During a recent guest appearance on the well-regarded “PBD Podcast,” world-renowned wrestling superstar, Hulk Hogan, nostalgically recounted the moment he truly understood the massive scale of his persona’s popularity called Hulkamania at the zenith of its fame. The highlights from the podcast are shared below:
Referring to his initial obliviousness to the colossal growth of Hulkamania, Hogan declared, “The first time I really became cognizant of its magnitude was when people kept exclaiming ‘Goodness, you fail to realize how big Hulk Hogan has become, there’s Hulkamania going on!’ Candidly, I was absorbed in my work and had my attention fixed on it.”
He shared his enlightening moment while ambling down the renowned Fifth Avenue in New York City. He elucidated, “That was when I had a sudden revelation—that this wrestling gig had gone beyond the conventional, that this character of Hulk Hogan had transgressed these theoretical limitations and elevated into a media sensation, breaking the confines of merely being a wrestling star.”
Hogan, with surprising genuineness, revealed the first celebrity encounter that managed to rattle his nerves, “The only time I felt nervous, trembling, was when I had the chance to meet Jerry Springer. Being a fan of Springer, the experience had me feeling pretty jittery.”
He spoke fondly about his childhood fascination with Dusty Rhodes, who was a wrestling phenom in Florida during his youth, and said, “Back then, Dusty Rhodes, who’s known as ‘The American Dream,’ was a celebrated wrestler in Florida and soon became an idol for me. As seniors in high school, we were able to customize our schedules and my line up included shop class, phys-ed and study hall. In shop class, we would start horsing around, which carried into our phys-ed lesson leading up to the study hall. We would continue grappling during study hall, channeling the wrestlers we admired by tossing each other into boxes and such. I was a massive Dusty Rhodes enthusiast, never even remotely dreaming that I would one day make it in the wrestling world. My undeniable passion for wrestling just naturally steered me in this direction.”
An intriguing podcast discussion between Hogan and the folks at the “PBD Podcast” can be found below.
[Embedded Video]