411’s Hulk Hogan: Real American Report – Episode Three: ‘Hollywood Hogan’

-Written: 4.22.26
-Source: Netflix
-Run Time: 1:06:03

-We start with more home footage as Hogan is film Nick walking for the first time.  I have the videos of my kids walking on my phone.  We see birthday parties for the kids and cut to Hogan’s famous sit-down interview with Vince before Mania VIII where retirement was discussed.  I was not a happy 10 year old! Bruce says yes, Hogan was going to retire.  Ventura: “Bullshit.”  Nash: “Fuck no.”  I find it great that Nash’s first word in this series is an F Bomb.  Also credit for that awesome editing from Bruce’s words to Ventura and Nash.

-They interview fans and even they don’t believe he is going to retire.  Linda says Hogan would go crazy if he had to retire.  We see matches with Flair and Undertaker.  Eric Bischoff says being Hulk Hogan is like being master of the universe.  Nick says that Hogan even joked the other day about “one more match.”  For the record I believe Hogan’s last WWF match was beating Orton at SummerSlam. His last televised match was losing to Sting at TNA Bound for Glory and I checked and apparently his last match overall was a six man tag (with Sting and Storm against Angle, Roode, and Bubba Dudley) on a TNA house show in England in 2012.

-Opening credits! 

-We are up to 1990 and Linda says Hogan’s career was hurricane strength famous and there was no room for error.  We see Hogan doing a press tour to announce Hulk Hogan vitamins.  I did take those, but I preferred Flinstones.  Linda says Hogan was a health buff and he did train, say his prayers each night and did take his vitamins.  Ventura: “Orals or injectables.  What kind of vitamins are we talking about here?”  

-Steroids were a big thing in the 80s.  Hogan says the mindset was steroids were safer than sugar and they were legal.  He admits he started using them two years after leaving high school.  We see footage of him working in his gym with Beefcake and Savage.  Hogan says he was between 303 and 348 lbs when he was taking roids.  He says the laws started to change in the 90s and we get news footage of drug busts for steroids.  Hogan said all wrestlers across the board used steroids, but the focus was on him.  That’s what happens when you are QB1.  

-Dr George Zahorian is brought up and it causes Jimmy Hart to drop an F Bomb.  He apologizes for it.  Hogan mentions Arsenio Hall was a friend and says he helped Arsenio get his job.  Yeah, I am sure someone will fact check that one.  Hogan says he lied to him and Jesse says all the boys just laughed.  David Shoemaker says it was unnecessary to lie as everyone knew he was taking steroids.  Shoemaker says he has been a Hogan fan since he was six.  He understands why Hogan did it as Hogan was seen as a hero.  Part of Hulkamania was also being honest and Hogan wasn’t.  Bret says lying is what gets you in the end.  We go back to the kid who said “he’s going to die” at the end of the last episode.  Hogan says it was a mistake and he would not do it again if he could do it over.  He says he needed to step away from wrestling and couldn’t be Hulk Hogan anymore. 

-We see him at home being bored out of his mind.  Bret: “Hulk for all I knew was never coming back.  We needed someone to fill Hulk Hogan’s shoes because they were pretty big shoes.”  Bret says he was different than Hogan.  He says Hogan was Elvis and he was The Robert Dinero of wrestling.  Bret thought Hogan would be happy for him.  Hogan: “no brother that’s not happening.”  Vince heard the pitch from Hulk and Bruce says Hulk was Vince’s Babe Ruth.  Shoemaker says it was weird and it wasn’t the right time for Hogan to come back.  11 year old me begged to differ!

–WrestleMania IX:  We get the footage we saw from the Peacock documentary.  Nattie says Hogan was always at the top of the food chain and you want to keep that spot.  Bret walked up to Hogan and offered his hand, but Hogan just ignored him.  Hogan says he wouldn’t do that intentionally and wonders if he was high or drunk that day.  Bret knew he had the belt and Hogan wanted what he had.  “I was the enemy now.”  Hulk says he had that Hogan stroke back then.  Vince made the decision to put the Title back on Hogan.  Bret was pissed and said he knew it would backfire.  Hogan: “Vince made the decision and it was one of those things.”  Bret: “Fuck you.”  There’s our Bret!

