Remembering Hulk Hogan
Terry Bollea brought a new flavor to pro wrestling as Hulk Hogan
The Sunday Notes column is available each week to all premium subscribers.
Prior to wrestling The Rock at WrestleMania X8 in 2002, Hulk Hogan had not performed at WWE’s signature event since 1993.
Hogan owned the 1980s. His work in WCW set the 1990s aflame. Then his match against The Rock wrote a new chapter in his famed wrestling legacy. As “Hollywood” Hogan, a dozen years after captivating the crowd in Canada at WrestleMania VI, he once again captured the moment with a performance has stood the test of time.
Quite a lot had changed in WWE while Hogan had worked for WCW. Steve Austin and The Rock became Vince McMahon’s top stars, and the “Attitude Era” was far different than the heyday of the 1980s. The climate and structure of WWE also changed off-camera, which was evident when Hogan was asked to run through his match against The Rock during the WrestleMania X8 rehearsal.
“I’ve never practiced a match in my life,” Hogan told me. “But when I finished at WCW and went back to WWE, Vince told me things were different. I remember him telling me that I needed to bring it if I wanted to keep up. Vince and Pat Patterson wanted us to go through the match to see what we were doing. That wasn’t my cup of tea.
“That wasn’t happening, brother. I needed at least 20,000 people in front of me and a couple Miller Lites in me before I could do it at that level, so we walked through it instead.”
For Hogan, the lasting memory of that walk-through was Rocky Johnson hollering at The Rock, reminding his son to listen to Hogan. There is a backstory there, of course. Hogan was once a student of Johnson’s, so the moment was full circle for The Rock’s father.
“I’d known Rocky Johnson for a long time, even before I started to wrestle,” said Hogan. “He was someone I looked up to. And that day, I can still remember standing in the ring talking with Dwayne, and all we could hear was Rocky Johnson yelling, ‘Dwayne, listen to Hogan!’”
Hogan first met Rocky Johnson while both were living in Florida. At the time, Hogan was a rabid wrestling fan while Johnson was a star of the industry.
“Rocky Johnson was wrestling in Florida, and after the matches in Tampa, they’d all go to the Imperial Room,” said Hogan. “I bet Rock remembers the place because they lived right near it. I’d go just to mark out and see Harley Race and ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham on one side of the room, then Rocky Johnson on the other.
“This was back when I was in a rock and roll band. I finally got the nerve to speak to the guys, and there was one time where I offered to drive Rocky Johnson to Tallahassee for his match. That was a five-hour drive, but I didn’t care. I was just so excited. I drove him in my girlfriend’s brand-new Ford Torino, and I was so proud to drive him. I ended up driving him a few times, and I’d be gone until the sun came up. Or, if he was on earlier, I’d break every speeding limit to get him back to the Imperial Room before last call. When I went to New York in ’79 [to work for the World Wrestling Federation], he took me under his wing when he wrestled there. I never forgot that.”
To Hogan, the art form is calling it out in the ring. And just like WrestleMania III against Andre The Giant, WrestleMania V with Randy “Macho Man” Savage, or WrestleMania VI beside The Ultimate Warrior, history repeated itself at WrestleMania X8.
That was the beauty of Hogan. Pro wrestling’s biggest star was also its most devoted fan. Hogan was a wrestling lifer, enamored with the industry as a teenager, and he vowed to become one of wrestling’s undeniable stars. Not only did he succeed in that goal, but he exceeded every expectation imaginable, becoming synonymous with wrestling as its most recognizable star.
After cutting his teeth as an antagonist in the WWWF from 1979-81 as Terry “The Hulk” Boulder, a heel character aligned with “Classy” Freddie Blassie, Hogan traveled to a new territory in the AWA. He became a fan favorite in ’81, saving Brad Rheingans from an attack by Jerry Blackwell. Absolutely no one, Hogan included, had any notion of the volcano preparing to erupt.
As Hogan’s popularity began to soar, he stormed to the ring wearing one of his custom-made tees. Before a six-man tag against Ken Patera, Jerry Blackwell, and “Sheik” Adnan El Kaissey, Hogan’s partners Greg Gagne and “Jumpin” Jim Brunell responded to the roars of the crowd by ripping off Hogan’s shirt–which became a signature phenomenon during his Hulkamania run.
“That’s how that started,” said Hogan. “Before the match, Greg and Jim ripped my t-shirt off my chest. At first I was thinking, ‘I just had that shirt made.’ But the reaction from the crowd was crazy. That was the very beginning. Then Verne Gagne said, ‘Once you kick out of a guy’s finish, don’t let him stop you.’ And that’s the formula I followed.”
Hogan did more than just follow that formula. He perfected it.
Five decades into his career as a professional wrestler, Hogan still relished the chance to cut a promo. Ambitious as ever, he had multiple projects–finally striking gold with Real American Beer, then capitalizing off it with Real American Freestyle and a restaurant across from Madison Square Garden created in his likeness–running simultaneously, but he never steered too far away from his bread and butter: pro wrestling.
When Terry Bollea died this past Thursday, a piece of pro wrestling went with him. Controversy followed him until (and beyond) his last breath, but there is no denying that Hogan was wrestling’s most influential star. Alongside McMahon, Hogan carried WWE to new heights. Serving as the driving force behind WrestleMania, he broke barriers and brought wrestling into the mainstream.
And his fandom was the heartbeat of that heel run. Hogan was a student of the game, which allowed him to flourish as a villain.
“I knew I could work as a heel because I’d watched so much of Ray Stevens and Pat Patterson and ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham and The Great Malenko,” said Hogan. “They’d chop, kick and beat the crap out of you, but then they’d backpedal, cross their heart, and drop to their knees the moment the babyface would make his comeback.”
Hogan’s heel turn created another boom period for wrestling, bringing World Championship Wrestling to heights that were previously unimaginable. It marked his chance to succeed without McMahon, which meant a great deal to the ever-competitive man who brought Hogan to life.
So many of wrestling’s most enduring moments from the 1980s and 1990s contain Hogan’s fingerprints. To see him do it again in 2002 with The Rock, it was a reminder of his brilliance. He further cemented his place in wrestling history, carving out a place that no one can take for him.
“When I walked out of the curtain at WrestleMania X8, some people were cheering me,” said Hogan. “We had to call an audible. The crowd wanted something different, so we called it on the fly. Rock was such a pro and so old school. He listened to the crowd, and it was like a slow dance. It was beautiful. That’s a night I’ll never forget.”
Wrestling fans won’t forget it, either.
Terry Bollea died last week at the age of 71. But for those who grew up watching him, Hulk Hogan has no expiration date.