In the era of pro wrestling where personas were larger than life, there was overwhelming pressure for wrestlers to maintain their personas outside of the ring. Without social networks, many are lost in their characters.
Hulk Hogan has been one of WWE’s biggest stars for years, with a bigger personality than most of the roster. However, according to Eric Bischoff, he often lost sight of who Terry Bollea was underneath the tricks.
“He was always in character,” she said during the speech.Planet TyrusBischoff explained that Hogan would go out in public knowing that he was supposed to be “The Hulk” and when he was approached, he was never Terry Bollea. “He lived it. And, over time, I think he sometimes lost sight of who was Terry and who was Hulk.”
Remembering the documentary made after Hogan’s deathBischoff stated that anyone watching will see Terry Bollea, which he felt was important for the fans to see. Tyrus then weighed in, recalling the many controversies Hogan has been involved in while praising the late veteran for always owning the worst parts of himself.
“He didn’t blame every mistake (on someone else), he said that he wasn’t perfect, he didn’t always say the right thing,” he said. “Who the f*** is doing?”
Tyrus emphasized that, unlike the average person, Hogan constantly had to fight the possibility of being recorded, despite being human like everyone else. “He could make a lot of excuses. No one would have interrupted him if he had blamed “this one” and “this one,” Tyrus pointed out.
Tyrus on Hulk Hogan’s racial controversy. “The difference is. he had it”
One of the most damaging controversies of Hulk Hogan’s career has erupted when a recording surfaced of him going on a blatant racial tirade. Hogan repeatedly yelled the “N-word” during the call in response to his daughter dating a black man at the time, resulting in WWE dissing him and even removing him from all of their media for three years.
Tyrus, who is a black American wrestler himself, addressed the leaked tape and called for people to have compassion for Hogan.
“Man, if you put me in that situation and I was that sad going through it, I’d probably say something really stupid and stuff like that because that’s what we do,” he said. “The difference is, he had it. He apologized profusely and owned up to it. And that, to me, was the greatest strength of any human being.”
Hogan’s final years were marked by increased political involvement and public baptism, commenting on Hogan’s faith at the endTyrus thinks the “Hulkster” was real.
“All fall, none can be Jesus,” lamented Tyrus. “But I just felt, even though he was gone too soon, after watching that (documentary), I felt like he was fine.”
Additionally, Tyrus emphasized that he doesn’t want wrestlers to be measured by their race, but instead by whether they are good or not, stating that someone like Booker T should be considered a great wrestler and not a great black wrestler.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Planet Tyrus and credit ah/t Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
