Hulk Hogan returned to WWE in 2002 after a nine-year absence. Jim Ross, a WWE commentator and talent relations executive at the time, recently recalled how he disliked dealing with The Hulkster.
Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, passed away on July 24 at the age of 71. The two-time WWE Hall of Famer was initially presented as a bad guy as part of the nWo faction upon his 2002 return. However, he became a babyface after fans cheered for him against The Rock at WrestleMania 18.
On his Grilling JR podcast, Ross revealed he found Hogan difficult to work with behind the scenes:
“I was in shock at how paranoid he was, and I got to thinking, ‘Hell, he’s getting up there in age. There’s a whole new set of toys here that he has to interact and play with.’ So maybe he’s just that way [paranoid]. Maybe that’s just the way it is, and it seemed to be true. He was not fun to work with, in my opinion, and I hate to speak ill of the dead.” [8:57 – 9:20]
Hulk Hogan faced Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, The Rock, Triple H, The Undertaker, and several others in 2002. He also feuded with Vince McMahon in 2003 before winning SummerSlam matches against Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
Jim Ross on Hulk Hogan’s lack of trust
In a recent Sportskeeda video, veteran wrestling writer Vince Russo said he knew Hulk Hogan would never trust him from the first moment they met.
Similarly, Jim Ross felt like the wrestling icon prioritized his creative direction over finances or anybody else on the show:
“Well, he didn’t trust anybody, Conrad [host Conrad Thompson]. He thought everybody had an ulterior motive, and that was out to get him. I don’t know why I would have went to the trouble of negotiating with him, which is another adventure, or anything like that. This is just my opinion, he was seemingly more concerned about creative and how he was gonna be used than the money he was offered on his contract, being a member of the team, all that stuff.” [9:31 – 10:07]
In the same episode, Ross made a damning statement about Vince McMahon’s “reckless” driving after the former WWE Chairman’s recent car crash.
Please credit Grilling JR and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
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