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THIS INTERVIEW IS COPYRIGHT (C) PWTORCH. IT IS NOT TO BE REPRODUCED IN PART OR IN WHOLE WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF PWTORCH AND WADE KELLER.

The following is a sample of part one of the only long-form insider interview Hulk Hogan has ever done in his career. It was conducted by PWTorch editor Wade Keller five years ago. For the first time ever, it will be published online over the next several weeks in multiple installments, as originally published in the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter. The interview will be published exclusive for PWTorch VIP members. You can become a VIP member by clicking here.

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Hulk Hogan is the biggest star of the last 25 years in the professional wrestling industry. His image is, for many people, what they think of when they hear the words "professional wrestling." He has endured as a top star through several eras and generations of fans, dating back to his first big babyface boom period in the AWA in the early '80s to winning over the crowd at WrestleMania against The Rock earlier this year.

Hulk Hogan [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

In this "Torch Talk," the first interview Hogan has ever done with an insider publication, and his longest interview of any kind ever, he discusses many of the highs and lows of his career. With his autobiography having come out this week, over the course of the two hour interview, I attempted to avoid covering the same ground that he did in the book. This interview in many ways works as a supplement to the book, as many questions asked are intended as a follow-up to what he wrote over the course of 300-plus pages. However, part one of this two hour interview focuses on his current situation with WWE and why he didn't return to WWE rings to headline against Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. He talks about how the necrophilia angle with Triple H has affected his attitude about a return, and whether he could be content if his last match against Brock ended up being his last WWE match ever.

In future installments, Hogan talks about a number of controversial subjects in detail for the first time, such as his view of the infamous finish of the Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels match at Survivor Series in Montreal five years ago, what happened behind the scenes on his final night in WCW that ended with Vince Russo stripping him of his title and cutting a shoot promo on him that led to a current pending lawsuit, accusations that he undercut the pushes of Ricky Steamboat after WrestleMania III and Bret Hart shortly after he jumped to WCW, and the downfall of WCW. He also gives his thoughts on The Rock, Eric Bischoff, Paul Heyman, Stephanie McMahon, Randy Savage, Triple H, the steroid controversy, his appearance on Arsenio Hall, and much more. The interview was conducted on Nov. 21 and 22.

Wade Keller: Can you clear up your status with WWE? It's been widely reported that there was serious talk of you coming back for Survivor Series this past weekend. Why didn't that happen?

Hulk Hogan: Well, man, it's all of the above. I'll go through the whole thing with you. Originally, Vince and I talked a couple months ago about me coming back. I said that I was interested. Basically, I blew my back out a couple of weeks before I wrestled Brock (Lesnar), so I was kind of looking to do him a favor, but then I kind of took it to the other level and basically suggested to have Brock crucify me. So, you know, it was one way for me to get away and let my back get some rest, the knee surgery and all that stuff. My knee is the best part of my body now. It feels better than anything. My lower back gave me... It took a couple of months for me to get over my whole back being blown out. I got back in shape, so Vince and I started talking and he suggested a scenario where I would go to Survivor Series, wrestle Brock, and then basically go right to WrestleMania after that, just two matches. So we talked about the creative part of it and kind of disagreed on what Hulk Hogan's role... not really what his role should be in the company, because we both kind of were shooting for the Babe Ruth of the company, but we both kind of disagreed on how to get there.

I had delusions of grandeur, taking this high, high road with Hulk Hogan simply because whether I was winning or losing the fans cheered me. I thought that we should quit disappointing the fans and maybe Hulk Hogan should win a match once in a while. And Vince, you know, was thinking that if I ever won a match, people wouldn't believe it. I don't know what he was thinking because we all know it's an exhibition, but for some reason Vince thought it wasn't going to be believable if I really won a match, or he was thinking that I could make my big comeback by not ever winning a match or just doing jobs. I kind of disagreed because I thought that the people were expecting something, and when I'd make this big promise about coming back and fighting for my life, maybe there would be a chance in hell or some major fluke that I might actually win one. So when we started getting into the creative direction, we disagreed. I said, "Well, that doesn't work for me."

Keller: Where does it stand at this point?

Hogan: Then he called me back a few days later and said, "Well, I have this other direction and we'll do this. The Survivor Series thing, then instead of waiting until WrestleMania we'll turn the dial up and you'll work again at the Royal Rumble and that will lead us right into WrestleMania." So he had a Plan B, but once again I didn't really agree with the creative direction. I said, "Well, you know, I'm not really interested." It was all over and done with, but we talked again the next day and he kind of expressed to me how the business was doing its normal down cycle and that the business kind of needed me to come back and that it would be good for the WWE, and Vince kind of wanted me to come back. I basically told him: "You know, man, I've been thinking about it and let's go ahead and talk after the first of the year. Let me go ahead and keep thinking this thing over. Let me go ahead and hang out with my family, there's no rush to come back. Let me hang out with my family for Thanksgiving and Christmas and then at the first of the year, if you want to talk, we will." And that's kind of where I left it.

