Hulk Hogan: Real American – Episode Two, “Hulkamania”

Previously: Part One (The Rise)

1983. Linda Hogan tells us about being a year into dating Hulk Hogan and him wanting to make it serious. She didn’t want to move and him get tired of her, so he didn’t call her for two weeks. Hulk finally calls and asks her to fly up to Oakland. They go to a hotel and he tells her he doesn’t want to lose her. Hulk Hogan says he didn’t want to be without her. He proposes, Linda tells us how much she liked that mustache, and it was “like a wrestling match” from there on. We see home video of their wedding. There was no time for a honeymoon though, because they had to head towards Madison Square Garden, brother.

Hulk and a dude look through a storage unit full of his things, finding his suitcase from the early 80s including his planner. We go to 1984 as Hulk tells us he knew the political landscape would have something to do with his big match with Iron Sheik. “I wasn’t into politics at the time.” Hulk tells us stories about Sheik, who unfortunately is not here to tell his side of the story, including that he was a bodyguard in Iran. Bob Costas, Sportscaster, tells us that wrestling shouldn’t have nuisance or shades of gray, and laughs about Sheik demanding his anthem being played. Linda remembers the morning of the match and that Terry was already “out of body” and in Hulk mode. Hulk’s father was very political and very into the President at the time and was shocked that he came out for the big MSG match.

Hulk jumped the Sheik at the beginning of the match because of the audience’s noise, something Sheik supposedly didn’t know was coming. We zip through the match and Hulk becomes the new champion. He took his parents out to dinner and his dad told him he was proud and made the right choice. Bruce Prichard, WWE Executive Director, pops in to tell us that pro wrestling didn’t have national television exposure and was a dirty word. Keith Elliot Greenberg, Pro Wrestling Historian tells us it wasn’t considered legitimate sports and Bruce says that 1985 changed everything.

Vince creates WrestleMania. Mr. T was the top television star in the U.S. (according to Keith) and the tag match is set up. Keith says fans weren’t just watching for wrestling but for the spectacle but there was a lot of uncertainly about WrestleMania flying. The voice of Vince McMahon says it was expensive and they bet the farm on it. Set to Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4,” we look through the promotional road of WrestleMania with Saturday Night Live. Hulk was completely spent from it all. Vince calls Hulk and tells him he was booked on “Hot Properties” and kids in wheelchairs were there, so Hulk agreed. He got there and there were no children, so that was a red flag. Richard Belzer was being a wiseguy and Hulk puts him in a headlock, Belzer dropping to the ground out cold and busting his head open. Linda says she didn’t think Hogan meant for him to pass out. Hulk: “I knew I went too far.” Linda says Hulk didn’t feel bad at all and a half-a-million dollar lawsuit follows. Linda says they lived on $3500 a month and Hulk pops in to say it was an apartment in the “hood” of Stamford.

WrestleMania happens. It’s a hit. Hulk says it was mainstream overnight. Linda couldn’t believe it was happening, their bookkeeper calling them and telling them they have a million dollars in their bank account. Linda tells us they had sex to celebrate. Well of course. Hulk says they got the cigar smokers and beer drinkers out of the front row and families started showing up. We speed through Mania II with Jake Roberts saying Hulk was the golden goose. Jesse Ventura knew Hogan was money and the main event, a bigger check but not as big as Hulk. Bret Hart says they were all hoping they were on the same shows as Hulk. Ted DiBiase never thought wrestling would go as big as it did with Hulk. Linda tells us it was constant good times. “It turned into a lifetime of partying.” Hulk says, “We were going pretty hard doing the drug stuff.” Roberts says they were going 90 miles an hour and doing everything they can do, something we are well aware of about Jake. Linda was taking diet pills and everything else she could get her hands on.

1986. They’re at Gold’s Gym and Linda says a big biker guy was standing around their car and looked just like Terry. It was brother Allen, brother, and they weren’t that close. Allen had issues so Hulk wanted to help him go to rehab but gave Allen money for rent. Hogan got out of the ring and was given a number to call, learning his brother overdosed and passed. Hulk wasn’t able to handle going to the funeral and the parents didn’t go either. Hulk can’t handle talking about this. “Digging way too much for me.”

