Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Hulk Hogan Reveals His Biggest Regret, Vince McMahon, nWo, His Favorite Part Of TNA

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

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! Visit: http://hulkhoganstore.com Sponsors:  GHOSTBED: Get 40% of your purchase with the code CVV at http://ghostbed.com/cvv  MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF  BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com  BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 15%  MYBOOKIE: Get a 50% welcome bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag  MUDWTR: To get 15% off go to http://mudwtr.com/cvv and use the code CVV15 PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com Quote I'm thinking about: "Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer the negative elements in your life, don't sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy!" - Dale Carnegie For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are go. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blaine! How are you, my friends? Welcome back to another one on Inside. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and my goodness, we've got Hulk Hogan on the show today. And I mean, you saw how long this episode is. It's over an hour in person with Hulk Hogan. We did this at Hogan's Hangout.

That's his bar in Clearwater Beach, Florida. and when I really think about this, this is easily the biggest episode we've ever done of insight. I mean, sure, yeah. In the past year, we've had some huge ones. We've had The Rocks, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker. None of them were an hour long. Only one of those that I named was in person.

That was one with The Rock. And here we are, over an hour with Hulk Hogan. And look, Hulk Hogan needs no introduction. Hulkomania running wild in the 80s is the reason that wrestling exploded in popularity. It's the reason that wrestling is what it is today. Hulk Hogan was also in one of the greatest matches in the history of pro wrestling.

It's certainly my favorite match, The Rock, versus Hulk Hogan, WrestleMania 18. And it was just such an honor to be able to sit down with him and just to chat candidly with Terry Balea. That's how he understood. He introduced himself. He introduced himself, hey, I'm Terry. It's good to see you. And we talked for like 10 to 15 minutes before the interview, another 10 to 15 minutes afterwards. He was asking all about my daughter, Logan. And I actually, I showed him a photo like on the lock screen of my phone. And he didn't just like glance in it and go, oh, yeah, a little cute baby. He like took my phone, stared at it. And it was like 15, 20, 30 seconds. And then he's like, oh, wow. And he handed it back to me. I was like, Geez. He was also telling me all about his at that time, fiancé, Sky. He was like, oh, I'm actually getting married tomorrow. We talked about it during this interview. And then afterwards, he's like,

ooh, when's this going to air because nobody knows about our wedding? And I'm like, you just told me about this secret wedding that nobody knows about. This is actually our fourth interview together. The first one was in New Orleans. It was the day after WrestleMania 30. We did another one about a year later, it was him and Jimmy Hart. Then 2018, I was able to interview him and Rick Flair together at the same time. If you want to check out any of those, they're all on my YouTube channel. If you want to dive into the archives there. And speaking of Rick Flair, if we weren't already on a big enough role as it was,

Rick Flair is going to be on the show next week. I mean, what a run, right? Hulk Hogan today, Rick Flair next to. I don't know how we're going to top this, but we're going to try. I mean, we're 50019 episodes in. We've got at least another 519 to go. So then we'll find a way to top this run that we're on right now. If you enjoy this, please send this to a fellow Hulkomaniac, brother.

Tag us, take a screenshot, and we will share this out. He is at Hulk Hogan. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and you can go to Hulk Hogan store.com to check out. out Hulk's entire line of THC products that he talks about here in this interview. And let's get into it. Ladies and gentlemen, the immortal Hulk Hogan. Hulkster. So good to see you again.

Good to see you, brother. You look younger and bigger. Younger and bigger? So you're doing something right. I've been eating my vitamins. I've been saying my prayers. Been doing it all. Let me tell you something, dude.

Chrisomani has been run a while, brother. You know, the trainer, the prayers and the vitamins, Believe it or not, that stuff actually works. If you actually do it and you change your life and stick to that, believe me, I know, because I've deviated, that stuff actually works. It's not just a gimmick? Well, it started out as a gimmick. Yeah.

But the gimmick was so powerful it made Terry Ballet a better person. It brought me up. So, you know, as soon as I dialed it in and quit messing around with all the other craziness, it actually works. Look at this spot you've got here, by the way. Thank you for inviting us to Hogan's Hangout, right here in Clearwater. Yes, sir. And I've seen the videos you posted on social media. Like this is normally, like, you know, a lot of people here, karaoke spot.

You've got, this is a pretty rocking spot. Yeah, well, I mean, it's kind of like when I was growing up here, this used to be called Mandalay Surf. And all my kids, Nick and Brooke would come in here and get the board shorts and the roller blades and the surfboards and the wax. So for years, I was coming in here going, Bill, Bill, the guy named Bill and I said, Bill, brother, if you ever want to sell this place, I'd like to grab it from him. And he never wanted to sell it. and then many, many years later, fast forward, 30 years later, he disappears, the place is vacant, and I got my hands on it. So, you know, I wasn't really sure what to do with it,

but I had a big club in Tampa called Hogan's Beach, where I'd have three and four thousand people a night come. It was a George Steinbrenner's old place I bought from him. And so it got too crazy over there with all the electronic music, and after about three and a half years, I walked away. And I just want, and I can, my golf cart's like a minute away. I live right down the road, and I got somebody to cook for me, you know, and, you know, it's just so close to the house, it's fun to have my own little place there.

It might be the best kept secret that every Monday you're in here. So if anybody wants to meet Hulk Hogan, see Halkogan, sing karaoke with Halkogan, this is the spot. What's your karaoke song? Well, I don't have one. I don't have one, but I had to shut Flair down. Flair came in here and you wanted to sing my ding-a-ling, okay? So that's it. Cut him off.

I've got a gong. So if you cuss, that's the end of the song. But just the content of that song, because I do have kids in here. Sure. And I buy shots for everybody two, three times during the night, and the kids get milkshake shots.

But it is like the best kept secret, but because we give away title belts every week, like to the best male singer, you get a title belt, the best female, you get a title belt. Then we have quarterfinals. And at the quarterfinals,

we give away cash, which was last week. And then once a year, we've got the undisputed champion. But we give away a lot of money. So it gets real competitive in here. And I've got people flying in from Jersey, from New York, from Vegas, just to come in to sing and go crazy here. You know, Jason Aldeen's been in here.

Of course, Rodman's been in here. It's been nuts. I just want to thank you for being who you are. This is our fourth interview together. I appreciate that you always remember me. You're always super kind. It would be so easy for someone in your position to just sit in your very large, very nice house down the street. and, you know, just never interact with fans.

