Hulk Hogan (@hulkhogan) is a legendary professional wrestler and a 2-time WWE Hall of Famer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet for a candid conversation at Hogan’s Hangout in Clearwater Beach, FL to talk about whether Chris Hemsworth is still going to play him in an upcoming movie, where Hulk Hogan ends and where Terry Bollea begins, joining the nWo and turning heel in WCW, his iconic match with The Rock at WrestleMania 18, the last minute plan for the nWo to turn on him after that match, his Voodoo Child entrance music, does he think John Cena should have turned heel?, his match against Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 19, how close we were to having Hulk Hogan return at WrestleMania 39, the biggest regret in his career, why he never had an official last match, his favorite thing about being in TNA, the advice he would give to his younger self, his pro wrestling Mount Rushmore, 3 things he is grateful for and much more!
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Quote I’m thinking about:
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. – Maria Robinson
On the Hulk Hogan biopic starring Chris Hemsworth:
“Yes, I do. So it was a situation where business-wise, Netflix kind of like missed the date, you know, as far as a business situation. And so I had the choice at that time to switch gears. Scott Silver wrote the script, you know, he wrote The Joker and a bunch of different movies. And of course, Todd Phillips has done the Joker Wolf of Wall Street and you know, whatever. All the crazy stuff that he did. But yeah, the script came back. It was amazing. I mean, because my favorite movies are like Scarface, The Godfather, True Romance, it was there, it was there. And I just thought, Whoa, but all of a sudden there was a business glitch, you know, and then they tried to fix it a few days later. And I’d already decided to move on. So, my life rights and stuff are somewhere else now. And there are a lot of things that are getting ready to happen. And hopefully, Todd Phillips and Chris Hemsworth will still want to play. But there’s still a huge opportunity there.”
On Chirs Hemsworth being the choice:
“Well, Chris [Hemsworth] was the one I always [wanted]. Even before we get into this. I said, if anybody ever played Hulk Hogan, I want to be Chris Hemsworth. You know, his birthday is the same day as mine. So we talked, I think once about the whole situation, he was all excited, because he told me he’d never played a real person before. [He said] Oh, my gosh, your life is so interesting. This is so crazy. This could be the biggest thing I’ve ever done. And yeah, and Scott Silver, the writer who wrote The Joker uses, this is the most amazing script I’ve ever written. So it’s powerful. It’s in a different place, but there will be an opportunity for everybody to regroup.”
How much pain is Hulk Hogan in?
“That’s kind of funny. Because I had a physical therapist asked me yesterday, if you could be out of pain or you could have a perfect championship walk what’s what would you rather have? I said I’d rather have the walk. She goes, You’re out of your mind. I said, Yes, I am. Because everything hurts, like, just like, it’s hard to explain. Like, if I’m gonna brush my teeth, and I’m leaning on the counter to brush my teeth. I can’t push away. So when I’m done, brush my teeth. I have to lean in like that and then pull back. You know, I can’t push like a glass door open. Everything in the gym is short strokes. You know? I can’t straighten my arms out. And then it’s the same with my knees, my hips, my back my neck. You know, but that’s because I probably wrestled too long. And I didn’t get the memo that stuff was fake. You know? So I don’t complain about it. Because you know, like, I was telling Sky. The lady I’m getting ready to marry tomorrow. She goes Well, how much per year and I said, Well, I’m in pain all the time. But I’m used to it. You know, in my go-to in the morning, just to get me rolling is two cups of coffee and two Tylenol. And then that’s it. That’s as far as I go. As far as the pain pills go. But I could probably lose the Tylenol at this point, because they don’t do much. Yeah, but it’s just kind of like a habit. Now the two Tylenols with two cups of coffee.”
On John Cena not turning heel:
“Well, the thing was when you’re at your prime that’s where you turned all you know, the Cena fans who Never Give Ip and just look at him go, You know what, I did it for the money, you know? And he would be one of the hottest heels ever. And then, you know whether it’s running six months or six years or two years. When you repent, and you beg for forgiveness, he would be hotter than he was before as a babyface. So yeah, it’s a natural flow. That once you get the vibe, you know, out there and you kind of like feel the crowd you can tell. You know, and John would be John could probably tell better that honestly better than Vince once he’s out there. I know. Vince has been in the ring a lot. And he’s very good. Because I’ve been in the ring with Vince. He’s one of the best deals I’ve ever worked against. Everything he does hurts.”
