‘He put three men in hospital’: Inside Hulk Hogan’s bizarre, bruising Hollywood career

In 1990, the Hulkster had a cameo in Gremlins 2, by far his best non-Rocky film appearance

When Sylvester Stallone was making Rocky III, he need a monster villain to fight. He found one not in the world of boxing or even in Hollywood but in the wrestling ring. The 6ft 7in, 300lb Hulk Hogan. “The Hulkster” – who has died at the age of 71 – was cast as Thunderlips (“the ultimate male”), a champion wrestler who fights Rocky in a boxer vs. wrestler exhibition match that turns to chaos.

Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, would later say that Stallone was impressed by footage of him wrestling two men at once. Stallone should have known better when he insisted on doing his own stunts in the ring with Hogan.

In the film, Rocky thinks it’s all fake and is stunned when Thunderlips begins smashing him and throwing him around. In reality, Stallone quickly felt the power of what wrestling fans call “Hulkamania”.

Stallone quickly felt the power of what wrestling fans call ‘Hulkamania’ - Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

Stallone later described how Hogan threw him into the corner of the ring and charged “like an enraged bull”. Hulk jumped so high that his leg blasted Stallone in the chest, dropping the “Italian Stallion” to the mat.

“I was afraid to look at my shoulder for about 10 minutes,” recalled Stallone. “I said, ‘Don’t roll me over, don’t move me’ because I was sure there was bone protruding through my upper chest!”

In the film, the fight spills into the crowd. According to Stallone, Hogan put three stuntmen in the hospital filming that scene. “Hulk, if you’re reading this,” wrote Stallone in 2017, “it was a privilege to be mangled by such a gentleman.”

The Thunderlips cameo put a mainstream spotlight on Hogan, whose indefinable, force-of-nature charisma transformed wrestling. The WWF wrestling promotion (now WWE) became a zeitgeisty cultural phenomenon and, in time, a global powerhouse. And over the course of a 30-year career as an active wrestler, led him to sell more tickets than any top wrestling star in history.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Hogan made further attempts to grapple with the film industry, pitching himself as a poor imitation of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop mode. Later, Hogan resorted to direct-to-video and TV movie dreck. But as daft and bizarre as his movies often were, he led the charge for other WWE stars who made the jump to movies: John Cena, Dave Bautista, and – of course – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Obituary

Hulk Hogan, wrestler turned actor who was an enduring superstar in the world of sports entertainment

‘Hulkmania’

Before landing the role of Thunderlips, Hogan wrestled for the WWF as a nasty villain – originally with his chest hair shaved into an atomic mushroom cloud. But he had a bust-up with Vince McMahon Sr, the company owner who didn’t want him to do the film. So he left the wrestling promotion. The Hulkster bet on himself and won.

“I’m gonna make Rocky III the movie of the year,” Hogan boasted at the time. He wasn’t far wrong – it was the fifth biggest box office hit of 1982. Hogan appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to promote the film and started spreading the word about the latest fad in wrestling – “Hulkamania” – to the masses.

By the time Rocky III was released, Hogan was already the biggest ticket-selling attraction in the wrestling world. He returned to the WWF, now owned by McMahon’s son, Vince McMahon Jr, and became the company’s champion in 1984. Vince Jr had a vision to take the New York-based promotion national and obliterate rival wrestling promotions in the process, with Hogan as his marquee star.

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Move to Hollywood 

For the next few years, Hogan did tremendous business at the wrestling box office, but he had designs on leg-dropping his way into Hollywood. McMahon was terrified of losing his moustachioed, 24-inch biceped golden goose and produced a movie himself for Hogan to star in: No Holds Barred.

Hogan plays Rip Thomas, a champion wrestler who goes to war with an evil TV network boss, Brell (Kurt Fuller). Brell is jealous of Rip’s monster TV ratings and enlists the monstrous, monobrowed Zeus (Tommy Lister) to fight him. Though barely remembered outside of wrestling circles, No Holds Barred is notorious among grapple fans. Not so bad it’s good, but so bad it’s absolutely abysmal.

Writing in his memoir, largely a work of self-aggrandising fiction, Hogan recalled that he and McMahon were unhappy with the script so locked themselves in a hotel room for three days and rewrote it. They got writer’s block over the climactic fight between Rip and Zeus, but the scene suddenly struck Hogan like a vision while he was sitting on the toilet. That could account for the film’s most cited scene: Brell’s henchmen attempt to kidnap Rip in a limousine but he bursts through the roof of a limo and snarls so menacingly that one henchman soils himself. “What’s that smell?” growls Rip.

