Hulkamania running wild all over again
The World Wrestling Federation is no more. The WWF is now the WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment, thanks to a legal challenge by the World Wildlife Fund.
But while names change, some things never really do in the WWF, er, E, which will make another trip to the Bi-Lo Center Tuesday for a taping of "SmackDown!" that will appear on UPN June 13.
In this time of rebirth, the wrestler instrumental in lifting pro wrestling from regional, smoke-filled auditoriums to the grandest of worldwide stages is reborn himself.
Hulkamania is back in full effect after a long absence, and the Hulkster took a little time to talk to The Greenville News about the phenomenon. Like the colorful headband covering his balding blond head says, "Hulk Still Rules."
At 48, Hollywood Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Gene Bollea) has come full circle from when he and WWE owner Vince McMahon, beginning in the 1980s, turned wrestling into a mainstream entertainment medium.
From "Rocky III" to the cover of Sports Illustrated to his very own Saturday-morning cartoon, Hogan's role as all-American hero in the 1980s and early '90s was unparalleled. By the mid-'90s, however, fans began to tire of the 26-inch pythons and the wholesome protagonist act, and the hero unthinkably turned villain.
All those years he trained, he took his vitamins, he said his prayers … but (gasp!) he did it all for the money!
No, not really, as it turns out.
These days, fans crave that ideological Hogan of old, lately giving him the rousing, heartfelt ovations from venue to venue that he experienced during the Reagan and elder Bush years.
Out with the black tights of the evil New World Order; in with the red and yellow. Out with the cynical, money-grubbing megalomaniac; in with the hands cupped to the ears to amplify the cheers that rally the Hulkster's superhuman abilities.
The rebirth even meant an unexpected run recently as WWE champion, his sixth title reign. But what gives? Hogan seems to be well past his prime physically, and until recently, was considered more a relic than anything else.
Perhaps it's that the world needs heroes again, Hogan says in a phone interview.
"After the Sept. 11 crap with all the hatred and the death, and the Jerry Springer shock TV we've seen over the past 10 years, I think the people are ready for Chevrolets and McDonald's – and Hulk Hogan fits in there somewhere," Hogan says.
The turnabout is nothing if not unexpected, at least in Hogan's eyes.
At Wrestlemania X8 in March, he was set to battle The Rock in a match where the icon of old passes the torch to the new generation, much as Andre the Giant did for Hogan in 1987.
When facing The Rock, Hogan did everything he could to make the fans hate him, but the faithful refused. The cynical boos of the past decade had turned once again to adoration. It was, Hogan says, his shining moment as a wrestler, even though The Rock prevailed.
"He won the match, which was, of course, predetermined, but I won my fans back," Hogan says. "Hearing those fans say, `Dammit, we still remember you, we still believe and we love you.' They've always known that I'm a good person, and that I was just trying to play a character."
Now, Hogan feels right again in his own skin. No more hissing at the fans who hang over the rail wanting an autograph or a high-five.
"When you're the bad guy, you're supposed to be mean to everybody," he says. "It just doesn't sit right with me. It doesn't make my heart feel good to do it."
It seems fitting for a dad who, when home in Clearwater, Fla., gets up extra early to work out before driving his kids, 12-year-old Nick and 14-year-old Brooke, to school.
If you think being a wrestler is tough, try raising teen-agers, he says.
"It's a teen-age whirlwind, brother. They beat me up. When I go wrestle in the WWE, that's my day off now."
So how many more psuedo-vacations will the fans get to see the Hulkster take?
"I'm not going to question it. It's all bonus time for me. Whether it makes sense again for me to be the champion, only time will tell. I wasn't supposed to be around this long. I just thank God that this is happening, because it didn't have to be this way."
