Hulk Hogan brings Hulkamania to any endeavor. He’s joined Total Nonstop Action wrestling so now Hulkamania lives there. Hulkamania even lives in a press conference he gave to the Television Critics Association. The man can just work a room.
Q: I was wondering about the numbers for Hulkamania. How wide is Hulkamania spreading these days?
Hulk Hogan: Well, it keeps growing. I’ve got the old Hulkamaniacs that were 40 and 50 years old when I started. And I’ve been around for about 30 years in the business. Now, they are 70 and 80 years old. I just got done with the Hogan Knows Best series for about six or seven years. So there’s a huge female demo that understands that I’m more than a wrestler. I’m a father. I guess I’m an ex-husband now. You know, I’ve got the problems with the kids and the finances. And then, since I’m back in the wrestling business and still messing with my daughter’s show, there’s a bunch of real young kids, you know. So there’s a very young demo all the way across the huge female demo and the old Hulkamaniac. So it keeps growing more and more.
Q: So billions?
Hulk Hogan: Of course, billions. Are you kidding?
Q: Is it hard to do a start-up like this? I know you have a great following and a long history, but Vince McMahon thinks he has this whole country all sewn up. Is it tough going up against a powerhouse like that?
Hulk Hogan: Well, it’s not really a start-up, you know, because TNA Total Nonstop Action is so well established, and they’ve been on Spike, and they’ve been so dominant in that marketplace in the time slot that it’s really not a start-up. It’s just adding a little spice to the recipe and taking these really, really talented young guys and these wrestlers and not making it like wrestling used to be with Hulk and Andre the Giant and Junkyard Dog. But it’s really raising the bar and given these young, talented wrestlers more of an edge, breathing more life in them, and making wrestling not like it used to be, but making wrestling more exciting, more fun, and raising that energy level. So it’s not really a start-up. It’s like a gift that has kind of been handed to me. I just really need to move around third base and reach the promise land, and it’s going to happen in a
real short amount of time.
Q: How have you found the difference with TNA?
Hulk Hogan: Well, on the business side of it, the universe is so much bigger now than the ’70s and ’80s when I first blew that Hulkamania thing out of the water. There’s so many choices with cable and satellite. People are all over the place. So everything moves at a much faster pace, so story lines instead of me fighting you, like Andre the Giant. We can start a few today, and it would end a year from now. It might start at the top of the hour and end two or three weeks later. So everything moves faster. Even the wrestling in the ring moves quicker. But what I’m trying to do is to not make it like it used to be, like I said, but make these young, talented, aggressive guys that have to move very quickly create the drama, the confrontation, that energy, the excitement. The first night I came in the ring with TNA, it’s already there because I’ve been to all of the big shows. I’ve been to the dance. This is really happening. This is going to be not really competing with the WWE. We are going to put out a better product than he has.
Q: How much of what we see on camera is what your role really is behind the scenes?
Hulk Hogan: Well, I’m plugged in full-time, brother. I’m there all the way across the board. Before I used to wrestle, I mean before I used to lace the yellow boots up, steal the main-event payday and run home, now, I’m in the dressing room with the guys, talking to them about finishes and story lines and stuff like that, but then I’m also partners with Dixie, you know. We’ve got a great partner in Spike, and we are doing all kinds of business stuff and moving forward from the licensing, the merchandising, you know. There’s four legs on the table: the live events, the Pay-Per-View, the merchandising, like I said, the advertising money. And so we need to move forward on all fronts to win, you know. And so I’m involved all the way across the board. And it’s so crazy. Instead of showing up and having fun and wrestling, now I’m there with the production meetings with these guys. I’m involved in the wrestling, the creative, and then it just never stops. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving, but you have to be plugged in full-time, you know, creatively with the guys, and you have to have a camaraderie with them, but also, being partners with Dixie, I have to have my main concern moving this thing foward on a business level. So I’m in the mix, brother.
Q: What’s your relationship these days, if you have one, with Jesse Ventura?
Hulk Hogan: I never knew that Jesse didn’t like me, you know, because the whole time that he was working with me and for me, we had a great rapport. Just out of nowhere, Jesse started coming at me and attacking me on a personal level. You know, I just don’t understand. I don’t have a lot of respect for just a one-sided story. So I really don’t know the real Jesse Ventura. I thought I did. So I really don’t know what he thinks.
Q: Any chance for reconciliation?
Hulk Hogan: Oh, I would love to. I would love to. I’m dying to find out what made him snap, you know, because I was around when we were doing the wrestling. Jesse came to Japan one day, you know, and he worked one or two main events the whole time I was around. And I would love to find out what really makes him tick just for curiosity reasons.
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