Okay, so a few days ago, I was just chilling and browsing some wrestling stuff online, and I stumbled upon this question: Did Hulk Hogan change his name? I mean, we all know him as Hulk Hogan, right? But it got me thinking, was he always called that?
So, I started digging. First, I checked out a few recent interviews with the man himself. It turns out, he’s been talking about this lately! In one interview, he spilled the beans on how he actually came to own the “Hulk Hogan” name and all the trademarks that go with it. Apparently, it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
From what I gathered, there was some kind of legal battle between him, WWE, and even Marvel Comics. Yeah, you heard that right, Marvel! I guess they had a problem with the “Hulk” part of his name. Long story short, it involved some money owed to Vince McMahon—like, a lot, $35 million—and somehow, they ended up offering the Hulk Hogan name as payment.
- There was a legal tussle.
- Marvel was involved.
- $35 million was on the table.
- The Hulk Hogan name was offered as payment.
Then, I found this other tidbit about something called “This Past Weekend,” where Hogan supposedly went into even more detail about the whole name situation. I haven’t listened to it yet, but it sounds juicy.
Now, here’s where it gets even more interesting. You know how he was doing that whole “Hollywood Hogan” thing with the nWo? Well, it turns out that whole name deal with Marvel saved Time Warner, which owned WCW at the time, from having to pay Marvel for using the “Hulk Hogan” name. How crazy is that? Talk about a lucky break!
But get this—his real name isn’t even Hulk Hogan! It’s Terry Eugene Bollea. I know, mind blown, right? I always just assumed Hulk Hogan was his real name. He’s apparently this super famous wrestler, like, the biggest star of the ’80s, and even did some TV stuff.
The Name Game Continues
And it doesn’t stop there. I found out that later in his career, he joined this wrestling group, and they were originally called one thing, but then on some show called “Impact!”, they changed their name to “Immortal” after some speech by Jeff Hardy, who was their champion at the time. They had this whole speech where Hardy was like, “We are Immortal,” or something dramatic like that.
So, yeah, that’s the whole saga of Hulk Hogan’s name. He wasn’t always Hulk Hogan. There were lawsuits, comic book companies involved, and even a name change within another wrestling group. Wrestling is wild, man!
