Entrevista a Hulk Hogan: críticas à WWE e planos para à TNA

Hulk Hogan made several comments about plans for the January 4 Impact, talked about competing with WWE and claimed he already has victories over WWE, and offered classic revisionist history to boost himself in a big interview with IGN.com.

-- Hogan channeled Eric Bischoff from his blog earlier this week about using WWE's universally-panned Dec. 21 Raw to play to wrestling fans who want an alternative to WWE programming.

"The fans are sick of this monopoly. They're sick of contrived programming. They're sick of seeing Shawn Michaels and Triple H run around like a couple of degenerates and act goofy and, you know, doing the whole Hornswoggle thing. The fans are tired of that weak programming," Hogan said.

Hogan also claimed Vince McMahon called for an emergency meeting last Thursday to come up with plans for the January 4 Raw featuring Bret Hart. "Now all of a sudden they had an emergency meeting up in Stamford, Connecticut last Thursday. Vince is panicking and scrambling," he claimed.

As part of the underdog marketing for Jan. 4, Hogan claimed victory in the interview based on WWE having the "emergency meeting" and he also claimed victory based on WWE bringing back Bret Hart.

"I'm excited for Bret to come back. And guess what? I already won again. Because Vince McMahon is now showing that he's worried about Hulk Hogan going head to head," he said. "So Vince is going to do all he can to squash me on Monday night and I'm given the opportunity of a lifetime. It's like a human being going up against a monster."

-- Hogan also put himself over by saying Shawn Michaels hasn't been involved in anything meaningful in over four years since their program in summer 2005.

"Shawn Michaels came out and broke character and he's as serious as a heart attack and he did a great interview with Vince [McMahon] saying, 'I can beat The Undertaker" and 'I want a rematch for WrestleMania.' Which is great, you know, they're promoting it way out ahead. ... You know, that's the first thing that's meant anything with Shawn Michaels in a long time since he wrestled Hulk Hogan at Summerslam," he said.

-- Hogan suggested he's giving TNA a huge boost by offering a comparison of TNA and WCW before their respective first Monday shows after he joined each company.

"When I walked in to WCW they were producing wrestling on a little teeny sound stage at Disney, okay? I'm walking into TNA and their producing wrestling in a little teeny sound stage at Universal," Hogan said.

-- Hulk Hogan detailed talks with Spike TV president Kevin Kay about potentially making Impact a regular fixture on Monday nights.

"The head of Spike TV said, 'you know, if wrestling stirs up some interest on Monday I might do this once a month.' And then he continued to say that if Hulk Hogan and TNA does good on this Monday he wouldn't be opposed to putting TNA on every Monday," Hogan claimed.

He said he's hoping to give wrestling fans a choice when he establishes characters in TNA that are at the level of "John Cena, Rey Mysterio, The Big Show, and The Undertaker."

-- Hogan, who is continuing to present himself as the nice underdog in the fight to tickle the ears of wrestling fans who see that Hogan and Bischoff "felt their pain" from the Dec. 21 Raw, said he wants WWE and TNA to get better when TNA gets serious.

"It's gonna be better for everybody. Vince is going to have to get serious. Instead of all the 'hee hee ha ha, let's just give the fans weak programming' thing that he does. Because I'm serious," Hogan said.

-- Hogan addressed the big question of whether he plans on wrestling again in TNA. Hogan initially said the chances were "slim to none," then closed a long quote by saying, "Never say never."

"I don't have a deal to wrestle there. You can just think of it as if Dixie Carter had hired Vince McMahon to come in and breathe super energy and super life into the product," Hogan said. "After three back surgeries and going on the Australian tour I'm very limited. But the fans are so loyal and...if I just crawl my way to the ring with one arm they'd probably still be cheering for me. I'm not planning on wrestling. I'm really not. But in this business, you know, Vince McMahon and I say that you can never say never."

-- Hogan talked specifically about what changes he wants to make in TNA, including changing the logo, changing the ring, and even "looking at Vince Russo's underwear."

"I'm going to take guys like A.J. Styles, who works his butt off, so that when A.J. Styles goes through an airport a year from now I want people to snap their heads around like it's Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan," he said. "There is a lot of talent there but someone needs to breathe life into them and make them larger than life. And to get them to really think about what they're doing in the ring. To really dial their characters in. And that's what I'm coming to do."

After trying to get fans excited with that quote, Hogan lowered expectations that he doesn't think it will happen immediately, but it will take time.

"I'm going to do everything from change the logo to try to get new, and more, sponsors. I'm going to do everything from change people's gimmicks to get rid of people," Hogan said. "I'm going to bring some people in with me. I'm going to change everything that needs to be fixed. And you know what? It's not like I have a magic wand and 20 million and I can change it all overnight. It's going to be a gradual progression."

-- Other names Hogan mentioned on the TNA roster he hopes to "breath life into" include Abyss, the X Division, and Knockouts Division. He said he looks forward to working with Mick Foley as well.

"I think A.J. Styles hasn't been developed to his full potential. There's a guy there named a Abyss who's just talented beyond belief. I think Matt Morgan's a superstar. There are a bunch of young guys in the X Division and they've got so much to offer but they haven't been really plugged in with the right vibe. And the Knockout Division? The women. These girls are really aggressive and talented," Hogan said.

Hogan added: "And then you've got the guys who have been around the block and bring a lot of wisdom and a lot of energy to the business. You've got Kevin Nash who's hanging around and not being used in the right way. You've got Mick Foley who's a one man show in himself. You've got Sting who I pray to God doesn't retire and hangs around to make history with us."

Hulk Hogan says that if he can "turn TNA into the monster" that Vince McMahon created with WWE, he wants to offer TNA wrestlers health benefits beyond what WWE is offering.

"There's a ton of stuff that needs to be done – from health care to profit sharing to insurance – just mechanical stuff that should be in place when people put their lives on the line and give up their time and dedicate themselves to the business," Hogan said in his IGN interview today.

Hogan says he wants to change his approach to the business-side of wrestling after not being "good enough" in the first-half of his wrestling career. He's calling his TNA run a second chance in the wrestling business to give back.

"For the first half of the game I did things really good, but not good enough. This is the second half of the game and now I realize what I had and how important this is," Hogan told IGN.com.

In February, while unaffiliated with WWE or TNA, Hogan told the Los Angeles Times that he wants to be "the guy that actually changes the business" by protecting wrestlers.

"The business was really good to me, but there needs to be a way to harness that energy that can destroy quality life," Hogan said in the interview with the Los Angeles Times. "In thinking about how much I love the business in the twilight of my career, I would like to be involved."

"I would like to get into a situation there was actually a union, guys actually had insurance and profit-sharing," Hogan said in February. "I would love to be a part of something that could at least control ... I wouldn't work the guys to death ... that would change all that," he said.