But I just want to say on behalf of all fans, we appreciate you. Well, brother, I don't have any choice but to think about you because you're everywhere, okay? So every time I pull my phone up, you're on their interview and some really, really important people. So I'm just glad that you still remember me. So thank you. Of course. The reason we got connected, at least for this interview, is because every time I interview Chris Hemsworth, I always have to bring up to him, what's going on with this Hulk Hogan movie?

So I interviewed him about a year ago, a movie called Spiderhead. He's like, I don't know. Todd Phillips is off making Joker 2. I'm not sure what's going on. Then I interviewed him for extraction too a few months ago, and he's like, I'd still love to do it. I still love to play Hulk Hogan.

Do you know what's going on with that movie? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. 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 of that time to switch gears. Scott Silver wrote the script.

You know, he wrote The Joker and did 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. He did the hangover. The hangover movies. Yeah, thank you. I can't remember everything like that. But yeah, the script came back. It was amazing.

I mean, because my favorite movies are like Scarface, Godfather, true romance. It was there. Yeah. It was there. And I just went, whoa. But all of a sudden there was a business glitch, you know, and then they tried to fix it. 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's 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. Did you have a say, and who

would play you? I would imagine you would. Well, Chris was the one I, even before we get into this, I said, if anybody ever played Holcogh, then I want to be Chris Hemsworth, you know. And then, 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.

You know, he's, oh, my gosh, your life is so interesting. This is so crazy. This could be the biggest thing I've ever done. And Scott Silver, the writer who wrote the joke, he goes, 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. Have you heard his Hulk Hogan?

Can he do it? brother can he do it well i haven't heard that but if we have the opportunity to work together which i really hope we do i'm going to be there every second of the day because i love guys like chavo guerrero you know who do a lot of tv wrestling and a lot of movie wrestling but there's a mindset that i love chavo to death and he would be the guy and want to choreograph everything he would be the guy but as far as getting in chris's mind with what i was thinking and why i did stuff and why I moved to this corner to that spot and placement and timing. I'd like to be there to let him know what clicks in here.

Why I'm so crazy. Yeah. Yeah. You talk about me being everywhere, which is very kind of you, but you are literally everywhere right now. And, you know, Hulk Hogan Shop.com and what you're doing with cannabis, I feel like you're helping a lot of people out with that. Well, I mean, you know, I've been down that road with the pain fills, you know.

The last 12 years, I've had 25 surgeries. So, I mean, you know, the knees, the hips, 10 back surgeries, a couple 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, you know, I mean, 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 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 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 for me. How much pain are you in right now? That's kind of funny. Because I had a physical therapist asked me yesterday. if you could be out of pain or you can have a perfect championship walk, what would you rather have? And 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. If I'm going to brush my teeth and I'm leaning on the counterbrush 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. um everything in the gym is short strokes you know i can't straighten my arms out yeah and then it's the same with my knees my hips my back my neck you know but that's that's because i probably wrestled too long and i didn't get to memo that stuff was fake you know so and i don't complain about

it because you know something like i was telling sky the lady i'm getting ready to marry tomorrow congratulations this'll be out so you'll already be married congratulations that's okay um she goes well how much pain to you and I said well I'm in pain all the time but I'm used to it you know and my go-to in the morning just to get me rolling as a two cups of coffee and two Tylenols 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 tire ofals at this point because they don't do much yeah but it's just kind of like a habit now to eat two Tylenol's or two cups of coffee and where do your edibles work into all of this um for sleeping you know for sleeping because I don't like um

not to be normal, you know, and clear-headed. So if I can't sleep or I have a hard time sleeping, you know, I'll wake up after two hours and bite one and a half or something, and it just knocks me out like a baby. But I found that I'm not real good with not being normal. So if I got a little buzz on or something, my phone rings, oh, my gosh, it's my son, Nick, I don't want to answer it, you know. So I'm not used to that feeling yet.

Is it difficult being Hulk Hogan? and I mean that by you can't go incognito. You are recognizable all around the world. So wherever you go, people are going to know who you are. Well, it's not difficult anymore because I thank God

is still happening. You know, it's kind of like when the make-a-wish stuff started coming. You know, I had the gimmick, you know, Venice Beach, California, never lived there. Just train there. You know, I'm from Florida, from Clearwater.

Yeah. Venice Beach, California, da-da-da-da-da-da. the training pros and vitamins. And it was like an undertaker gimmick, or it was like the American nightmare gimmick, or it was like the ninja Daniel Bryan. You know, it was just a gimmick, but all of a sudden,

because I'd hit on all eight cylinders with a very, very positive character, and when I still had a little hair left and I was golden tan, I did look like the guy from California to have a speech. And so all of a sudden, before I knew it,

I had these make-o-o-wish kids coming to me. Okay, what's this all about? this is weird i'm not used to this and then as the years went by i'd go at three four or five make-oish kids a night i got used to it i started appreciating it and then the third phase was the kids were still coming like when i went to the 30th anniversary of raw they had some makeoose sue h and wanted me to see some makewish kids and you thank god is still happening you know so that's kind of like it's not hard to be whole code because i appreciate it so much i could be a wrestler that I walked down the street, nobody recognized me, you know.

Yeah. But it's a situation, you know, like Stallone says, man, I walk next to you, Hogan, I'm invisible, you know? And so it's just, it's really cool now to be, have the mindset and have the wisdom to go, oh, my gosh, these people have stuck with me through thick and thin, through the good times and bad times. They come up to me and they tell me how much they love me. I didn't have a dad growing up where I was hooked on drugs.

I was an abusive family. and I'm going, oh my God. Well, I was saying the training prayers and vitamins and wrestling and doing my thing, it was helping them survive their personal situations. And so I've got so much respect for the character and so much respect for the people that are still with me. I had no idea how intense it really was until my latter years. And it took that long for me to collect all this information to go, oh, my gosh, what a great find this was to be Hulk Hogan.

So it's not hard for me to be Hull Cogan. again anymore because I just can't move past people without stopping or talking with them. And when we have like autograph sessions at my store downstairs, my buddy Ron Howard's about churning and burning. But when I shake somebody's hand, where are you from, brother? How long have you been a fan? I like to look at him and talk to him. And Ronnie's, man, you don't talk so much.

