Hulk Hogan On TNA Vs. WWE, TNA's Future, Vince, & More

Hulk Hogan on TSN's Off The Record with Michael Landsberg
December 10, 2009
by: Marty Hotts

This was a full 30 minute interview with Hulk Hogan. He talked about his book, citing the same story about having a loaded gun and almost committing suicide until Layla Ali helped snap him out of it.

A question was asked about Macho Man Randy Savage and Elizabeth's death. He talked about deaths in wrestling saying that many wrestlers fail to distinguish the difference between their wrestling careers (fans, money, fame) with their personal lives, which leads wrestlers to this road.

Prior to the commercial break, they showed a "quirky fact" showing that Hogan and McMahon stayed in a hotel room and wrote the entire "No Holds Barred" movie in 48 hours.

Talk was then moved to Vince McMahon. An old clip from December 2002 showed him talking about Russo being a former writer and then worked close to McMahon. He then said in that old interview that McMahon was a friend regardless of the ups and downs.

In the present interview, he talks about McMahon and saying that previous explanations regarding the love-hate relationship they had in the past, McMahon would answer "it was just business" and Hogan said he understood that. He talked about whether there is morality in business when he was asked about it.

Landsberg then asked January 4, you're going head-to-head with WWE – Why? He said for years, WWE has been the only wrestling show you could watch, the only one that was available or "shoved down the throats" of the fans. This changes the wrestling landscape.

He again mentions that McMahon called him up 8 weeks ago for him to come and host Raw and shoot a "Babe Ruth" type return to WWE. He said this was similar to last year where he wrestled John Cena and broke his back. He said he knew how it was going to end.

Hogan said when he signed the TNA deal, he was going to be the McMahon of the company and wanted to be on Mondays to let the fans decide. He noted that the execs may have hesitated about the number that they may get or if it would be a disaster.

Landsberg quickly said but that was 1995, WCW was owned by a major company, had more resources and Hogan was younger, Flair was younger. Hogan backed it up by saying that this would be true to the fans and letting the fans decide whether they want to watch WWE or Hulk Hogan.

Landsberg threw a quick question asking "If I said TNA has signed a 2 year Monday Deal, what would you say", Hogan replied with "that's the first I heard about it". Landsberg chuckled and said that Hogan did not confirm and kind of stated that he didn't know about it, hinting that this may actually be the case.

After the final commercial break, Landsberg asked a lot of questions in his "Next Question" segment. Some key ones were:

Q: Would you let Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake cut your hair?
A: Never

Q: What was the most uncomfortable angle you ever took part in?
A: Having Kidman beat him repeatedly week after week

Q: Talk about the Pat Patterson story when you joined the business:
A: Hogan said that on his first night, he was in a car and Patterson and other wrestlers said he had to give one of them oral sex or he would get "gang raped" (bleeped out on the show) after his match when he enters the showers. At that moment, he said that's not his deal. After his match, he was ready to fight, but was instead greeted with cheers, beer, and celebration. He thought that was pretty interesting joke.

The show should be posted on https://www.tsn.ca/otr soon.