Hulk Hogan Tried To Change WrestleMania 18 Finish Against The Rock

With reports suggesting WWE is pushing US states to legalise gambling on matches, a former writer for the company has highlighted why a new approach of locking in results months in advance is very different from what has gone before.

Speaking on The Bill Simmons podcast, former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz illustrated his point by beginning to tell the story of WrestleMania 18 when The Rock had long been planned to defeat Hulk Hogan that almost changed on the day:

“I know there were WrestleMania matches, one very, very prominent one with The Rock that didn’t change but day of, it almost changed.”

Bill Simmons cut in to reveal that he had heard this story was about the WrestleMania 18 match between The Rock and Hulk Hogan when The Hulkster thought that losing might not work for him after all. Gewirtz continued pointing to segments in the past that have been kept top secret until they happen and how big moments aren’t always planned months in advance:

“So that was a meeting and that was a whole thing day of. I remember I just showed up innocently with Rock to WrestleMania 30 to work on the big segment with him, Hogan, and [Steve] Austin to which I believe Hogan was kept in the dark even going through the curtain he didn’t even know because hey word gets out brother and then one person tells another one and everybody knows Austin and Rock are coming out.

“That was when I was casually walking by and I was told by someone ‘hey The Streak’s ending tonight.’ I pulled one of the lead writers off to the side and he didn’t even know about it. So I think that was definitely a monumental decision that was not planned months in advance. I think anyone can tell you that would probably be the biggest example of something that was probably decided right at the last second.”

These last-second decisions would become a thing of the past for high-profile WWE matches should the company convince betting regulators to allow gambling on the pre-determined bouts.

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