We make more money. I don't care about that. These people spent 30 or 40 years being my fan. I want to know why. So it's not hard to be Hulk Hogan. Yeah, you make the moment special. And I know the fans appreciate that. I remember our second interview, I was like,

thank you for still doing interviews, because you're at a level where you don't really need to anymore. And you're like, of course, I'm at that level now because I continue to do the interviews. Yeah, well, when I met Sky, you know, my new wife has up tomorrow. She really wasn't a wrestling fan because her parents were really strict.

I guess they knew who I was, but they didn't know the whole gimmick, you know? And so she didn't understand you know, the dynamics of, you know, hanging around me, you know, and I didn't want to run her off because I was very attracted to her. But some of the whole Kogan store is like, oh, my gosh, my dad says hello. You played basketball with you for 15 years in Venice Beach. Well, tell your dad and said hello, but I've never played basketball.

And I don't say, hey, kid, your dad's a liar. I mean, you know, you just can't go there. Yeah. But I think she's to the point now where she understands that the people have been endeared by this character so much. Yeah. Everybody's got a whole coding 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? Like 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. You mean the negative stories? Some of the negative ones, yeah. There's a lot of, and I'm sure you've heard it all the time. That doesn't work for me, brother.

And I'm like, did that actually happen in all of these situations? I don't know. What do you mean? You know, there's a lot of people that will tell stories about like, oh, this happened with Hulk Hogan and TNA or WCW. It's like, we don't know if that actually happened or not. Well, if I knew the individual stories, I could tell you the truth, whether it happened.

But that was my catchphrase. That doesn't work for me, brother. You know, like there were several times when Rick Flare and I were traveling, and we do like the Maple Leaf Gardens, the main event. And then there'd be like Bramford, Ontario, which I would always make the double shot. But every once in a while I had other stuff. to do. So I 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. When was the last time you shaved your mustache? I think Kevin Sullivan did it in a WCW ring with that whole dungeon of Doom thing. I think that Kevin shaved it in the middle of the ring and then that was the last time. I think. So we're going mid-90s here? I think, yeah. And I mean, I have shaved it off for a couple of movies when I did, uh, The assault, you probably never saw him. A bunch of low-budget movies, the assault on Devil Island movies with Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed. I was Mike McBride and I had a black wig on the color of your hair, a long wig like a ex-Navy ceiling. I had the mustache off, so people still would go, hey, I'll cook him.

I said, okay. I mean, I'd go into a restaurant for lunch with a black wig and no mustache. They'd still nail me. I mean, come on. You're very recognizable. And you look great, by the way. I'm trying, bro. I'm 70 years old.

I just turned 70. and my new wife put this crazy surprise party on for me and nobody's ever done that for me before. They've never surprised me with a party. I was crying like a baby. Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe it. I saw that video. I'm like, that seemed really special.

Yeah, it was amazing. You know, a lot of the guys, their, Haku's there, and Flair and the nasty boys, big show. It was really amazing, man. What a night. So I've told you this many times, but I love talking about WrestleMania 18.

Yeah. It's my favorite WrestleMania match. It's my favorite WrestleMania. It's my favorite match of all time. I was 18 years old

when I went there and I got to be honest with you. I was fully going in intending to cheer for the rock. Cool. And then your music hit and I went, ah,

I'm a Hulkomaniac. And I cheered for you. Yeah. I mean, we can talk about whatever part about. We could talk for three hours about WrestleMania 18, I feel like.

Yeah. What do you need to know? What were your expectations before you went out for that match? Because leading up to it, the stare-downs that you guys had had were so iconic. So when you guys are, you know, your music finally hits, what were your expectations? Well, to get there, there's a huge backstory. Okay. And the backstory is working for Ted Turner nine or ten years, trying to put Vince out of business,

you know, basically trying to beat him in the ratings and 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 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 try to give you the belts. I go down out. Let me do the three studges. Slowly I turn.

And let me go brown, even crucify him. 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. No, no, no, no.

So a couple years later, I kept slounding around there. Then it's pretty much told me my run was over. Oh, really? So I went and did Thunder and Paradise, and when I get 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 Meridian.

And I was actually sitting on a toilet doing number two, right? And then my phone rang, I saw a triple H on the phone. And I went, whoa, that's interesting. So I picked the phone up and I go, what's up, brother? And he goes, oh, man, how are you doing? He said, we heard your contract is done, this and that, and the other, whatever the verbiage was. Vince would like to talk to us. I said, oh, 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 is things have changed up here. and which I kind of knew that the rock and Stone Cold were the two guys that they catered to. Right. Because before, during the day, when they'd go out to the ring, it'd be Hulkgo, 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. So I already knew that. But Vince went, oh, no, you're coming up here, you've got to really bring it.

And I was like, okay. I mean, I got to run faster, jump higher, what do you mean, really bring? 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, and I didn't say it, but if you want me to bring it, you're going to be asking me to take it back, you know, because I'll, but I would never do anything undermind to hurt the boys

or to hurt rock. But I just kept my mouth shut, and the backstory still was, I think 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, so they wanted me to go down to Miami and 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 Paterson was there, and there was this ring in a warehouse, and 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 matches pretty much laid out. And then Rocky Johnson went, Wayne, listen to Hogan.

Rocky was just like cheering for me, you know, which was kind of funny, because he was a good friend of mine the whole time we're in the WWF. And then Pat Patrick said, okay, Telly, let's go to the math. Telly. I went, are you kidding me? So if I fall down in here, I'm going to get hurt. I can't wrestle with no people here.

He goes, yeah, yeah, you got a Vim, so don't you go to the mess? I said, 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 that 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 Rock and I were actually in the same dressing room that night not a lot of conversation but Rocky Johnson was in there Dwayne, listen to Hook thanks so we get out there and I fully expected them to boo me out of the building after hitting him with a hammer

putting in the ambulance running him over with a semi I did everything I could get hit I remember that I remember you running him over in the semi It's like, uh, well, in the ring, smacked on him, NWO style. Yeah, well, in the ring, he said, WrestleMania, yes or no. Yeah. And when I said, yes, I went to pull away.

He held my hand. Yeah. Then he pulled me in a rock bottoming. And that brought Kevin Scott in and then we beat him like a dog. Fully expected to get booed. Come walking out of the ramp, heard the crowd and went, oh, my gosh. Lucy, we got a problem. You know, people were cheering on crazy, just loyal, you know, over the top loyal.

