Hulk Hogan Claims He’s Training to Compete in One More WrestleMania Match

In a recent interview with Chuck Carroll of “Turnbuckle Weekly,” WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan claims he’s training to compete in one more WrestleMania match. As previously reported, Hogan would love to face someone like John Cena at WrestleMania 31, and the Hulkster opens up to Carroll more in-depth about his desires for the match, who else he may want to face, and more.

Hogan says the following about wanting to return to the ring, how his training is going, and who he wants to face. He says,

“[In terms of how his body is holding up through training.] My back’s cool. You know I never dreamed that if we were to digress, and rewind backwards, you know almost three-and-a-half years ago when I was sitting in a wheel chair after back surgery number six, the doctors told me and my new wife that I would never walk again. And then you know, three more back surgeries, after back surgery number nine, I was back on my feet, moving around, doing the whole TNA deal. 

And now, if we fast forward a couple more years, my back doesn’t hurt at all brother. I mean, I don’t think I could handle the Rusev camel clutch, if that’s what you call it, but there’s no pain in my back. So, I’ve been training like crazy, and trying to stop eating so much, because I love eating food. I got back up over 300 lbs, up to about 305. Now I’m down to around 290, and at the end of the day, it’s about me getting in Vince’s ear, and in Triple H’s ear, and to talking them into letting me rock the house one more time, you know? 

Cena would be the guy I would want to get in the ring with. If I could irritate “Stone Cold” [Steve Austin] so much that he would come out of retirement, I’d love to have him open a can of whoop ass on me and see what happens, but you know, I’d love to get in there because I miss it, and love it so much. I’d love to get in there and tear it down at one of the ‘Manias one last time.”

The Hulkster goes on to discuss how fans are split on Cena, where some boo and some cheer for him, much like the crowds did to him in 1995, and hits on how popular Cena would be if he turned heel. He says,

“You know, John Cena, you know, the fans being split, the whole, ‘Let’s go Cena/Cena sucks!’ yeah I’ve heard the chants. I’ve said before, I’ll never say, ‘Cena sucks.” When I see him backstage, how he cares about the kids, and he sees all these dying kids, Make-A-Wish kids, then he goes overseas and volunteers to go to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Then when he’s home, he goes to all the hospitals and sees all these wounded young guys, that have had their legs messed up, and arms messed up, and body parts gone. If you saw what Cena does 24 hours a day, as a fan, you wouldn’t say, ‘Cena sucks.’ 

I know it’s fun out in the audience to get that chant going, but if John Cena ever turned heel, and really stole some of Hollywood Hogan’s tricks and backstabbing tactics, I think the people would cheer him out of the building. I think the fans would go crazy. I’m not talking about ‘Thuganomics,’ I’m talking about being a stone-cold, heartless, no-good, sniveling, bad guy. I think Cena could pull it off.”

When discussing his heel turn in 1996, Hogan describes it as a huge risk for his career. He also says that Bobby “The Brain” Heenan took some of the surprise away from the angle by saying, “but who’s side is he on?” while on commentary. He says,

“[The Hulkamania gimmick] had slowed down and flattened out, and I was kinda on cruise control, but I knew walking down to the ring, I said, ‘Okay. I could cruise on through this thing and Hulkamania would be as exciting as it always had been, ’cause it had slowed down a little bit but is still working, but if this thing screws up, and I don’t hit a home-run with this bad guy turn, the career was definitely over.’

You know Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff, they were all betting on putting lightening in a bottle, and brother when I hit that ring and dropped the leg, you know, everything was cool. I just didn’t realize on the commentary, Bobby Heenan was kinda like, ‘well who’s side is he on,’ that comment came out of left field, I didn’t know that was said. It took a little bit of the shock factor away.

But at the end of the day, once I dropped the leg, I didn’t know what was going to happen. And then when I stood up in the ring, high-five the Wolfpac, Hall and Nash, and all the trash started coming into the ring, I said, ‘Okay. Thank God we’re on to something.’ And it turned out to be just another rocket ship that I jumped on. That Hollywood Hogan character became the dirtiest, nastiest heel ever. Even Triple H said, ‘The heel with the most heat ever in the wrestling business.'”

Hogan also talks about if he believes Sting will wrestle at WrestleMania 31, and if he would want to face him again. He says,

“I think there’s a huge amount of interest for Sting working at WrestleMania 31, and just in my opinion, I want to see it happen. Um, I don’t think the match would be Sting and Hogan. I mean, you know Sting has been talking about The Undertaker, and no, I’ve got a split decision.

I think The Undertaker or John Cena would be a great match for Sting, but I really have a gut feeling that we’re going to see some Stinger Splashes at WrestleMania 31. That’s my opinion.” 

You can listen to the entire interview here.

Editor’s Note:
Hogan vs. Heel Cena would draw…huge.