Hulk Hogan Makes Bizarre John Wayne Claim
Hulk Hogan is now making claims about how he could have been a major movie star, but he preferred the wrestling life instead.
Whether you like him or not, there is no denying that Hulk Hogan has been a household name over the last 40 years. As one of the biggest pro wrestlers of all time and the top guy during WWE’s incredible run in the 1980s, The Hulkster is recognized around the world.
That popularity led to a lot of accomplishments in the pro wrestling business, but it also led to movie roles, commercials and other things that not all wrestlers get a chance to do.
Movies that Hogan starred in like Mr. Nanny and Suburban Commando weren’t exactly huge success, yet apparently, the Hulkster wants people to believe that he could have been a big movie star.
While talking to TBN’s “Praise,” Hulk Hogan explained how he didn’t enjoy the process of making movies.
“Well, it was a logical extension of where I should go with my career. Because once the wrestling took off, and the character Hulk Hogan became as big as the wrestling business at the time, people were reaching out to me, you know to do other projects. Commercials, Superbowl commercials, Right Guard commercials, all kinds of stuff. And the movies were a logical extension.”
“So Vince McMahon and I sat down and basically spent three days over on Madeira Beach writing No Holds Barred. And then we brought a writer had to clean it up and he pretty much got all the credit for it. Because we didn’t know anything about writing or the Screen Actors Guild or the Writers Guild. We didn’t know anything. We hired a writer to clean it up. We didn’t know he was gonna own it, which didn’t matter. But once I made that film, and it was successful, New Line Cinema wanted me to make more films. And the problem I had with it was I loved wrestling so much.”
“And I was in the prime of my career, it wasn’t like I was on the downside and I was picking up extra work or trying to get out of the wrestling business become an actor. I was in. I was the World’s Heavyweight Champion Hulkamania was running wild. I was in front of 20-30,000 people every night. Now you want me to go sit in a Winnebago on the side of the Sony soundstage for 14 hours and you might call me at five o’clock to get in front of camera for five minutes.”
“The process killed me. I mean, you know, and you know, there’s an art form to that. And the really good actors, you know, understand timing and exactly when to ramp up. And everything from the lighting to the camera placement to the cadence to everything, they understand it once they get in front of the camera.”
It should be noted that 20,000 to 30,000 people is a case of Hogan being facetious because the arenas that WWE performs in are not that big. They are similar to what they perform in today.
Hulk Hogan Was Told He Could Be The Next John Wayne
John Wayne was a famous movie actor known for his toughness in films. According to Hulk Hogan, he says that he could have been the next John Wayne.
“I was ready to jump off a cliff waiting for 10 or 12 hours for them to use me or they may use me first thing in the morning, getting in the makeup trailer at 5:30 in the morning [and] eight o’clock, I may do my first shot and then okay, well, hang on, we’re not sure if we’re going to need you for the rest of the day. So after lunch was over, no, you need to hang out. So I would sit there for 12 hours.”
“And they would only use me for four or five minutes in the morning. So the process was hard. And so I always wanted to go back to wrestling. And I did. But I kept bouncing back and forth making small little budget movies for kids and having fun with that, you know, and shoot them and 25 to 30 days and running right back to the wrestling business.”
“You know, and I had the chance to become like the next John Wayne. There’s a guy named Bob Evans, that ran Paramount. And he took me in his office and there was a big picture on the wall with Clint Eastwood and John Wayne and all the big stars Dustin Hoffman and everybody that was part of the contract players for Paramount at the time. And he said, ‘You’re gonna be my next John Wayne.'”
“And then he kind of like laid out the schedule and what was expected of me on and off camera. I went, ‘I am the wrong guy for that stuff.’ So I just decided to go back to wrestling.”
That wrestling career led to Hulk Hogan being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice. The first time was for his singles career and the second time was for his run with the New World Order group.