Then we got in the ring and I remember we started and pushed him. We did stare down. Yeah. Of course, we didn't rehearse that. That was just done. And then out of nowhere, you know, I think he pushed me or I pushed him. I can't remember. But I know as soon as he started to take over on me like he planned,

the people started booing him out of the building. Then I cut him off and took over. And it took me about seven or eight minutes to get it right. You know, and then we kind of slow dance through it. It was a miracle. He was so good. He was so good. with the timing and the placement

and just the, you know, just to listen to the crowd with his ear and his heart. Once we got on the same page, I could have danced with him all night. You know, it was just really easy, you know, and put him over, it's not a big deal. And, you know, it could have went either way, but it didn't matter.

It was just, it was, it was the art form again, which usually the art form is dead, but we went back to the dance of what this business is really about. There's a moment early on where you push him down and the crowd erupts and cheering. And you kind of look around almost like, oh, like, has you been booed for the last six years, five years, whatever had been? It's almost like, oh, yeah, like that's what it feels like to be cheered again. Yeah, and it was really cheap heat for me to acknowledge the crowd. But I was just trying to get this thing to a fever pitch so that when he grinded me and beat me, he really beat somebody important.

You know, I didn't want to pass the torch to some luke, warm, worn out old wrestler. I wanted to pass the torch to a guy that was like the biggest star in this business, and I just beat the biggest guy ever in this business. That's where my mindset was. If we're going to send him off, let's make sure we send him off the right way. And I've never been in the ring with anybody that could call an audible like him and be that open and giving. You know, a lot of guys will freak out, tighten up on you and not go for a spot,

but he was there for everything. Did you know that the NWO was going to turn on you after that match? Yeah. I knew they were coming down. Was it because of the result of you being cheered the whole match? Was that an audible that was called at some point? Yeah, the referee told me they were coming down. My Kyoto.

Yeah, the referee told me they were coming down. All I remember is being on my knees and looking up at Big Kev, Kevin's got both arms over his head with a chair, and he's like, and I'm like, oh my God, he's marking out. And I never put my hand up. And I put my forearm up, bro. And he hit my forum up, bro. And I went in the back to see, 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. We've been working together for the last seven, eight years. I'm your boy. He goes, yeah, but it was WrestleMania. I had to lay it down. Yeah, but if I had to put my arm up, you killed me. But yeah, we laughed about it afterwards. But I, thank God, I looked in his eyes.

to see that he wasn't even there, you know, but it was, it was, it was a lot of fun. And then Vince ordered me to go back and get the red and yellow immediately. So from Toronto, you had, and I think the next stop was it was in Montreal? So we wanted to send somebody back and I said, they'll never find my stuff. And they will not bring the right stuff. So I flew back and got the red and yellow stuff and then flew right back. Flew, full all night that night on Vince's jet to get back to Tampa. to get home to dig through storage, you know, to get the stuff and get my butt back up there.

That's crazy. Yeah, it was intense, man. Wow. And my whole reason for going up there was, of course, the rest of 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 never do it again, you know, whatever.

I could have kept my heat because my whole intention was to have that two-year run with Stone Cold. because he was red hot at the time and 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. 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. This episode is brought to you by Bond Charge. And if you follow me on social media, you know that cold plunging is something I do every single day. And now I've been stacking that with sauna. Yeah, if you want to burn more calories to help with weight loss or if you're looking to detoxify after maybe having a few too many drinks,

check out the sauna blanket from BonChart. Bon Charge is a holistic wellness brand with a huge range of evidence-based products to optimize your life in every single way. You can burn up to like 600 calories in just one session with their sauna blanket. I was looking into getting like an actual sauna, like a sauna you would sit in, but they were like many thousands of dollars. Checked out the sauna blanket, it's a fraction of the price, and it has the same results as the sauna. Heats up quickly. Actually, it heats up the quickest on the market of any sauna blanket.

Super easy to clean up. So if you've been looking into this, if you're looking to get an edge just like I am, go check out bondcharge. dot com slash CVV and use the code CVV to save 15%. That's bond chart. B-O-N-C-H-A-R-G-E dot com slash CVV. That coupon code is CVV. You'll save 15% off. And you are going to love this sauna blanket.

This episode is brought to you by GhostBed. And there's one thing that all top performers have in common. They all focus on getting a good night of sleep. So if you're struggling to Reese the Top, it might be time to take a look at your sleep health. An essential part of waking up and feeling rested is sleeping on the right mattress, and that's where our friends at Ghost Bed come in. For over two decades, this family-owned business has been crafting premium, innovative mattresses with a focus on quality and cooling.

Each bed in the Ghost Bed line is a reflection of years of craft and ship and finished with materials like contouring gel memory foam and cool to the touch quilted covers. They are also known, by the way, for having excellent sales, which means you're paying very reasonable prices for a top-of-the-line product. They're so good. And for a limited time, you can use the code CVV for 40% off your purchase. So they already have great prices.

Then you get 40% off your purchase. You also get a 101-night sleep trial. along with free shipping and returns when you purchase a mattress, so you can try it out in the comfort of your own home. And GhostBed has a dedicated team of sleep experts on standby to help you find your perfect bed. So head over to ghostbed.com slash CVV to get started. Let's take it back to when you did turn heel in WCW.

When you're backstage there and you're about to join Hall and Nash, form the NWO, heel for the really the first time and however long that was what's going through your mind um well first off we didn't tell anybody nobody no haul and ash didn't know if i was coming or not they didn't know who the third man was well they there was a possibility because eric had been i was filming a movie out in l a and eric had approached me about turning he on no brother doesn't work for me right now you know i had was making real good money there you know guaranteed money and i just wanted to keep things going the way they were, even though the red and yellow thing was starting to lose a little bit of luster.

And it was getting old. And I saw, you know, Scott come on. I was just like a shoot, you know? And I'm watching this from L.A. And then Big Kev came out and power bombed Eric to the table. And I called Eric up and said, hey, I'm your third man. He goes, oh, thank God. Because we were going to 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's not here yet, which, of course, I was outside hanging out. Hogan's not here yet.

And if he doesn't come, we're sending his thing. So Scott and Kevin went 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, oh, 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 and when mean jean came in it was let me tell you something mean jean I just rolled with my normal crap you know I was selling out the world you guys are bumming gas to get to high school I just rolled with one of my heel promos you know it was

and I never think about what I'm going to say until I get out there so you know everything was really cool and all of a sudden I felt that that cold white heat where it gets silent from it And they started throwing stuff. I told me and Gene, I said, you need to go, bro. You need to get out of the ring because we may have a riot here. And then his nose was bleeding. He got hit with something. And he kept his head down.