-Bret vs. Yoko: Bret says the match was a phoney, bullshit match that Hulk would dream up. He doesn’t say Yoko cut the match short this time. Fuji throws salt in Bret’s eyes and Yoko is the new Champion. Hogan comes out and Bret mocks the idea that Hogan was his friend. “Go in there Hulk and win my belt.” Bret says it sucked and people wondered why they would do that to Bret Hart. Bret says Hogan was a good guy once upon a time. What I see is a packed crowd losing their mind over Hogan winning The WWF Title. I guess I am in the minority when I say that as a kid I thought it was great. Shoemaker doesn’t have the same thoughts as me as he felt even as a kid he could see Hogan was a bad friend. Hey, Fuji challenged Hogan. I also like to think it was Hogan being 22 years early and having the first successful cash in. Bret: “He was a backstabbing, knife wielding, piece of shit.” Bret says it was the same match for years. FIVE MOVES OF DOOM! HHH says that you had seen Hogan and people started to move on. He says Vince would always do what was best for business.

-Vince told Hogan he thinks his run is over and the red and yellow were dead. For Hogan it was the classic Vince McMahon mistake. He says Vince knows how to run a huge company a million times more than him, but he doesn’t known the character and brand Hulk Hogan as well as he does. They are using ‘Broken Wings’ as the song playing over this portion with video of the Hogan/Yoko rematch spliced in and it’s awesome. SO TAKE THESE BROKEN WINGS! Vince says they had differences and Hogan’s ego would get out of line. Hogan says it takes two to build an empire and thought they were close personally. Vince basically told him the personal was a business front and Hogan decided nobody was going to hurt him again. They got into an argument and Hogan cussed Vince out and told him he would show him who was stronger: him or the machine behind him. Bruce says both men were unhappy and it was tough to watch. Vince told Hogan he would never work there again. Hogan: “I am good at getting fired.” Much like Bret years later, Hogan was beat with his own finisher.

-We touch on Hogan’s Hollywood career and go back to No Holds Barred (I saw it in the theater) and him appearing on Baywatch. Nattie puts over how Hogan transcended wrestling. THEY GOT CHRISTOPHER LLOYD FOR THIS. IT’S DOC BROWN! I am so happy! He has a copy of Suburban Commando in his hands and calls The Hulkster “Shep Ramsey.” Doc says he was intimidated at first and says Hogan looked like he was from outer space. He says Hogan was a friend right away. MR. NANNY! I loved these movies as a kid and I will leave the memories alone. Gremlins 2! Doc says Hogan wasn’t going to go out and do King Lear, but that wasn’t his goal. Hogan says he was killed by critics. We see Hogan getting crushed by Seiskel and Ebert. Hogan: “Whatever! I knew I was a wrestler scamming by.”

-Hogan is filming Thunder in Paradise in Florida and that let him spend so much more time at home. He loved packing lunches for his kids because it was new to him. We get more home videos of Hogan with his kids. Hogan says he didn’t have his heart all the way into the movies because it was slow paced. He wasn’t a fan of the process. “Wrestling for 10-15 minutes and making the million dollar minimum guarantee.” Hogan started going crazy and wanted to go back to wrestling. We see Hogan on Regis and they hint at the idea that he may be returning to the ring.

-1994: Hogan’s sound stage for Thunder was next to the one WCW used. Hogan says WCW was Rasslin and we see Stan Hansen spitting out tobacco. He says it was a real distant number 2 from WWF. We see Big Josh with his bears and Robocop. I mean, WWF had their own share of crap. Eric Bischoff says WCW never turned a dime of profit. Eric needed Madison Avenue to look at WCW as a competitor to WWF. Eric approached Hogan and Hogan said he would think about it. Linda says she thought Hogan would be home longer but work was calling. Hogan admits his deal with WCW was ridiculous and he had to give back on some of the deal so certain people wouldn’t get fired. That sounds like a Hogan line, but it’s somewhat believable because this is WCW and nothing would shock me.

-Linda says they had a lot of money, but Hogan never wanted to retire. We see the ticker tape parade where Hogan was driven in a red and yellow convertible at Disney MGM to announce his WCW signing. He admits that Eric gave him control of the company if he wanted it. Cody says it was an incredibly staged parade with fake reporters and a fake audience. Shoemaker says this was a new era and Hogan was the old era and wasn’t sure why the people in WCW couldn’t see it.

