Hulk Hogan Praises Roman Reigns – “He Is Keeping The Art Form Alive”

Hulk Hogan had some really good things to say about Roman Reigns, who is WWE’s top guy just like Hogan was for many years in a different era.

When it comes to being a main event performer in WWE, very few guys can compare to Hulk Hogan and Roman Reigns. Hogan was a WWE main eventer from 1984 until he left for WCW in 1994 and became their top guy for the next six years.

As for Roman Reigns, he has main evented seven WrestleManias already and at 38 years old (he just had his birthday yesterday), Reigns likely has many more years ahead of him in pro wrestling. Today is the 999th day in Roman’s reign as the WWE Universal Champion, so when he competes at Night of Champions on May 27th it will be the 1,000th day for Reigns as the Universal Champion, which is an incredible feat in this or any era of pro wrestling.

In an interview with Forbes, Hulk Hogan talked about his history with Reigns and his family.

“I got a soft spot in my heart for Roman. I was real good friends with his dad, Sika, one of the Wild Samoans, and of course his partner Afa. We had a barbecue in San Francisco after the Cow Palace, and the Samoans invited me over to their house. Little did I know there were going to be 40 or 50 of them there. The whole family was there.

“And next thing I know, we started drinking wine and eating barbecue. And I woke up like at five o’clock in the morning sleeping in the front yard with a bunch of his Samoan brothers.”

“During that time, they took a picture of me holding Roman Reigns, and he was like two or three years old. So there’s been a picture that’s circulated around of me holding Roman. And actually his dad’s Sika was standing next to me.

“So, I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for Roman, but I think he’s one of the only main event guys that’s keeping the art form alive. He can go out there and wing it. He doesn’t need a writer to tell him what to say.”

Regarding how Reigns performs in a WWE ring, Hulk Hogan praised Reigns for keeping the art form of pro wrestling alive while praising how good Reigns is as a performer.

“I can tell by the way he wrestles, he’s not following some choreographed pattern. He is really good with placement and physicality and knowing where he is at all the time in the ring. And it’s like when I wrestled, I never ever, ever talked about my match. I would see guys sit in the back room and talk for an hour about a five-minute match, and I’d go to Andre. I said, ‘What are we doing tonight? ‘Don’t worry.’ I said ‘okay.’ That’s how I was raised.”

“And I see that in Roman. He’s got a feel, he’s got an instinct. He is keeping the art form alive. So I’m excited to see where he ends up with this thing.”

The photo Hulk Hogan referenced in the interview with a baby Roman Reigns is below.