Here I was, recently retired from the wrestling beat, when they made me an
offer I couldn't refuse.
It's like this, they said. The Hulk Hogan, the wrestling idol of millions,
was giving the Toronto Sun an exclusive interview about his upcoming movie.
And the Hulkster was all mine.
Of course, they smiled, if you don't want to. . .
Not want to see if this good guy was for real? Funny guys. I came out of
retirement faster than the Hulk can say eat your vitamins.
Hulk Hogan is hero to millions of little kids and aging grandmas, a big
bulk of a man who tells the kids to drink their milk and say their prayers, a
good guy who always triumphs over evil.
Or so the script goes in the wrestling world.
But in real life?
Hogan, all 6-feet-7, 300-lbs. of him, was waiting yesterday in the
director's lounge at Maple Leaf Gardens, dressed in tight jeans, blue T-shirt
and cowboy boots, a huge silver "Hulk" belt buckle around his middle, a blue
bandana on his head.
He's so tanned, so blond. And to quote a little boy who also met the
Hulkster yesterday: "Holy cow! He's so big."
And, dare I gush, so sweet. A down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness good guy.
Out of his canary yellow costume, his TV growl is gone, replaced by a deep,
relaxed voice. But everything else remains the same between the character Hulk
Hogan and the real-life man once known as Terry Bollea.
He believes he's here for a reason, with a mission to teach kids to believe
in themselves and in God. And it's a responsibility he doesn't take lightly.
"I'm something the kids can believe in and look up to," he says. "Unlike
most of our new breed of so-called heroes, who end up airing their dirty
laundry in public with their sex or drug or steroid problems, I live my image
24 hours a day.
 |
Michele Mandel and the Hulkster
- photo by Craig Robertson
|
"I'm for real. They have something pretty solid. I'm not going to leave
here and go snort cocaine. And that means a lot to them."
He's used everything from TV to video to reach them. Movies were the next
logical progression.
In No Holds Barred, Hogan says he shows his "vulnerable side" as he plays
Rip, a wrestling superhero whose family loyalty forces him to battle Zeus, one
of the most dangerous men in the world.
Hogan says he's been offered dozens of movie roles after appearing as
Thunderlips in Rocky III, but they all called for him to kill people.
And that was against his morals.
"Instead of selling out and playing another hero with two machineguns and
thousands of dead people at his feet, I made a squeaky-clean, PG-13,
action-adventure-entertainment movie.
"I didn't have to prostitute the name of Hulk Hogan or what I believe in
for the almighty dollar."
Acting was not a great stretch for the wrestler. Hogan is the first to
admit these days that wrestling is more theatrics than reality.
He can't understand the critics who think it's violent. "It's good vs.
bad, black vs. white," he says. "I know two-year-olds who understand that
the good guys are going to win and the bad guys are going to lose. If they
can't understand that..."
But the falls are for real, as are the teeth marks in his arm and the torn
muscles. It's a gruelling business and Hogan is pushing 36, with a wife and
year-old daughter at home, as he travels the wrestling circuit 300 days a
year.
If No Holds Barred succeeds, Hogan will likely trade the squared circle for
the silver screen.
"Sometimes, with all the travelling, it makes it hard to get in the
ring," he admits.
He's talked for an hour longer than the promised 30 minutes and,
reluctantly, he says he'd better shower and get into costume for the night's
match against Randy (Macho Man) Savage.
But first, just a few more autographs for the waiting kids. A shared joke,
another photo, until he's finally dragged away by his handler.
"We love you, Hulk," one of the kids screams. He gives him a thumbs up
sign and a smile.
And who says there are no heroes anymore?
RELATED LINKS
More on No Holds Barred
More on Hulk Hogan
The SLAM! Wrestling Movie Database
Visit Amazon.ca