-Greenberg says Hogan in WCW didn’t have the impact it would have a few years earlier. Vince’s steroid trial started as The Government had him as a steroid dealer and they had Hogan as their star witness. Hogan just wanted to move on and told the truth. He said Vince never sold him steroids. He admitted to taking them, but it was his own choice. That sunk the case and Vince was found not guilty. Vince then cuts a promo in a neck brace yelling at Hogan for testifying against him. Hogan says he saved Vince’s ass. Hogan says he knows where all the bodies are buried and if he was out for vengeance, Vince would just be getting out of jail now. He couldn’t wait to get to WCW and teach everyone who was the man.

-Bash at The Beach 94: Hogan’s first WCW match and it’s against Ric Flair and sets the highest buyrate in WCW history to that point. Hogan says Vince was wrong as his run was not over. I love the match! Cody says he saw the match and knew this was an older Hulk Hogan. Well, it was an older Flair too. Shoemaker says it was very tired to him. HATERS! I know people hated the early Hogan stuff in WCW, without that you don’t get the later stuff. Eric had to take a chance on Hogan if he wanted to make any kind of noise against the WWF.

-Eric says everyone was excited the first three to four months, but then you started to heat more boos. Hogan says he did see the negative signs about steroid use. He didn’t do much about it, but he remembered them. Linda talks about how easily he could switch into Hulk Hogan mode. Hulk says he was not happy and didn’t know who he was anymore. Eric says it was the end of the era where you had no true good guys.

-1996: HALL AND NASH! Nash drops another f bomb. He says he watched wrestling as a kid and thought it was fake as shit. He got in the business because he saw Hulk and knew he was a better athlete and better looking, so he figured he could do it and make that kind of money. Eric says there has never been a wrestling story that comes close to the nWo. It blurred the lines as they were two stars that were passed over in WCW, went to WWF and became huge stars and came back to terrorize WCW. Hogan saw the money training rolling down the tracks and as Nash once noted, it was moving, but it wasn’t moving fast enough for Hogan not to be able to jump on board. NASH POWERBOMBS BISCHOFF OFF THE STAGE! I love it so much! Hogan starts singing about milkshakes in the yard and how people were ready for Mac10 Stuff 4 Life. “They were ready for some gangster stuff.” That was incredible!

–Bash at The Beach 96: INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS! Cody says he was there as a kid and the atmosphere was perfect. Hogan comes out to save the day and Nash says they didn’t know until Hogan walked out through the curtain. I believe Dave nearly had a stroke over that line recently. HOGAN DROPS THE LEG ON RANDY SAVAGE AND IS THE THIRD MAN! I ran around my house screaming at the time. My mom was even amazed that Hulk Hogan turned bad. Nash: “He’s a bad guy now.” He talks about it being silent and then a riot situation. We get multiple angles of the fan rushing the ring and getting stomped out by Hall and Nash. Man, it would have been amazing if they found that fan to interview him. Hogan then cuts THE GREATEST PROMO OF HIS LIFE! Gene gets hit with garbage and opens a cut on his nose. That had to suck for Gene, but he’s a pro. Hogan tells the fans to stick it, brother! There was so much heat and Hogan knew he could rule the business. Look at the garbage in the ring.

-Linda remembers Hogan sitting her down and telling her the good guy stuff was out the window. He had Linda found a pair of black boots that were from 1965. Linda gave him a pair of her black leggings.

-Shoemaker says nothing was ever the same after that. Booker says Hogan was trying to fit into the new world and society. Cody says it is one of the greatest changes of all time. No kidding! Jake says Hogan was the shit again. “He was the dude.” Cody compares him to a Batman villain. We see nWo carnage as they ran rough shot over WCW. Cody says Hogan was phenomenal as a bad guy. Nick says you can’t have that without the red and yellow. Nick thought Hollywood Hogan was the coolest thing his dad ever did and it is the favorite era of his dad’s career. I love 1996 era nWo! Hogan notes he got so over being a bad guy that people started cheering him again. He says it was 84 all over as it was another lightning bolt run. WCW ended up destroying WWF in the ratings for 83 weeks. Hogan was able to show Vince that he was wrong.

-We are up to 1997 and Hogan presents Nick with The World Title. Linda lost track of what was happening because she had to handle the house and two kids. Hogan was out of town and when he was home, he was cold and not her soulmate. She became unhappy and lonely. Jimmy knows it hurt the kids and we get video of them at soccer games while Hogan is partying with Dennis Rodman. Booker says it was a midlife crisis for Hogan and it happens to a lot of guys that aren’t ready to let it go.