But in the meantime, Bill Goldberg was in Japan and my name started getting dropped in Japan a lot. And I've been training my ass off, man, to get back in shape, because if I did come back to the WWE I wanted to be in better shape this time than the last time and try not to be dragging the leg or be a step slow and try to really come back with some momentum just to prove the point that I could get over that hurdle. Not that you have to dropkick or be the greatest technical wrestler, but this business is all about who can draw the most money and put the asses in seats, and I wanted to prove that point again that this whole Hulkamania thing wasn't a fluke, that it really works if you take care of this business.

So during this time that I was going to wait until the first of the year to talk to Vince, the Japanese people starting calling me. The company that Goldberg is working for started calling me and we started negotiating. Bang, "We want you here right now on November 18." You know, they put this deadline, this drop dead date on me. I said, "Look, guys, I would love to come November 18, I would love to come after the first of the year, but right now, I told my wife and kids that I'm not going to do anything with Vince until the first of the year and that kind of blocked me in to staying home with my family. And so I'm going to hang out for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but if you want me in Japan, right at the first of the year I'm going to talk with Vince, and right at the first of the year I'll talk with you guys and then I'll make my decision as to whether I am going to go back with Vince and the WWE or whether I'm going to go back with Japan.

So now, I haven't talked to Vince since then. And the bottom line is, since then I've been watching what's been going on in the show, you know, with the direction of whatever you call that word...

Keller: Necrophilia.

Hogan: Yeah, the whole dead body thing and the sex thing. And for me that doesn't work. It's not that I'm some pompous ass. I understand what they're doing. It's the Shock TV. They're trying to generate interest and switch the momentum, but for me, and I hate to be a pompous ass about it, I really don't need to do this. I just do this because I want to and it's fun when I do it. And I really can't go out on a limb and have Hulkamania running wild and then the next segment has people having sex with dead bodies. Because since I talked with Vince, I have a lot of other stuff going on. I got the MCI (long distance commercial) deal with Terry Bradshaw and Mike Piazza going, and they were kind of upset with the content. I got some chances to do some major stuff in the movie industry. I've never read for a movie before, but I'm going out to read for Superman and the Harry Potter thing. I've got a whole deal with UPN, and the lady that runs the network is all excited about me maybe doing a TV series for them.

So a lot of things are going on, but the main thing is that I'd like to get back on track with this wrestling, but only if they want to take the high road. Because when the nose dips on this ship, there's a normal cycle every year when the business goes down, you can usually pull it up. I'm not saying you can't, but now all of a sudden you have all of these reality shows, you've got all of these extreme sports, and they're fighting for that same demographic that Vince is. I'm not saying you can't pull the nose up on it, but you better be careful because Gary Constantine, the guy from NBC, he's a pretty smart guy and is the producer of (Jay) Leno, and he told me, "Brother, turning people off is one thing, but when they turn your product off, good luck getting them back." And so you have to pull the nose up on this thing sooner than later.

I'm open-minded, in really good shape, I'm ready to go back to work, and my attitude is straightened out. Because I can get all full of myself, you know, because I start thinking, "There's only one way to do things." I'm all about taking the high road, not that I don't understand what everybody is doing, but now I've got myself back in check and my head is on straight. I'm ready to go back to work at any time. I just want to make sure it's done right. And you know what? Since I'm doing it for fun, if it's not fun in the United States, I'll go overseas to Japan and do it, but I would really like to go back to work for the WWE. I'm still under contract until January 14, but I'm really not because we only had a contract for five dates and I actually fulfilled that commitment the first couple weeks that I was there (laughs). And it's all a creative thing. We agree to disagree. I say, "I don't like the direction" or "I don't want to come back," or if Vince says that he doesn't like what I'm doing, we're out of the contract. So it's basically a verbal handshake even though it's on paper, you can get out of it easily, but I would like to stay there.

Keller: Do you regret at all how the last match with Brock was portrayed given how things have gone now?

Hogan: Yes and no. I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do. Nobody asked me to do that. I volunteered to do that. And the bottom line was that I volunteered to get carried out, I volunteered to do the bearhug, blade job, bite the rubber, and bleed from the mouth, all of that was volunteered, nobody asked for that. The whole thing was that I was hoping it would take Brock to a whole new level and hopefully give him the momentum that they wanted. But the whole time in my heart, I really believed that if Brock would have stayed a heel and maybe if I could have got the belt and if they had let Hulkamania run wild instead of Brock Lesnar beating a guy that had been beaten every week, instead of Brock beating a guy that couldn't whip his own ass, if he had beaten Hulk Hogan with a heck of a little run it would have meant more. Now that they're going in the direction that they're going and they're doing what they're doing, would I have done it? I don't know, but I sure wish they would have capitalized on it more than they did.

Keller: I know in your book you wrote about wanting to end the career the way you want and kind of have control over how the last chapter is written. If that ends up being the last match that you wrestle in WWE, can you live with that? Can you be satisfied with that?......

The complete version of this article is available exclusively to PWTorch VIP Members as part of this week's new PWTorch Newsletter "5 Years Ago This Week" back issue. VIP membership also includes:

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