On what hurts the most from Vince McMahon:
“His punches are brutal. I mean, I was at WrestleMania 19 doing this all night long. I am going brother Lighten up, brother. I’m on the team with you, lighten up. You keep doing that you’re gonna be in here by yourself. It got to the point where we started laughing. You know? And but yeah, I told him to go up on that ladder on the outside to drop the leg on the table. He goes, You sure? I said, Yeah, I’m sure, you go up there. And he did it.”
On having one last match:
“I would have loved to have had that last match. But now it’s completely out of the picture. You know, I’m just too beat up from the surgeries. I think if I took a couple of bumps, you probably have to cut up me again. But no, I really wanted to have that last match. [Against who?] I wasn’t sure you know, I had I think it was WrestleMania 25 in Orlando.”
On the opponent possibly being John Cena:
“Vince had me all hooked up with Cena and I said I’d do it. And Vince and I were talking every week and we were putting the plans together you know, like the old days where I was in the office every day him and I were talking every day and all of a sudden I’m on the phone with Vince I was like, Oh my God. Oh, my back went out when I was talking to Vince on the phone. I just had back surgery number three or four at that time, and I had to go right in immediately and get cut up. So that was it for that but I thought that was going to be my last match and then you know, but that never happened and then it just kind of like faded away.”
On his many surgeries and cannabis use:
“Well, I mean, you know, I’ve been down that road with the pain pills. You know, last 12 years, I’ve had 25 surgeries. So I mean, you know, the knees, the hips, 10 back surgeries, a couple of shoulder surgeries, abdominal surgeries, orbital socket surgeries. So I know what it’s like when the doctor goes, here’s a prescription. You know, and I mean, you’re sometimes when you’re in such pain after 7,8,9,10 back surgeries, you’d rather just jump off a cliff than live another day. So it’s really easy to fall into that situation. And you know, a lot of other wrestlers that have passed away have fallen into that situation. And then there’s a lot of people that have been deployed to Afghanistan and Kuwait that, you know, have serious issues. So it’s just like, a more natural way to walk things back. A more natural way to get on track and get back to normal. So it makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons.”
On WrestleMania 18:
“Well, to get there, there’s a huge backstory. Okay. And the backstory is working for Ted Turner for 9 or 10 years, trying to put Vince out of business. You know, basically trying to beat him in the ratings to do whatever we could to be competitive. Because when I did leave the WWF at the time, Vince pretty much told me my run was over and the red and yellow was done. And after the Warrior beat me there were a couple of years actually, after the Warrior beat me that night. I said well, I giving the belts. I go down out I mean, do the three surgeries, three stooges slowly I turned. I want to be Triple H Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Oh, you can’t do that. You can’t be a heel. I said brother, your dad brought me in as a heel. Of course, I can do it. So a couple years later, as I kept floundering around there, Vince pretty much told me my run was over and I said, really? So I went into Thunder in Paradise and I got bored with doing that craziness, went to WCW and did what I did there. And then it was a situation where I was in a hotel room in New York, called the Parker Meridien. And I was actually sitting on a toilet doing number two, right? All right, I saw Triple H on the phone. That’s interesting. So I picked the phone up and I go What’s up, brother? He goes how are you doing? So we heard your contract is done. This is not in the other whatever the verbiage was? Vince would like to talk to you so so cool, you know. And so one thing led to another and before I get to WrestleMania 18. The backstory was the verbiage with me, and Vince was things have changed up here. And when I kind of knew that The Rock and Stone were the two guys that they cater to. Because before during the day when they’d go out to the ring of it would be Hulk Hiogan, and this is what we’re doing that’s what we’re doing. Now, I knew it wasn’t my time but it was the new guy, sorry knew that. But Vince went Oh no, you’re coming up here then you got to really bring it. I was like okay, I mean, I got to run faster, jump higher, what do you mean really bring it? So I knew what he meant the work rate was quicker and faster and stuff which to me doesn’t mean anything. You know, my fault I didn’t say it but if you want me to bring it you will want to ask me to take it back you know, because I will, but I would never do anything to hurt the boys, that hurt Rock. But I just kept my mouth shut and the backstory still was they didn’t think I could pull it off. Or I think they thought that maybe I wasn’t up to snuff to be Hulk Hogan, they said they wanted me to go down to Miami rehearse the match, which I’ve never done in my life. And so I went down there and Rocky Johnson was there, my boy and Pat Patterson was there and there was this ring in a warehouse