Hulk Hogan highlights the differences between wrestling now and the way it used to be.
The business has changed a lot since "Hulkamania" was running wild. Hogan rose to fame at a time when the wrestling business was filled with powerhouses and larger-than-life characters who had the physical stature to match. The industry evolved over the years as names like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson), and others found success despite not meeting the typical "look" that WWE usually preferred.
Speaking on Full Send Podcast, Hogan was asked to describe what started the party culture in WWE, and he state that it was apparent in the wrestling business as a whole. He described how wrestlers used to be much larger, as the guys were "monster-sized" and they weighed over 300 pounds. Hogan then noted that a lot of wrestlers today look like wrestlers, but many of them look like they should be bagging his groceries. He pointed out that they're also much more athletic now.
“It wasn’t the WWE, it was the wrestling business. It was, when I got in, man, when I walked in a dressing room, there were like six guys sitting there. There all 300-pounders. I was a medium-sized guy, and I weighed 300-plus. When I got in, if you wanted to be a wrestler, okay, there’s a guy there. He’s got two big cauliflower ears, his nose is broken, his teeth are knocked out, he’s got four kids at home. This next guy over here was an NCAA Champion. He’s got a steel plate in his forearm, his name’s Harley Race. Good luck with him. Then the other two guys, they look like serial killers, and if you wanted to be a wrestler, you gotta take their job and take the food out of their family’s mouth. That’s the difference. Everybody I wrestled looked like monster-sized men. Nowadays, there’s a lot of guys that look like wrestlers, there’s a lot of guys that don’t. A lot of guys who look like wrestlers and a lot of guys who look like they should be bagging my groceries. So the difference is how athletic the guys are. Smaller guys can do all kinds of crazy stuff. They do so much stuff, so much impressive stuff in one match, I wouldn’t do that much in a year. What does it mean?" Hogan said.
When asked to describe the biggest difference between today's product and the way it was during his prime, he highlighted the impact of the internet before he noted that there wasn't a special attraction anymore. Hogan shared his belief that a lot of the wrestlers look the same, and they can easily be replaced by someone else in the system.
“I think the main thing with the product is that it has had an attraction, like a Hulk Hogan, who you could put with this guy or that guy or him or you or One Man Gang or that guy, and just sell out anything. Instead of having that one attraction, like a Hulk Hogan or a Rock or an Andre the Giant or a Stone Cold Steve Austin, instead of having that one guy that’s really the attraction, I think the star now is the production of the show. I see the guys wrestle, and if one guys is hurt, there’s another one from the Performance Center that slides right in and takes his place, and they’re all the same size and pretty much have the same color hair and their clothes are made by the same seamstress and they learn how to wrestle from the same group of trainers. When I got in the business, we all learned from wrestling every night and being in the ring and getting your ass beat and getting hurt. We learned that way, where we weren’t doing forward rolls with helmets on and the doctors and massagers and trainers. If you hurt your thumb, they go put you in the X-ray machine and ‘You gotta take four weeks off, you broke your nail.’ It’s different now. Back in the day, it was get in the car, shut the hell up, and you’re opening the beers, I’m driving," Hogan said.
Hogan recently discussed why he looked at the wrestling business as a shoot. Click here to see what he had to say.
Check out Hogan's comments on his real-life feud with Bret Hart here.
In a recent interview, Hogan shared his thoughts on potentially returning to the ring. Click here to see what he had to say.
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