Hulk Hogan Discusses His Termination from WWE in New Interview

Sports Illustrated conducted an exclusive interview with Hulk Hogan that was posted to their website SI.com today. In this interview, Hogan discusses the details regarding his termination from the WWE.

Hogan talks about how Triple H was the one who cut ties with him, not Vince McMahon:

“I never talked to Vince,” said Hogan. “The only person I talked to was Triple H. I called him and told him there was some old news coming out from when TMZ first reported the tape and there were some racial slurs on it. Triple H said, ‘OK, thanks for calling. Let me talk to Vince.’

“He called me back a half hour later and he goes, ‘I’ve got some news and it isn’t good. Vince said that you need to resign.’ I never heard from Vince or talked to Vince. In the middle of the night, they just fired me.”

Hogan goes on to mention how Triple H and the WWE were under a lot of pressure by the USA Network to make a quick decision on the matter:

“Triple H was telling me the USA Network was reacting very badly, and they had to make a quick decision, and that was to put me out to pasture. They were under heavy fire and they were scrambling.”

Hogan also stated how Triple H felt bad about the whole situation:

“Triple H even told me how bad he felt about it and he knew that’s not who I was. They know who I am.”

Hogan has admitted that what he said was wrong but he doesn’t agree with the WWE’s form of punishment in essentially removing him from wrestling history as if he never existed. He discusses how the WWE usually reaches out to their employees who have problems such as drug or alcohol abuse and put them into rehabilitation. He feels that the same steps should have been taken in his case rather than by erasing his career and pretending Hulkamania never happened.

Despite all this, Hogan feels confident that if he gets to talk with Vince personally then a lot of the issues between the WWE and himself can be resolved:

“I’d love to sit down and connect with Vince,” he said. “A lot of people make mistakes. If we were all judged by our weakest moment, it would be a sad world. If I had a chance to work with Vince and help people, we could help fix a lot of things together.”

To read the interview in its entirety you can click here. Hogan goes into much more detail about the response he’s received from fans, the impact this situation has had over his life, and how he plans to move forward.

Mark’s reaction:

Some of the stuff that was mentioned in this new interview from SI.com was similar to what was said during his Good Morning America interview. However, the excerpts above were details on this story that were new to me. In everything I’ve read from Hulk in either interviews or on social media, he continues to sound very optimistic about his future. To me, he sounds like a man who realizes he’s made a mistake and is truly sorry. That’s all I can say on my behalf. What his future holds will be determined by his actions and behavior from here on out, which I’m sure will be under a microscope.

Do you think Hulk’s punishment from the WWE was just? Do you think the WWE will ever give him back his place in the Hall of Fame? Should they? Let us know in the comments below.