Hulk Hogan Could Face Shane McMahon At WrestleMania 40
WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has revealed he received a surprising phone call ahead of WrestleMania 39 as Shane McMahon tried to entice him into one more match.
Speaking on The MMA Hour, Hulk Hogan revealed that Shane McMahon tried to talk him into a match at WrestleMania 39 and while Hogan wasn’t ready for that, he did invoke the well-worn wrestling mantra of “never say never” regarding getting in the ring again:
“You know what’s so funny, Shane McMahon called me. He goes, ‘Hey, you got one more in you, old man?’ I said, ‘Take it easy with the old man stuff, brother.’ I said, ‘What do you want to do?’ He goes, ‘All you gotta do is stand in the middle of the ring, and I’ll come do it.’ I said, ‘Right now, my back needs a little more work, but that’s something we can talk about next year.’
“I’ve always wanted to have a retirement match. I’m not moving around the way I should be, so I’m going to keep working and keep training and keep doing rehab and see where I’m at about six months from now. All I found out in the wrestling business, brother, is you never say never.”
Hogan continued noting that his conversation with McMahon came a few short months before WrestleMania 39 and says Shane McMahon pitched several storylines for The Hulkster based on his long history with Vince McMahon:
“I talked to Shane probably about three months before WrestleMania, and he happened to be at Madison Square Garden, and I guess there’s a place in Madison Square Garden where they got the Hall of Fame, and they’ve got my boots up there, and they got my tights. He took a picture standing in front of it, and Shane called me at home. He goes, ‘Hey, look at that picture I just sent you.’ I looked at it, he goes, ‘Well, you got one more in you?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’
“He started running storylines by me to try to ramp us into that mode. I said, ‘Those were all good storylines, whether you’re coming at me like, ‘Hulk, you quit. My father made you and you left, you walked out on my father,’ which I did. Or go the opposite way, that ‘my dad did you wrong,’ because him and his dad go back and forth all the time. ‘My dad did you wrong, I wanna revitalize your career.’ There’s several things we came up with.
“I told him, ‘I just need to get my feet underneath me more. Now’s not the time, not this WrestleMania, definitely not. Let’s talk about four or five months from now and see where I’m at.”
Although a 2023 meeting between the two men might have been fitting as it marked 20 years since Hogan defeated Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 19, Hulk Hogan may have avoided disaster by turning down a bout with McMahon as he did appear at WrestleMania 39 but tore his quad almost instantly in an impromptu match with The Miz.
Hogan also discussed who he’d want to face in one more match and admits that he only took his 2002 match with The Rock to try and get a bout with Stone Cold Steve Austin.