Perhaps no wrestler on the planet has a richer book of memories than Hulk Hogan. Having become the first icon of the industry, The Hulkster conquered the globe in the name of spreading Hulkamania. With all of his groundbreaking accomplishments, is there one moment that is better than the rest for Hogan?
Hogan answered this very question in a Q & A session on his Youtube channel. To our surprise, it had nothing to do with bodyslamming Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III.
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“When I won the WWF Heavyweight Title in Madison Square Garden, January 23, 1984 from the Iron Sheik. But there’s a backstory to it, we go back many years when I was going to the University of South Florida, majoring in finance and management with a minor in music. After a bunch of years of going to college and quitting to play music several times, I finally quit for good to be a professional wrestler. It just killed both my parents, it ruined their hopes and dreams for me. So there was a very strained relationship for quite a long time with me and my Mom and Dad. Then, at Madison Square Garden where I beat the Iron Sheik, I had both my parents in the audience, sitting next to Vince McMahon’s wife, Linda McMahon. When I came back with the belt โ Andre was pouring champagne on my head โ my Dad and Mom came to the dressing room. They both said how proud they were of me and they were very happy that I made that decision to be a wrestler.”
Hogan’s fondest memory could arguably be Vince McMahon’s as well. By pinning the Iron Sheik, Hulkamania officially began. From there, Hogan essentially went viral without the amplification of the internet. His big victory didn’t just launch himself into superstardom but made WWE a global conglomerate.
Hogan’s anecdote of leaving a conventional life behind for the pursuit of professional wrestling is worthy of a fable. Hogan traded in college loans for leg drops. It’s funny to imagine Hogan following his collegiate path and becoming a financial advisor of sorts – too bad we’ll never see the local commercials of Terry Bollea as the community’s authority on portfolio management.
Slowly but surely, Hogan is coming back into the public light. His sex tape and racial slur scandals got him excommunicated from WWE but whispers have begun to surface about his prodigal return. while it’s still a tough subject, we can expect to see Hogan appearing in WWE sometime in 2018.