Radio Review: Hulk Hogan
Show: "Bubba the Love Sponge"
Station: Syndicated morning show
Date: July 3, 2003
Report By: Jennifer K

Bubba always plays the Mr. America music when Hogan is about to come on, this time he plays it and Hogan comes on and says to turn that shit off and that he doesn't want to hear it.

They talk for a bit about non-wrestling crap, and then Hogan said he was upset with the way Vince handled Mr. America. Hogan says "who cares" and "I'm going back to Japan." Then he confirms that he's gone from WWE, never to re-appear.

Hogan said he might build his own federation, and have Bubba wrestle in it.

Bubba then tries to get Hogan to open up, by saying that Triple H has his head far up Vince McMahon's ass and that Hogan barely got a pay day for WMXIX. Hogan tried to avoid those topics and said he didn't want to comment. He just kept saying he's going to Japan. He said that he can go and wrestle one day in Japan, and it would equal four or five SmackDowns.

Bubba then asks Hogan if its true that Vince has done this creative bullshit to him twice, and Hogan confirms. Hogan said Vince didn't understand that Hulkamania was like a different kind of gimmick. It had a natural life expectancy and it can't be killed off. He said Vince wanted to really cut it off, but it kept living in spite of Vince. Hulk said he could still potentially one day walk back into WWE and have an attorney and say that there is some loophole in his contract allows him to come back, and that's how he would come back from a creative standpoint.

Hogan said working for Vince got to be frustrating and that he chose to walk away while he was still on good terms with the company. He said he wouldn't have minded doing jobs for people like Brock or Kurt, but Vince wouldn't let him. Hogan said he loved the business. Then he said that Vince wants to "go against the grain" and he does not. He said they need to go with what works right now, and Vince is not doing that.

Bubba says that there is a couple of cancers within the WWE talent and higher ups. Hogan says not to go there, and that at the end of the day Vince still makes the decisions. Hogan kept it alive, but at the end of the day Vince made the decision to go against the grain.

Next, Bubba asks why Triple H has been practically undefeated for two years. Hogan says that's a damn good question. He said that if numbers in the ratings are good for Triple H's segments, then Vince keeps that. But Vince knows that if he were to suddenly change it, ratings might be good that week, but then the next week they could be in the toilet.

Bubba says "well you don't work there anymore." He continues by saying that the boys in the back, and the ones that he speaks to say that Triple H runs the whole show and that no one can stand him. The boys in the back all believe that Triple H needs to give up the belt and let someone kick his ass. He says Triple H controls the business at this point. (By the way, the wrestlers Bubba talks to on the radio on a regular basis are: Chris Jericho, Christian, Edge, Test, Hogan, and Big Show.)

Hogan says that its not entirely true everything we hear about Triple H's influence. He said that Vince has been telling him to work a certain way.

Bubba said he remembered when Vince used to tell Hogan to only go down on one knee when he was hit in the back. He says that taking bumps on one leg is just not working now for Triple H like it worked for Hogan back in the day.

Hogan said he was going to make more money in Japan than his WMXIX pay off, and he laughed.

Then Hogan says that he's trying to be nice, and that everyone makes their own deal. He then says "Triple H has been nothing but good to me."

Hogan said the WWE higher ups and creatives all are very opinionated about him, Brock, Kurt, and Triple H. He says you should never tell Vince your personal opinion on anything. At the end of the day, Vince is doing what he is doing on purpose because he wants WWE to be around in 20 years for the "passing of the torch" and that he knows what he's doing.

He said Shane McMahon now has a new approach when dealing with his father, and that he had to make one because he had heat with his father. Hogan says, "He gets it too."

Hogan says he has a meeting about getting his own television show with some network executives next week.

Hogan tells Bubba they are going to go work out today, and Bubba asks to speak to Linda Hogan and calls her the "BelAir Booker." Linda tells Hogan not to go back to Vince when Bubba asks her too.