He was scared. He said, bro, you need to run. Because if we start lighting this place up, we could have a riot here. Because it was that type of heat I hadn't felt for a long time. Yeah, that didn't really happen in WWF where fans would throw things into the ring. That happened in WCW with you guys all the time. Yeah. Yeah, it pissed everybody off.

That's for sure. But you guys also turn this whole idea on its head of like heels don't sell merch. Well, people are still wearing NWO stuff now. Yeah. Well, that was my whole thing, you know, because, you know, other than the art form of this business, the guys working together. I mean, you know, this is a business. You know, so for me, everybody says, oh, this is a work. Well, it's not a work.

This business is a shoot, you know, because if I'm wrestling Stone Cold Steve Austin and we're the main event, and he makes more money to me, that's a shoot to me. You know, so I've always been on my game as far as, you know, the best wrestler is the one that makes the most money. I don't care who's the best worker or who does this or that, the better. This is a business, so the best wrestler is the guy that makes the most money. So this business has always been a shoot to me. You know, so when I got, when I first went to New York, Vince McMahon Sr. Always paid the champion more than anybody else.

he would pay back one more than anybody he wrestled, whether it was a couple grand more or twice as much so. I did the best I could to hang on to that for as long as I could, you know. It's interesting how, like John Cena has talked about how he wanted to turn to heel, and Vince was like, no. Roman turning heel ended up being the best thing for his career. If you were able to give John Cena advice about that, would you tell him to turn heel when he was at his prime?

Well, the thing was when you're at your prime, that's where you can turn to all, you know, just seen a scene of fans that never give up and just look at him and go, you know what, I did it for the money, you know? And he would be one of the hottest heels ever. Yeah. And then, you know, whether it's run of 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 baby face. So 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 than, honestly, better than Vince once he's out there. You know, I know Vince has been in the ring a lot, and he's very good

because I've been in the ring with Vince that he's one of the best heels I've ever worked against. Everything he does hurts, though. I can tell you that much. God. What hurts the most from Vince? His punches, they're brutal. I mean, I was in the Russell May 19 doing this all night long. Lighten up, brother.

You're on the team with you. I'm lying up. You keep doing that. You're going to be in here by yourself. I was giving in the office all night to the point where we started laughing. You know? But yeah, he's...

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 to go up there. You know, and he did it. First time he did it. It was perfect. Last year, you had talked about how you were close. It was a possibility of you working WrestleMania 39.

How close were we to getting that match? But last year? Russellmanent 39 you talked about with Shane Well Shane called me You know it would be this year I guess Yeah well Shane had called me And he sent me a picture from Madison Square Garden I guess they got a

Hall of Fame walk in there And I guess Piper's boots are in there And some of my stuff's there So Shane sent me a picture Of him standing in front of my stuff He goes hey old timer You got one left in you I went Okay what are you thinking

He goes well I didn't know if you had one left in you Or maybe a surrogate such as Nick my son. And so we started talking, you know, and I said, the only way I could do anything was if I was in the middle of the ring, it just came to me.

Because I can't run. I can't hit the ropes. I have a hard time really walking distance. Taking a bump, if I got up, I'd have to roll to my left. I can't roll to my right. The only way I can get up

is if I roll to my left to get up for some reason. So it would be a stretch. But, you know, Nick was in Rikishi school for a couple of years. And he was in there with Rousseau. and all those guys. And I would go out in California and watch him.

And Nick had it figured out. Then he blew both of his shoulders out. And I said, well, you know, I don't know. There's a possibility maybe to do something, whatever the storyline is, whether Nick is a heel and you destroyed my father's career, so I'm going to destroy your personal life. Or I don't know. There's a million ways to do it.

But then a couple weeks later, Shane got hurt or something with his quad. Oh, that was at WrestleMania. Oh, is that where it was? Yeah. But anyway, the idea... Did a leapfrog and landed on it. Yeah, so anyway, that whole idea, I don't know how. I just never heard from it again, so that was pretty much it.

How close were we to getting your last match in WWE? Because as we sit here right now, your last match is in TNA, right? I think it's a six-man match in like 2012. You know, I really don't remember what the last match was. But I feel like that's such a shame because you're one of the greatest of all time I feel like you should have one of those last matches against another one of the grades.

I would have loved to have had that last match, but now it's completely out of the picture. I'm just too beat up from the surgeries. I think I took a couple of months you'd probably have to cut on me again, you know. But no, I really wanted to have that last match, you know. Against two. I wasn't sure, you know, I had, I think it was WrestleMania 25, was in Orlando. So I think they talked with Sina, right? Yeah.

and Vince had me all hooked up with Sina and I said I'd do it. Vince and I were talking every week and we were putting the plans together, you know, like the old days when I was in the office every day, him and I were talking every day. All of a sudden I'm on the phone with him, so I was like, oh, my God, oh, my back. My back went out when I was talking to Vince on the phone, and I just had back surgery number three or four at that time. And I had to go right in immediately and get cut on.

So that was it for that. But I thought that was going to be my last match then. you know but that never happened and then it just kind of like faded away but then TNA happened after that you wrestle you know a bunch of matches there was there ever a point during your TNA run when you were still able to work that you could have

called up Vince and said let's do this one more um I don't know if you saw the TNA run there were several times I was out in the ring with a back brace on neck collar back surgery eight or nine or whatever it was at the time but yeah it was it was I wasn't really good to go after that I'd been cut on so much and so often that they'd compromise the you know the structure of my spine you know

that they'd cut so much bone away and put so many screws in and stuff that was just it wouldn't be worth taking a chance at this point with all of that said and the way that you feel physically right now is there anything in your career that you would go back and change well i've talked about this with a lot of people and everybody goes, no, I would never change anything, but I know the leg drop doesn't look like a tough move, but most people don't realize as I started wrestling in 77. And at the end of the day, the equipment wasn't like it was. Like, I remember wrestling in Andre and Baltimore. He goes, boss, don't fall down. It was a 22-foot boxing ring. And it was like a concrete road that had bumps and holes in and lumps.

I mean, it was the most dangerous ring I'd ever been in in Baltimore. And whenever I wrestle Andre there, he would say, do not go down. You know, because I had to wrestle more nights after that. He didn't want me hurt. And most of the equipment was just every ring was different. Now the WWE is so dialed in. They've got really good rings. They're all very consistent.

