Hulk Hogan Recalls Preparing For WrestleMania 18 Match
Hulk Hogan has recalled what his WrestleMania 18 experience was like with The Rock and what Rocky Johnson said prior to their match.
One of the biggest matches of Hulk Hogan’s legendary career took place at WrestleMania 18 in 2002. It was his first WrestleMania in WWE in nine years with a raucous Toronto crowd choosing to cheer him even though he was the heel going into the match with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who was at the height of his popularity in the company.
At the time of the match, Hogan was 48 years old (he turned 49 in August) while The Rock was nearly 30 years old. The Rock is currently 51 years old, so if he does wrestle again he’ll be older than Hogan was during their famous WrestleMania 18 match.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Hulk Hogan said he was told by WWE that he should practice the match with Rock, which isn’t something Hogan was used to.
“I’ve never practiced a match in my life. But when I finished at WCW and went back to WWE, Vince McMahon told me things were different. I remember him telling me that I needed to bring it if I wanted to keep up. There were other changes, too. Vince and Pat Patterson wanted us to go through the match to see what we were doing. That wasn’t my cup of tea. To me, the art form is calling it when we’re out there.”
The Rock got the win in the match with Hogan. They also shook hands after the match with Hogan becoming a babyface after that.
Hulk Hogan recalls The Rock getting advice from Rocky Johnson
As Hulk Hogan recalled the training session with The Rock prior to their match, Hogan said that Rock’s father WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson was there to offer some advice. Hogan stated that Rocky told The Rock to listen to what Hogan told him.
“I’d known Rocky Johnson for a long time, even before I started to wrestle. He was someone I looked up to. And that day, I can still remember standing in the ring talking with Dwayne, and all we could hear was Rocky Johnson yelling, ‘Dwayne, listen to Hogan!'”
In other Hulk Hogan news, the 70-year-old wrestling legend got married for the third time last Friday. Congratulations to the Hulkster and his new bride.