it was 100 degrees plus, and The Rock told me everything he wanted to do and walk around and go here and there and spit his fist and you go over the top rope go through all the stuff that match was pretty much laid out. And then Rocky Johnson went Dwyane, listen to Hogan. Rocky was just like, cheered for me. You know, which was kind of fun. Me, because he was a good friend of mine the whole time when in the WWF and then Pat Patterson said ok Terry let’s go to the mat. I went, are you kidding me? So if I fall down in here, I’m gonna get hurt. I can’t wrestle with no people here. He goes, Yeah, I gotta Vince wants to go through the match, I can’t do it. I said, believe me, we get in front of 20, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80,000 people, I’ll be fine. And so you know, I was kind of wondering if this whole thing is planned out? What if you start doing this and the people fart at it? Are you going to keep doing what you planned out? And so I really didn’t say much. And then we were in the dressing room and rocking out. We’re actually in the same dressing room that night. Not a lot of conversation. But Rocky Johnson was in there Dwyane, listen to Hogan So we get out there and I expect fully expected them to boot me out of the building. After hitting him with a hammer, put him in the ambulance running in mode with a semi. Yeah, I did everything I could to get heat.”
On bringing the red and yellow back after WrestleMania 18:
“The referee told me they were coming down. All I remember is being on my knees and looking up at Big Kevin. Kevin’s got arms over his head with a chair. He’s like ah! I’m like Oh my god he’s marking out. And I never put my hand up. I put my forearm up, hit my forearm and I went to the back and I said Kevin, what is going on bro? He goes I never thought I was going to hit Hulk Hogan with a chair. I said we’ve been working together for the last seven or eight years. I’m your boy. He goes yeah but it was WrestleMania and I had to lie down. I said Yeah, but if I hadn’t put my arm up you were gonna kill me. But yeah, we laughed about it afterwards. But I thank God I looked into his eyes to see that he wasn’t even there. You know, but it was a lot of fun. And then Vince ordered me to go back and get the red and yellow immediately.”
Why Hulk Hogan returned to the WWE:
“My whole reason for going up there was of course to wrestle The Rock, you know and of course, heels are meant to be beat, it was a fluke, I slipped on a banana peel he could ever do it again, you know, whatever, I could have kept my heat because my little intention was to have a two-year run with Stone Cold because he was red hot at the time I was dying to get in his shorts, man and make some money, you know. And so it was kind of like, you know, because I know Steve had some physical issues and stuff with his nerves and his legs and stuff. Yeah, so I was just like, the air was let out of the balloon when I didn’t get a chance to run with him because that would have been crazy.”
On joining the nWo:
“Well, first off, we didn’t tell anybody, Hall and Nash didn’t know if I was coming or not. [They didn’t know who the third man was?] Well, there was a possibility because Eric had been [in contact]. I was out filming a movie out in LA. And Eric had approached me about turning heel. I said no brother doesn’t work for me right now, you know, I was making really good money there, you know, guaranteed money and I just want to keep things going the way they were. Even though the red and yellow thing was starting to lose a little bit of lustre and it was getting old. And I saw you know, Scott came out I’m like this looks like a shoot, you know, and I’m watching this from LA. And then big Kev came out and powerbombed Eric through the table. I called Eric and said I’m your third man. He said oh thank God, because we were gonna go with Sting I said, bro, you can’t go with Sting. He’s not WWF from head to toe. It’s in my blood. I mean, I’m the guy. So Eric didn’t want to tell anybody you know. So up until the time I went to the ring. Eric goes, Hogan is not here yet. Which of course I was outside hanging out. Hogan is not here yet. And if he doesn’t come up, we’re sending Sting. So Scott and Kevin went out not knowing if I was coming, right. So it’s really weird because when I look back at the tape, I know Eric was talking about Yeah, well, we spent time outside and we discussed the promo and stuff and I don’t remember any of that because I just went out when Gene came in it was let me tell you something Mean Gene I just rolled with my normal crap you know, I was sought out the world you guys are pumping gas to get high school. I just rolled with one of my heel promos, you know, and it was I never think about what I’m gonna say until I get out there. So you know, everything was really cool. And all of a sudden I felt that cold white heat where it got sour from it and they started throwing stuff. I told Mene Gene I said you need to go bro. You need to get out. We may have a riot in here and then his nose was bleeding. You got hit with something and he kept his head down. He was scared us it bro you need to run. Because if we start lighting this place up, we could have a riot there because it was that type of heat I hadn’t felt for a long time.”