It's just like, you know, it makes a big difference when you're in the equipment that's really, really good stuff. So all those years dropping that leg in those rings, you know, with the board sticking up or laying it on my tail but oh my God, what was that a rock in the ring? Oh my God, was that a board sticking up? All this years dropping the leg,

I would have changed that and I would have never dropped the leg because at the time, my arms were almost 24 inches. I had like the largest arms in the world. You know, some people say I didn't. Some people say I did, but my arms were big and I should have used the sleeper. No bump.

Brutus go figure out another finish. Greg Ghani go take a hike. I should have, you know, stolen the sleeper and done that. Yeah. And I think I'd have been in a lot better shape with my spine and my back. Where does Terry end for you and Hulk Hogan begin and vice versa? Well, it's kind of like to come down here and talk with you. Yeah.

I've got the band-aam on my head. And when I walk out of the house, the mailman was out there delivering another package for my new wife. Amazon, my wife doesn't sell the time. I don't get it. There's like six or seven packages out there. None of them are for me. I mean, every day. That sounds so familiar.

You know, I'm like, what's going on, Sky, baby? You know? So the guy from Amazon's there, he goes, hey, what's up, Paul? Hey, brother, how you doing, man? So I give him just a little. Sure. You know, and then when I come down here, I get out of the car and come up here. Oh, Mr. Hodge, you have not.

Sure, brother, get over here. You know? And so they don't want me. Hey, guys, how are you doing? I'm Terry. But it ends when I walk in the house. When I walk in the house, the bandana comes off my bald head. The Hulk cone gimmicks done.

I mean, I know a lot of wrestlers, and I don't want to drop names, so I know a lot of wrestlers have their title belts in the house, and they've got pictures all over the house. None of that stuff is in my house, you know, because it's a business, and that's not who I am. I mean, one of my favorite people in the world was Randy Savage. We had an eight-year blowout, and thank God we finally got together before he passed, but he was one of my, I was with him every day because he lived right down the beach.

and we just spent he was like my brother for years but he never would come and first off his voice was like that always but he kept thinking like the macho man let's go get something eat brother maybe we'll walk down the beach you know and we'd see something a little different heel he ran we stop

you know but he was like that constantly and you know I love Rick Flair at death but he's Rick Flair 24-7 you know love him to death there's nothing wrong with that but for me you know when I go home I'm I don't want to self-destructs you know, I don't want to say, oh, my gosh, I can't live if I don't hear the crowd,

or if I don't have the money, or I don't have the adulation, or that fix, you know, every night going in the ring and hearing that craziness, which that's hard to come off of. That's the hardest part to get that every night and then not to have it anymore. Yeah. That's why I get a gym in my house, because that turbulence sometimes will build up about 10, 30, 11 o'clock to when I feel like I could go out and be an axe murder, and I go down and I just train myself so hard.

I wear myself out. You know, it's just weird how you get inundated with that business. So you've got to find ways to work around it, you know. Do you have a great macho man story being his friend for so long? I got a couple, but, you know, for many years when I was married the first time, I would, I mean, I'm still into cars. I still do a lot of stuff with old cars. and I get warehouses everywhere full of junk, but actually good stuff. And, you know, Randy met a buddy of mine, Tony Carlini, out in Newport Beach,

and Tony did all the prototypes to Liyah O'Oca. You did the Liberon, the K car, the Viper, the Prowler. And I was doing in his garage and you have a viper with a full-scale clay car with a popsicle stick, carving out the door handles. Tony, that's the ugliest car I've ever seen. Of course, I bought the first one, right? So Randy goes Hey you know

I'd like to get a Lamborghini you know And Tony had Just cars everywhere Would you everyone sell me the black Lambo It's like Don Johnson's So Tony goes yeah Randy I'll sell it to you So all of a sudden The Lambo shows up here

And Randy live right down the beach a couple miles And the Lambo And Randy calls me up Hey Ogan I got screwed I said what do you mean My hat box won't fit in the front of the car. And I'm not a,

I'm not a import guy. You know, I'm dodged, Mopar, American made American muscle. I'm like, what do you mean? Don't worry.

I'm coming over a workout. Bro, his hat box wouldn't fit in the, in the front of the car, you know, this, this Lamborghini had the engine

in the back. Yeah, like in the trunk. And I guess the front was a trunk, but he had a hard shell case for his cowboy hats and we couldn't close it.

I want my money back. My hat wouldn't fit in the car. I'm like, are you kidding? He was dead serious. I had to call Tony and say, brother, would you please give this guy his money back? He's going to drive me crazy. He thinks he'd screwed him over, you know,

but it was just really weird. The only other one I'll tell you real quick is, it was kind of weird because I've been a boating guy in the whole life. I've lived on the water, diving, you know, fast boats. My whole thing is being on, I am the real beach bump of all beach months. And, of course, I had a boat,

and I had a bunch of Harley's. So Randy went out and bought a boat with Elizabeth. I had to teach him how to keep it between the channel markers, you know, which was, it's like trying to teach somebody, you know, trigonometry, you know, but I finally got him to where he was safe. I said, just take this boat out of high tide. Do me a favor. So, you know, Liz was actually a little better with the boat than Randy was. But then he wanted a Harley. And I said, are you sure? So, of course, Tony Carly and he was the Harley guy also. and I got Randy of Harley at Barack Bottom Price, you know, that he wanted.

And we got it in his driveway. And I just kind of showed him how to feather the clutch. Nice to eat. You don't give a lot of gas, we just roll out through the driveway and just do the little circle and come back and don't try to shift gears. Bro, he got on that Harley, and he just left the crutch out and it jumped. And on the bike tip, he put his leg out, and he pulled his groin muscle. Oh, that's it.

Very funny. Hogan. Take the effing motorcycle back. ever rode it. What? He, you know, he jumped it with the clutch, letting the clutch out. The bike leaned on and he tried to save it, and he

did, and he tore something his groin, and that was it. Wow. We had to take the bike back, too. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host

Megan Clevenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures,

but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. There's a photo of you that makes the rounds on social media where you're in WCW cutting a promo in the ring, and you're wearing a necklace that's made out of paper clips. Do you remember why you are wearing a necklace made out of paper clips? No, I don't.

No, I don't. That's fantastic. I have no idea. You don't know what I'm talking about? It must have been some kid that gave it to me or something. That's amazing. Wow. One of the best things about you in WCW is you had the greatest heel entrance music of all time.

Yeah. Whose idea was it for Voodoo Child? Hmm. I think that was Eric's idea. I don't think I came up with that one. That was, well, the NWO music, you know, the point. No, no music. Bam-T-da-Ban-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D.