-Up to 1999 as Hogan has his first major surgery. This was the knee injury that Hogans says happened against Sheik in 84, but he kept working. The doctors note he let it go way too long and we see them doing the knee surgery. It makes my knees hurt.

-We get to the weird period where Hogan wanted to run for President of the United States. Hogan says he believed he could win. Eric says some of Hogan’s ideas were delusional. Hogan says he backed out because he got scared and thought he might win. Yeah, no, although after what has happened in politics the last 10 years, who knows?

-Finger Poke of Doom: Yes, Nash calls it that! Nash says they were two giant guys that were beat to shit and Hogan told him, “easy brother. We already have their money.” Shoemaker says that is the moment where it came crashing down and the audience was ready to give up on Hogan and WCW. Funny enough though, Hogan vs. Flair a month later did a big butyrate and actually drew a bigger buy that Vince/Austin that same month.

-Vince Russo arrives in the Fall of 99. Hogan says Russo kicked the door off the hinges and had a didn’t care attitude. He says Russo wanted to fire anyone over 40. Hogan talks about Viagra on a pole matches. Hogan was having health issues, but knew he was not done yet. He calls Russo the poison and final nail in the coffin. Hogan: “I went back to the beach.”

-2001: WCW ends up being bought by Vince McMahon. Hogan thinks Vince bought it for two million dollars and calls it crazy. Hogan stayed at home as Linda says he was in slow day period. More home videos! Linda could still sense that something was off. She says Terry did not hide his mood well. They built a beautiful home and beautiful kids. She didn’t know what Hogan needed. She talks about trying to stay young and doing what was needed in the bedroom. She thinks she was married more to the Hulk character than Terry at this point. Hogan says he thought he was done when WCW was sold. Then Vince called and said “I need you to come home.”

-The idea was for Hogan to face The Rock at WrestleMania. Hogan says Rock hadn’t made any movies yet (I am pretty sure he did). Bruce says it was Icon vs. Icon and it was a natural fit. Rock (voice only) says the idea of Hogan coming back was a chance to create something that was once in a lifetime. Funny enough, he did it two more times with Cena. So Thrice in a Lifetime! Hogan says he was injured two weeks before Mania and the doctor shot him up with Toradol.

–WrestleMania X-8: Cody says he will go on record and says it is the greatest match of all time. I won’t argue as I gave the match ***** stars and it deserves every single one of them. The crowd reaction is unlike anything you will ever see. Jimmy says Vince told Hogan the crowd was likely going to boo him. Hahaha! Hogan says the audience is in total control and they will tell you what to do. I LOVE THIS MATCH SO MUCH! Rock says it is one of the most incredible nights he has ever had in his career. THE GREATEST HULK UP EVER! LOOK AND LISTEN TO THAT CROWD! Cody says you can see Hogan so happy and notes those cheers were always for Hogan because they went on a ride with him. HE BEAT ANDRE THE GIANT WITH THAT MOVE. In the end though, Hogan does what’s best for business and put Rock over. Hogan says he took it as a win because it put him back on the map in a major way.

-Vince told him he needed to put the red and yellow back on. Montreal gives Hogan an insane standing ovation that lasts forever and brings Hogan to tears in the ring. Jimmy: “oh shit that was great.” Listen to that crowd! Hogan says it meant he could hang out as long as he wanted in the WWE.

-Keith talks about being a mark for your own gimmick, which means you believe you are the character. Linda says Terry got lost along the trip. We get a tease of what is coming next with the Reality Show, court cases, and Hogan being booed out of the arena in 2025. Hogan says if he could go back knowing what he knows, it would have all ended at WrestleMania X-8.

-Credits!

-This might be rehashed stuff for some, but I love it. I will eat stuff up like this with a spoon. There was a lot to take in with this episode as we covered about a decade of wrestling and in some cases it seems longer when you realize who Hogan was in 92 and then in 96 and then in 2002. The are three different eras in a 10 year period. The Hogan/Bret stuff was what you would expect. I will say Hogan noted it was a Vince decision, but bragged about having stroke. In the end we know Vince has final say, but as noted, he will often go back to what is familiar and worked in the past. Someone made the comment that Vince going back to his megastar when business was down isn’t as scandalous as Bret wants it to be. I can understand why Bret would be pissed off as well though. One more episode to go and then I will try to wrap up everything.

-Thanks for reading!