Hulk Hogan was resoundingly booed during his appearance on the January 6, edition of WWE Raw, the first show to broadcast on Netflix. Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show, Hogan admitted that he expected a hostile response, and believes his NWO days fuelled the fans.
“The last I ran hard in LA, I was a bad guy. I was Hollywood Hogan and riding dirty with [Kevin] Nash and [Scott] Hall, spray painting people and crotch chopping everybody.”
Hogan acknowledged that politics may have played a role in the response he received, but believes the appearance was still worth it. The Hulkster claimed that his appearance had “eleven billion impressions,” a number much higher than “some of the big starts that were on the card.
The WWE Hall of Famer did not touch on his racist past which many have cited as a major factor behind the hostile respone he received. On an earlier edition of The Pat McAfee Show, a parody of Hogan threw out the challenge to several African-American wrestlers. Mark Henry has claimed Hogan made no effort to make amends following his racist remarks that leaked in 2015.
The response Hogan received has renewed conversations about WWE’s use of arguably the biggest star in all of pro wrestling. While the Hulkster continues to make friends in politics, the frosty reception he received in LA shows that it may be a very long time before Hogan is in front of a WWE camera again.