News On How Much Hulk Hogan Wanted For Bullet Club Appearance With NJPW
Hulk Hogan was apparently considered to appear at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom last month as an honorary member of the Bullet Club, according to a new report from Sports Illustrated. New Japan approached Hogan about appearing at the show, however talks fell apart when Hogan demanded $750,000 for the appearance.
Hogan has recently expressed interest publicly about working with NJPW. Ahead of RAW 25, Hogan told The Associated Press in January that he wanted to get involved with The Bullet Club.
"I'm about ready to jump on a plane and fly to Japan and get involved with that Bullet Club, man," Hogan said. "I'm so excited about those kids."
Hogan hasn't appeared for a major wrestling promotion since being fired by WWE in 2015, when a tape containing him making racist remarks years earlier was made public. Hogan, who was upset with his daughter Brooke dating a black man, used the n-word several times in the tape and said, "I guess we're all a little racist." WWE reiterated last month that they were not interested in bringing Hogan back.
As noted, I interviewed former WCW President Eric Bischoff last week, who said that he believes Hogan will eventually return to WWE. He also discussed the possibility of Hogan – and the nWo – doing an angle with The Bullet Club.
"Let's kind of play 'creative committee' right now. If we looked at the positives: if Hulk Hogan and myself, if I threw myself into that mix, or even Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, if the four of us stepped in as me being the guy that created the nWo and Hulk, Scott and Kevin as the personification of it. If we all came in as the grandfathers, if you will, came in and helped support it and endorse it and draw that immediate parallel between nWo and The Bullet Club which, by the way, is how it got started. It kind of became hot as a result of them mimicking or copying or emulating or paying respect, however you want to say it, to the nWo. That's how it got started, which is cool," Bischoff said. "If we were to at least recreate the components of nWo with Scott, Kevin, Hulk and myself and endorse it, it could have two effects.
"On the one hand, it could certainly bring a lot of notoriety, a lot of eyeballs, a lot of press, a lot of credibility, lots of good things could happen as a result of that. But on the flip side, a lot of bad things could happen, too. One of the reasons The Bullet Club is what it is, while it may be kind of a wink and a nod to the nWo, it's also young, fresh guys of a new generation. There may be a portion of that audience, whether it's a large portion or a small portion, that would go, 'Eh, we don't want to see that.' It all depends on how it's done. I think it would have to be done very carefully; the nWo can't just come in and 'Bigfoot' it. The nWo would have to pay as much respect to The Bullet Club and who they are and what they've become as The Bullet Club would have to pay nWo, because The Bullet Club are the guys that are in the ring doing the work and making the action happen. So it would have to be the art within the art of utilizing the success of the nWo and the people in it and using it to build The Bullet Club as opposed to perhaps diminishing it."
Doric Sam contributed to this article.