He was completely done after that but kept on pushing. The Make-A-Wish kids started showing up and wanting to meet him instead of Mr. T and Mickey Mouse, sometimes ten at a time. Cody Rhodes says Hulk was able to capture their imagination. We head to the build to WrestleMania III. Hulk looked up to Andre the Giant his entire life. Keith gives us a background on Andre’s legacy and says that everytime Hulk tells a story, Andre gains another hundred pounds in it. The storyline goes that Andre couldn’t be body slammed and that he challenges anyone in wrestling history to do a move better than his body slam on Andre, even any “twisty moves.” Jimmy Hart says Hogan because a legend that day. Hulk: “Hulk Hogan turned out to be more real than anyone thought it could be. It turned out to be who I really am.” Back to the storage unit, Hulk looks at a pair of boots and tells a story of ordering twelve pairs of boots at a time.

Jimmy Hart compares him to Lennon and McCarthy. President Donald Trump joins us for the documentary, having nothing else important going on to be doing. He remembers Hulk at Trump Plaza at WrestleMania V, doesn’t say much of anything else and refuses to do the Hulk finger wag on camera. Hulk says Trump’s business sense rubbed off on him, which is probably why Hulk was selling Hulk vapes in his last years. Hulk became a big merchandising deal and had to know merchandising licensing things and being able to talk to women at media events. He knocked off the idea of the Hulk Hogan vibrating action figure, though we’d get vibrating figures eventually because WCW.

Linda says Hogan’s career became all-consuming between matches, advertising and other ventures. She told Hulk it was like Bonnie and Clyde and she needed a break. She wanted to have a baby and nine months later, there was Brooke. “My whole reason for living changed instantly,” says the Hulkster, as we see him playing with Brooke in the pool. His focus changed to protect this human being. Linda gets pregnant again because she quit taking her birth control pills and didn’t tell Hulk. Linda: “That’s okay, he got over it.” (Narrator: That’s not okay.) Nasty Nick is born and Hulk realizes he didn’t want to live how he grew up and he wanted to tell people he loved them. We swap to modern day and Nick training with Hulk. Hulk tells us Nick has stuck around for him the longest. Nick Hogan joins us to say his dad felt like an action figure. He doesn’t remember Hulkamania but his friends were excited to meet his dad. Natalya Neidhart remembers meeting Hulk at a birthday party on his yacht as her dad was part of the superstar era. She saw her dad on TV more than in real life, just like Hulk’s kids.

Linda tells us about Hulk being gone for weeks at a time and his kids starting to freak out when he left. Hulk thought about approaching Vince about winding down to a part-time schedule but there were no other big stars. Enter the Ultimate Warrior. Cody loved the Warrior and could feel the energy. Hogan says they tried but it ended up being one of the worst ideas in wrestling history. Roberts: “The ultimate SHIT.” They didn’t know what to do with Warrior after he won the title. Bret knew Warrior wasn’t the guy. DiBiase says Warrior was not well-liked and couldn’t wrestle. Hulk says Warrior wanted to end the match at the three-minute match “and I said no, bro.” Cody feels like the story was Hogan losing, not Warrior winning. Bruce thinks people resented Warrior and the audience knew he was no Hulk. Warrior is shut down against Sgt. Slaughter and Vince goes back to the familiar, Slaughter basically becoming the Iron Sheik.

Hulk things Hulkamania will never die and be an era people talk about forever like they do the Roarin’ 20s. Do people still talk about that? A news voiceover wonders if Hulk Hogan has a sinister side. News clips talk about steroids. Dun dun dun.

Much like the first episode, this one didn’t uncover much we haven’t talked about in large detail. WrestleMania! WrestleMania III! Hulkamania running wild! Running the cigar smokers out of the building! Warrior sucks! Nothing really groundbreaking. Halfway through the series, things aren’t very interesting, but that last episode still sounds like it’ll have some quotable stuff. But first, we have to make it through the third episode!

Up next: “Hollywood Hogan.”