“Hollywood” Hulk Hogan was one of the most infamous heels in the history of professional wrestling. In many ways, he symbolized WCW, both at its best and at its worst.
But in a recent appearance on WWE After The Bell, Hogan revealed that he wanted to run with the character in Vince McMahon’s company as early as WWE WrestleMania VI. Many fans remember this classic event for the iconic clash between “The Hulkster” and The Ultimate Warrior. Hogan’s loss marked the initial ending of the “Hulkamania” era, though Hogan actually remained the company’s top star for a few more years. But on the podcast, he recalled how this historic night could have gone a lot differently if Vince McMahon had agreed with his vision.
“Vince and I had a disagreement,” said Hogan. “Vince McMahon had an opinion that Hulkamania had his run, and it actually went back to, when was Toronto with [Ultimate] Warrior? WrestleMania 6? WrestleMania 6, when he asked me to put the Warrior over, I said that’s no problem at all, brother, but my question always is, if I’m putting somebody over, what are we doing after that? And there wasn’t really a clear cut answer to that.
“I said, ‘Well how about this?’ When I put him over and I hand him the belt, and everybody’s cheering for him, and I get halfway down the aisle, but I just turn around and go just grind him. Just drop him and drag him around the ring and just crucify him. And I wanna be Hollywood Hulk Hogan. I said, ‘I wanna be Triple H, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, the ultimate bad guy.’
“And he goes, ‘No that’ll never work.’ I said, ‘Vince, I can be a bad guy, I used to be a bad guy when I worked for your father. I know how to do it.’ And he goes, ‘No, no no, that’ll never work, this Hulkamania thing, I think you just need to slow things down.'”
At the time, some fans were already turning on Hogan, as the initial wave of his success as a pure babyface was petering out. As Hogan recalled, he wanted to turn heel because he firmly believed it would have been incredibly successful.
“The red and yellow, you know, I was getting some boos, it was time for me to back down,” said Hogan. “But way before then, I wanted to turn heel. But I just thought I could have had a hell of a run in WWE as Hollywood Hulk Hogan. But Vince and I had a disagreement. So finally a few years later, I went ahead and did my thing and left.”
Read more: Hulk Hogan And Titus O’Neil Will Host WrestleMania 37
The full episode is available here:
