“Boy, do I hate being right all the time.”

Does anyone remember from where that line comes?

In Jurassic Park, Jeff Goldblum is a doctor of choasology. That’s a theory that there is no order to things – they happen by chance, so the world is always in a state of chaos. Goldblum’s character is concerned that bringing dinosaurs into the present would really throw things into chaos. When the T Rex makes his first appearance and destroys almost everything and eats a lawyer (see, there’s some good in everybody!) Goldblum utters that line.

That was quite a set up, but well worth it.  In my Perspective of 2/28 I wrote, “I never thought Hulk was too old. Hulk is a star and the WWF needs stars to compete on the same level with the Rock and Stone Cold. Hulk deserves this opportunity to chart his own course on his way out of the business he elevated in the mid-eighties. Hulk’s legacy should pay respect to the man who took wrestling out of the era of Gorgeous George and into the golden era we now enjoy.

The title of this article is “What was once old, is now new” – this is a chance for the greatest name in our business to show a whole new group of fans why he is the “Immortal Hulk Hogan”.

Sunday night I went to a Wrestlemania party a Chris Kanyon’s house. I thought there would be 15 to 20 friends and we’d have a chance to talk about what we were watching and analyze it as we went. To quote JR, “For the love of GOD!”  There must have been 150 people at his house and everyone brought 2 cars! There was no parking, nowhere to sit, but there were plenty of TV’s! Kanyon must have 20 television sets in his house.

I found Larry Zbyszko and we watched the show together. I got there during the Undertaker/Ric Flair match and was blown away. The Arn Anderson involvement, the hope that Ric had one more great moment left in him, the drama of the younger Undertaker not being able to put Flair away, the mean streak of the Undertaker, and Ric pulling out all stops as “the dirtiest player in the game” all these elements in the right order made this match a true emotional roller coaster. I was so caught up in the moment, that when Ric lost I found myself emotionally involved AND I’M IN THE BUSINESS!

That’s why I love that I can still watch as a fan. That very ability allows me to give the audience what they want when I have the opportunity to write the stories for wrestling television shows.

Nothing could have prepared me – or Hulk for that matter, for what was next. When Hulk was introduced the Toronto audience exploded! I haven’t heard, no… I haven’t felt that kind of emotion in years. I was swept up in it because I am a Hulk fan. I’ve said it when it wasn’t popular to say. I’ll never forget watching Hulk in the midst of his run in the eighties – on the road for 60 days in a row, up early for a morning drive show to promote the night’s event, then the afternoon drive radio show plugging the wrestling event that night, and all the while having to stay ‘the Hulk’ with work outs and meals. This grind that would’ve burned out or killed a normal man in a month isn’t what made me a Hulk fan.

What made me a Hulk fan was one night a ‘Make a Wish’ child was brought back to his locker room during intermission. Make a Wish is a program for terminally ill children to grant them a final wish in their last days to bring them happiness after all they’ve been through with their sickness. Hulk didn’t sign an autograph like so many others would have and rushed to get away. Hulk invited the child into his locker room; they spent 30 minutes together – the entire intermission and the child left wearing a Hulk T-shirt, bandana, and replica championship belt!

A few days later we found out that the child had died. His parents wrote a thank you note and sent a picture to Hulk of their child in his casket – just as he’d left Hulk’s locker room 3 days before. He was wearing the T-shirt, bandana, and title belt Hulk had given him. That’s how he wanted to be buried. That’s the effect Hulk had on one little sick boy – or so I thought. As I was booked on Hulk’s towns more and more (believe me – every wrestler wanted that because for the same number of days…your pay DOUBLED! Thanks, Hulk.) I began to see a pattern. The sick boy wasn’t the exception – he was the rule! Hulk saw a ‘Make a Wish’ kid EVERY NIGHT!

Think about it – every night some dying child’s last wish is to meet…YOU! Can you imagine the emotional toll that would take day after day? To see sick and dying children every night whose last wish on earth is to meet their hero and that hero is you. What kind of pressure would one feel to measure up to be that hero? That would rip the heart out of a person after a few weeks – could you fathom that for 8 years? Also, remember at the same time he was the WWF champion and could never miss a match because he’s Hulk Hogan and people paid their hard earned money to see him perform at the arenas. No one wanted to hear he had a cold or he was hurt – they wanted to see the same Hulk they saw on TV and they did.  Hulk is a very special human being.

The main reason for writing this is to show there are so many more sides to a person than we see on the surface. In WCW Hulk got bad press for holding people back, but he put Billy Kidman over 3 weeks in a row and went through a table doing it! Hulk is a foot taller and 100 pounds heavier than Billy, plus he has enough money saved to never have to do anything he doesn’t want to do. Then why did he do it? For the exact same reason he’s back in the WWF right now – Hulk loves the business and maybe, just maybe –this time the business will love him back. The fans do and that’s the very BEST place to start!

Take care until next week,
Terry Taylor