday...
  • Kane's gimmick? It was originally pitched as The Undertaker's gimmick by Brother Love but Hulk Hogan had already talked Vince into the Undertaker gimmick, supposedly thought up by Pat Patterson, who most certainty got it from the AWA. (It is widely rumored that Vince originally wanted Undertaker to hatch from The Gobbledy Gooker's egg so whether Patterson/Hogan or Love got their way, it was good they were around to stop that...unless you're Hector Guerrero.)
  • In the event that Hogan didn't want to be the third man of the nWo, another was set up to take his place. Who was it? Sting.
  • We almost had Hulk vs Stone Cold. Austin confirmed at a 2020 podcast that it was him who nixed the idea given that they weren't able to decide not the winner, but who was going to "carry" who. Hogan's lower back and knees were pretty much talcum even then and the Rattlesnake's neck never fully recovered from the piledriver in his match against Owen Hart.
  • You know what? Forget about Doctors in Thuganomics and Rattlesnakes, according to Jim Cornette we almost got Hulk Hogan vs. Bruiser Brody scheduled for WrestleMania V. Unfortunately that couldn't be taken into fruition.
  • Amusingly, Hulk Hogan was actually set to appear at the very first Starrcade event, and he's even listed on some preview flyers. Due to conflicts with his Japanese tour schedule he had to drop out.
  • If Hogan had stayed a bit longer in WWF in 1993, they were reportedly going to start him on a brief feud with Giant González; Gonzales had even attacked Hogan during a match at one of the final house shows Hogan did before he left.
• Written-In Infirmity: Hogan's patented legdrop has caused serious damage to his knees and spine over the years, not helped by his long-term steroid abuse, and the sheer length of his career. He's had numerous spinal operations that have left him all but unable to wrestle, and have even resulted in him losing several inches of height. For this reason, "matches" with Hogan consist of bad guys running into his fists at full-force while he stands there like a turret.

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