On debunking false Hulk Hogan stories:
“But some of the Hulk Hogan stories like oh my gosh, my dad says, Hello, he played basketball with you for 15 years and Venice Beach. will tell your dad I said hello. But I’ve never played basketball. I don’t say Hey, kid, your dad is a liar. I mean, you know, you just can’t go there. But I think she’s [Sky] to the point now where she understands that the people have been endeared by this character so much. Everybody’s got a Hulk Hogan story, whether it’s good or bad, true or false. They tell that story. And sometimes I wonder, what are they still getting out of that story? A lot of wrestlers will tell stories about me that I hear. And it’s just not true. Some of the guys are Main Event guys, and I hear these stories. I wonder what they’re still getting out of telling that story.”
On that doesn’t work for me, brother:
“Well, if I knew the individual stories, I can tell whether it happened but that was my catchphrase. That doesn’t work for me brother. You know, like, there were several times when Ric Flair and I were travelling, and we do like the Maple Leaf Gardens, the main event, and then there’d be like Brantford, Ontario, which I would always make the double shot, but every once awhile I had other stuff to do. So I’d say Rick take my car, you know, jump back on the plane because that doesn’t work for me, brother. But that was my go to line, you know.”
Who is on Hulk Hogan’s Mount Rushmore:
“Well, that’s a tough one. You know, because Andre has to be there. There’s no doubt about it. Andre has to be there. And there’s just not enough headspace there. You know, because up there, you know, it would have to be Ric Flair. You know, I tell Ric Flair you’re the greatest wrestler that ever lived and I’ve had other people tell me other things, you know, but as far as I’m concerned with him loving this business and being a complete sellout, he gave up everything. Family, friends, his own health, everything to be in his business. That’s kind of crazy type of dedication, way more than I could give. You know, and he did it because he loved this business. And plus, he was a top guy like forever, you know, so it had to be Andre. It has to be flair. I’m just going with the older guys, you know, because there are some new guys like Seth Rollins, who I really admire. You know, Kevin Owens caught my eye really early when a lot of people didn’t believe in him. And I saw him down there and said see oh my god that brother has got it figured out. You know, and so I’m all over the place with it but for me the quick fix would be Andre, Flair, Rock and Austin. That’s a quick fix for me. Yeah, those four guys deserve it.”
On still being a part of WWE:
“You know, I still work with the WWE all the time. I just renewed my deal with them, you know. And [Deos that mean, we can hear your music hit sometime soon]. I hope so. It’s always fun to go out there. And maybe I can hang on to one of the wrestlers to get me out to the ring. But it’s really crazy. Because when I was the world’s champion, you know, we sold a tonne of merchandise. We didn’t have the vehicle to the internet and the stuff that they have nowadays. But we sold a lot of stuff you know, back in the day. The cartoon were very supportive of the merchandise and stuff like that. And you know, it was kind of strange because I think I had 350 licensees which are like individual deals, Frisbees, watches, headbands, chalk, kites, potty seats, tennis shoes, whatever it may be. And now that I’m kind of like Jimmy Hart says, well, baby, baby, what’s old is new again. What’s old is new again. And I said, Jimmy, you’re right. Because, you know, I’ve been approving merchandise every day, I get new stuff coming in. And I’m up to like, 850,000, you know, like, 900,000 pieces of merchandise. I’m sorry, I’m mistaken it’s 300 different agencies. I’m up to 900 licensees not 900,000. I’m thinking wrong. But instead of 300 deals for Frisbees, or whatever, it’s up to almost 900. Yeah. So it’s like, I’m Elvis is still alive. You know, it’s kind of scary. I don’t know. So but it’s just amazing how the fans have made this live forever, you know, it’s amazing.”
What is Hulk Hogan grateful for:
“My saviour Jesus Christ, my children and I have now met someone who can be my soulmate.”