That was Scott or Kevin's one of those two crazies. But the Hendricks stuff had to be Erichs because I don't remember coming up with that one. It's just so good, like the cadence in which you walk to the ring, playing the air guitar and the title. Yeah, that was a lot of fun, man. I admit that was, it was really fun doing that NWO run, especially when everybody thought I was kind of like done, you know. I mean, you turned it around.

Yeah, it was great. Absolutely incredible. What's your favorite part about your TNA run? The favorite part about my T&A run, and this is a real self-serving answer, was how kind Dixie Carter was to me. Because from the moment I walked in there, I was getting cut on. Surgery after surgery after surgery after surgery. And all I can say is I was never in that situation,

but I didn't expect her to pay me. when I was out. Like I'd give a hip replacement. I'd be out for two and a half months and she'd still pay me every week. So it was just amazing, you know, how, you know, consistent she was and how kind she was. And that was the thing that stood out more than anything was working for her. A lot of people knocked her because she didn't know the wrestling business

or it was a hobby to her and stuff like that. But all I know is how she treated people and how she treated me was the thing that really stands out was the type of person Dixie Carter was. With everything you've done in your career and becoming the icon that you are, how do you define success now? Well, it's a little different, you know, now

because being happy is just something that you can't trade money for, you know, and your health is so important. It's kind of like, you know, I've done a lot of stuff. like, you know, certain people ask you, well, do you want to travel here or do you want to go there? Well, actually, I have been there. You know, I have, I have traveled there.

Even though I did wrestle in Rome, I did spend a day looking around, you know, even though I was, you know, over in, you know, wherever Germany, I did spend days in the towns. But at the end of the day, you know, being happy, you know, because for so long I was searching, you know, for something that made me really, really happy. And then as the years, and I don't know why this happens, but I think it's a test of time or a test of faith or you have to get so many scars on you before you finally wake up. But, you know, I was saved when I was 14 in a Baptist church. And I deviated. And I went off track and ran am up and chased all these false idols of the money and the fame and all this stuff. But as soon as I got back to being closer to God and closer to my Lord and Savior, my whole life changed. You know, and being happy, you know, and being on track and having your health is really, really important because, I mean, I know a lot of people that have one back surgery in the end of in a wheelchair.

You know, so for me to have 10, be sitting here talking to you and not be on a bunch of bills, A build, huge stuff like that. It's just amazing, you know, to be happy and to be here. You definitely feel like you're at peace as we sit here right now. Like it just feels like everything's good in your world. Yeah, it is. I mean, it's, you know, I'm not into the drama anymore. You know, I'm not into people that judge people. And I know this just sounds like some holier than heck attitude.

But I've been around so long now. I've seen the pyramids. Never have seen them, but I've seen the pyramids. And I kind of like understand, you know, why we're here. And this is a test, test of faith. And it's just a real ten. temporary situation, you know, and whether I make another 20 or 30 million bucks or not, it doesn't matter, you know, because then they're done that, you know, and it doesn't bring you know,

happiness. I've been through a couple of failed marriages, and, you know, the first one was too young and crazy and was married 23 years the first time. Second time was a different situation. I believed in different things, and that person did. And so it's just to be on track now, it's just amazing. It's just unbelievable. If you were backstage the night before your very first match,

and this version of you walked in, the veteran Hulk Hogan, walked in, and you could ask that version of you for some advice, what do you think he would say? What's the advice you would give to that Hull Cogan as he was making his debut? Well, first off, this version of me talking to the Hull Cogan in 1977, having the first match would not comprehend anything I would tell him. So I would just say go out there and get in the ring as much as it can. You're going to have to earn your seat time, you know,

because you need to get out there and you need to figure out what this business is all about, figure out if you want to stay in it. And then if you do stay in it, try to figure out a way to survive it, you know. Because as I moved along, even though everybody says this is a work, I had a target on my back the whole time. I mean, I had that spot for a long, long time. And, you know, I could hear what. was being said good. I could hear what was being said bad. There's all kind of locker room

stoogers that are Hulk over fans, a lot of locker room stooges that stir stuff up like the Hulkster, you know, and so to survive this business, um, I mean, you know, I wrestled Minnesota one time and Jack Landso on, wanted to put the belt on Jesse in the house show. I went, what was? Oh, yeah, the way of the thing would be good. We can tell Vince later. I said, no, bro, we ain't doing that. Doesn't work for me. You know? It's like it's just amazing because especially going into Japan, you know, and spending all those years in Japan and then all of a sudden Vince coming over and telling Anoki and Sagittuji that this is the last time Hogan's ever coming here. And then coming to me and going, whatever happens tonight, don't lose the belt. And me, of course, me and Adrian Adonis,

have been out all night, hadn't slept a wink, and I'm just shaking like I'm getting ready to have stroke because we got partying all my life. Vince is going, whatever you do, that Fujina, who's one of gotchas boys, don't lose the belt. I'm going, oh, great, thanks, Vince. This is just, it was just those things, surviving this business and learning. The young Hulk Hogan would have never understood what I would tell me

at that time, but it's, um, it's, it's just amazing, you know, that I got through it all and I've got a lot of friends in the business and, and the people that, you know, have bad things to say about me. I got nothing but love for them, you know, I just hope that they realize you're only going to get so much out of those negative stories that you tell over and over. You're going to attract more of that to yourself. Yeah. So, you know, it's just, it's weird because I've heard some people say some really crazy things that actually didn't happen.

And they're sticking to it. So I'm like, okay. And you just let it go. There's nothing you can do about it. No, no, no. I mean, you know, I have done stuff. You know, I mean, like the Jessi-Vins sure story that he sticks to about I went to Vince and told him. that justly's trying to start a union.

I did that. You know, I mean, I was making crazy money. I was getting my break in that Jesse wanted to have a union where everybody got paid the same. I said, ah, Vince, guess what Jesse's doing? You know, so he's right about that. You know, if I did it, if I did it, I'll say I did it. But, you know, there's a lot of stuff that kind of like doesn't bother me, but I just, I pray for those people and say, you know what?

Everything will straighten out and they'll learn the lessons I've learned along the way. So it's just really nice to be in. smooth waters. Depending on who you asked, you're either the greatest of all time or you are one of the greatest of all time. Since you are one of the goats or the goat, who's on your 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 Rick Flair. You know, I tell Rick Flair, you're the greatest wrestler that ever lived. you know, 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 this business.