Hulk Hogan plays Rip Thomas, a champion wrestler in No Holds Barred - Allstar Picture Library Limited/Alamy Stock Photo

According to reports in the Wrestling Observer at the time, the film was screened for potential distributors but most walked out before the film even finished. New Line Cinema took it on for free but had to persuade cinemas to show the film by offering them a very generous deal on the next Nightmare on Elm Street sequel.

McMahon and Hogan made various claims about the budget – between $7m and $11m – though the Wrestling Observer believed it was actually $1.5m.

No Holds Barred didn’t do badly at the box office. Released in June 1989, it made $5m in its opening weekend and $16m in total. Critically, however, it resembled the contents of that poor henchman’s undergarments.

Steroid use 

In 1990, the Hulkster had a fourth-wall-breaking cameo in Gremlins 2, by far his best non-Rocky film appearance. Hogan sits in a cinema and is outraged to learn there are Gremlins in the projection booth. “Do you think the gremsters can stand up to the Hulkster?” he says as he rips off his shirt (which he always did before his matches).

New Line Cinema saw potential in Hogan as a movie star and produced Suburban Commando as a star vehicle for him. Co-starring Shelley Duvall and Christopher Lloyd, Suburban Commando was Hogan’s first attempt at what might conceivably have been a mainstream hit.

He plays Shep Ramsey, a heroic space warrior who crash lands in America and lives with a regular family. It’s a spaceman version of Crocodile Dundee, with Hogan wandering around and not understanding earthling customs – which mostly amounts to falling off a skateboard, turning a car upside down, and flinging a cat in the air.

Ahead of its release, Hogan was hit by the first of several scandals when Dr George Zahorian was indicted for supplying steroids to WWF wrestlers. Hogan’s name was leaked as one of Zahorian’s customers. It was a blow to his wholesome, all-American, family-friendly image, and it put a new perspective on his preachy catchphrase that told kids to “train, say your prayers, and take your vitamins”. (Hogan was later embroiled in scandals over a sex tape and leaked audio of him using racist language.)

In Suburban Commando, Hogan plays Shep Ramsey, a heroic space warrior who crash lands in America - New Line Cinema/Alamy Stock Photo

The Suburban Commando release was pushed back and Hogan went on the Arsenio Hall talk show, which was his chance to admit to steroid use and beg for forgiveness. But Hogan denied using steroids – a blatant lie – and continued to lie on the film’s publicity tour. As the years rolled on, Hogan became notorious for telling whoppers.

New Line Cinema had committed to several films with Hogan – a move it may have regretted after counting up the Suburban Commando box office receipts. It was a flop, making just $8m from an $11m budget.

Box office bomb 

The next film was the 1993 Mr Nanny, which had potential as a Home Alone/Kindergarten Cop-esque comedy. He plays a wrestler who takes a job as a bodyguard for a tech boss but is terrorised by his new employer’s prankster kids.

The film was delayed after test screenings – never a good sign – and was another box office bomb. It failed to reach the top 10 and made just $4.2m. The indefinable, force-of-nature charisma that made him the biggest wrestling star ever didn’t translate to movies. The Hulkster was – at best – a hokey actor.

Mr Nanny had potential as a Home Alone/Kindergarten Cop-esque comedy - AJ Pics/Alamy Stock Photo

He found his level with a direct-to-video film, Thunder in Paradise, from the creators of Baywatch. He played an ex-Navy Seal who travels around exotic locations in a hi-tech boat, “Thunder”, and sorts out bad guys. It led to a 22-episode TV series – laughable 1990s twaddle that was aiming for something between Baywatch, Knight Rider and The A-Team.

By this point, Hogan had gone to wrestle for the WWF’s rival promotion, WCW (World Championship Wrestling), but maintained a side hustle in cheap, poor-quality films.

In 1996, there was The Secret Agent Club, in which he plays a secret agent who steals a laser gun, and (a personal favourite) Santa with Muscles, in which the Hulkster is a mean-spirited millionaire bodybuilder who – through a series of contrivances – gets amnesia while wearing a Santa costume and ends up saving some orphans.

More recently, Hogan hoped that his movie star dreams would play out in a long-rumoured biopic, set to star Chris Hemsworth as the Hulkster, with Todd Phillips (The Joker) attached to direct. But the film never came to anything.

Ultimately, his movie aspirations were overtaken by the likes of Cena, Bautista and The Rock, who is tipped as a serious Oscar contender for his role in upcoming drama The Smashing Machine. If he wins, Hogan should be the first person he thanks.

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