That's kind of crazy type dedication, you know, 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'd have to be Andre. It'd have to be Flair, you know. And then, you know, I'm just going with the older guys, you know, because there's 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 in the next year and I said, oh, my God, that brother's got to figure it 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 the quick fix for me. Those four guys deserve to be up there.

I mean, four legends right there. You can put yourself on the Mount Rushmore. Oh, you can put me behind those guys. I just want to be able to draw money with each one of them. I mean, because I look at everybody with a dollar sign on their chest. At what cost do you think it has been to be Hulk Hogan? I think, you know, sometimes I get treated a little bit differently, whether it's good or bad. sometimes, you know, like around the beach here,

we've got a lot of friends and my girl Sky will go, oh, let's go out to dinner tonight. And, you know, I said, okay, which restaurant that we want to go to? They said, oh, they're calling to make reservations, you know. And then they'll call Sky back. Oh, we call, but we can't get in until 9 o'clock. Let me make a call.

We're getting in at 7.15, guys. So that's the good part, you know. Some of the bad part is, like during the steroid trial, okay? The feds were hell-bent on going after Vince, you know, because Vince was doing so great, because the wrestling was so popular, maybe Vince's character was too arrogant for him, you know, the character on camera, whatever it was, and they were really going after, you know, the WWF at the time. But to really get the media play, they had to have a poster child. So, you know, they grabbed me.

And so, eh, maybe if I'd have been a mid-card guy at the time, they probably wouldn't have done that. So there's good and bad to it, you know, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. You know, it beats working a real job. I want to thank you for everything that you've done. The pain that you're in right now, it's because of our entertainment that you did it. And I just want to say, on behalf of all fans, we appreciate you. Thank you. Well, no, the fans are great.

I mean, now more than ever, I appreciate them. I mean, I've always loved the fans. I've always done the best I could to honor them and respect them. But now, as I get a chance to step back and really look at what this is all about, it's amazing how loyal they are, bro. They are like, I mean, you know, it's just, the only thing that scares me is some of the tattoos they get. Have you seen some bad ones?

I see some of these tattoos where I look like Dracula, you know. And there's some really good, ones too i don't mean to knock the fans tattoos but it's just how do you come home and tell your wife i've got a hulcomania tattooed across my chest to your wife you know or my whole arm is a picture of hollywood hogan hitting flare with a belt you know because it's for life yeah yeah but no it's the fans have been amazing and they just it's just it's like the gift that keeps on giving it's kind of like i was telling my son nick the other day you know i still work with the w wb all the time i just renewed deal with them, you know. And so...

I mean, we can hear your music hit sometime soon. I hope so. It's always fun to go out there. Maybe I could hang on to one of the wrestlers to get me out to the ring, but... You could flex a little, right? Yeah, yeah. But it's really crazy because when I was the world's champion, you know, we sold a ton of merchandise. We didn't have the vehicle of the internet and the stuff that they have nowadays. But we sold a lot of stuff, you know, back in the day. The cartoon was 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

were like individual deals, frisbee's 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 as 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? Yes. Wow. No, I'm sorry. Not, I'm mistaken. There's 300 different licenses. I'm up to 900 licenses. Not 950,000.

I'm thinking wrong. But instead of 300 deals for Frisbees or whatever, it's up to almost 900 now. Wow. Yeah. So it's like, I'm the Elvis is still alive. You know, it's kind of scary. They know something?

I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. So, but it's just amazing how the fans have made this live. forever you know so it's amazing and the fans that did it i don't ask for a lot of autographs but the last time that i did an interview with you i brought a winged eagle yeah and i brought a russomani 18 poster okay because of what we talked about earlier and i got to say Hulk i was so impressed that you signed the winged eagle Hulk Hogan and without me saying anything you signed

the russlemania 18 poster hollywood hoagin oh cool and i'm just like that's like it's just a little details like that and i just think that's so cool that's awesome man that's awesome i just to say thank you. I appreciate you for who you are. Appreciate you for your time today. And I end every conversation talking about gratitude because it's such an important part of my life. Grateful. I love that. Yeah. So be aware of this spirit of Christ in you. First time God thought of Moses at the burning. I am that I am. And I have a mortal tattoo on my back. Of course. That has nothing to do to the immortal whole deal. I ask you when you accept prices or saved you and live forever. So I am more than.

So it's pretty cool. What are three things that you're grateful for as we sit here right now? I'm grateful for life after death and living through my Savior, Jesus Christ. Number one thing. Number one thing. I'm very grateful for my children. You know, I'm very grateful that my kids are good quality people, you know, and I love them to death. And I'm just very grateful that, you know, I have now met someone that can be my soulmate.

I get to share the rest of my life with. And there's one more thing. I'm grateful that Paul Coveman has not been forgotten by the fans. You know, it's just, it's just amazing that it's just, it seems like it's just as intense as,

I always say the people in New York treat me like I'm still the champion. But that is true everywhere. They still treat me that way. It's like, it's just amazing how the character has just left this mark, you know, on the wrestling fans,

they won't let go, so it's really cool. You truly are. Immortal. You are. Well, I don't know about all that, but, you know. Can we end with a mega powers handshake? Oh, yeah, brother. Fuel the, though. Yeah, I got the dream.

Felt the power there. Thank you, brother. Well, there we go. Such a great conversation. And as wrestling fans, we all know Hulk Hogan, but it was great to be able to spend an hour with Terry. That was so great. And the stories that he was telling,

WrestleMania 18. I mean, I already loved that match. And actually, as I'm sitting here in my office recording this intro or this end of this, I'm looking at the WrestleMania 18 poster and it makes me love that match even more right now. Please share this with a friend. And if you're not already following the show,

it would mean so, so much to me. If you just click to follow wherever you're listening to this right now, snap a screenshot and tag us on social media so we can share it out. He is at Hulk Hogan. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And what a quote from Dale Carnegie that I came across. Hopefully this lights a fire under you. Inaction breeds doubt and fear.

Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer the negative elements in your life, don't sit at home and think about it. go out and get busy. Be great, be grateful. The next interview is with Rick Flair. And then we've got a CVV, Ask CVV episode tomorrow.

So Hulk Hogan today. Ask CVV episode tomorrow. If you have a question, send me a tweet or a message on Instagram with a hashtag AskCV. And then we got Rick Flair on Tuesday. Woo. Be great, be grateful. We'll see you on the next one.

some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media

about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Ticket ban, Joe, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? on your favorite platform. You've been warned.