Name: Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea
Age: 71
Occupation: former wrestler
Last Seen: Tampa, Florida
Bee-otched For: getting the Smackdown by his former fans
Once upon a time, there was a basketball team called the Buffalo Braves.
The Braves played from 1970 to 78. The team was sold to John Y. Brown, the Kentucky governor and then-owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, who ran the team so far into the ground that he ended up selling the team to California-based Irv Levin, who moved it to San Diego. Renamed the Clippers - named for the boats that lined the city's bay - the team was still an underperformer.
And then came Donald Sterling.
In 1981, the attorney and real estate baron purchased the Clippers and then moved them to Los Angeles in 1984. Sterling was considered one of the worst owners of all sports. The team rarely had a winning season or even made the playoffs. Plus, they played in a much older arena than the Lakers, at least until both teams agreed to move to the Staples Center when it opened in 1999. Nonetheless, they've always been the Lakers' bitch. With names like Kareem, Magic, Kobe, and LeBron, the Lakers were Saks Fifth Avenue while the Clippers were Dollar General.
And then, a miracle happened, thanks to his mistress and her tape recorder.
Vanessa Stiviano recorded Sterling trashing her standing with Laker legend Magic Johnson in a photo she posted on Instagram. Sterling even told her not to "bring those people" to Clipper games, referring to her friends, including people of color. The recordings made it to the media and the NBA, who banned Sterling for life in April 2014. Sterling sold the Clippers to Steve Ballmer, who has done a yeoman's job of fixing the long-struggling team. Today, the Clippers are one of the NBA's top teams, with a record similar to that of the Lakers, as I'm typing this.
One thing that Ballmer did to the Clippers was build them a brand new arena, the Intuit Dome. The $2 billion facility in Inglewood is just down the street from SoFi Stadium, the home of the NFL's Rams and Chargers. The Dome, which opened last year, is the Clippers' first arena they have had to themselves since leaving the aging Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in 1999.
Obviously, the Dome is being used for other purposes, including concerts and, most recently, the January 5th edition of World Wrestling Entertainment's flagship TV program, Monday Night Raw. This edition marked the show's debut on Netflix after being on cable TV for over 30 years. Recently, the WWE realigned its contracts with the networks that carry its shows. Smackdown moved to USA—Raw's former home—while NXT is now on The CW.
The WWE is in the middle of a rebuilding. In 2023, the company was sold to TKO Holdings, which is majority-owned by Endeavor Group Holdings. From 1982 until 2023, the WWE was either fully owned or majority-owned by Vince McMahon, who bought the organization from his father, also named Vince. Under the younger McMahon, the WWE grew from a small, regional promotion into the worldwide behemoth that made McMahon a billionaire. However, McMahon was forced from the company he built after it was revealed that he paid off several women whom he sexually assaulted and performed vulgar sex acts - such as him pooping on his victims - on. Also recently, McMahon paid $1.7 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission after failing to reveal his hush money payments.
That edition of Raw marked a new beginning for the WWE, whose fans seem to be happy that the McMahon legacy is now a thing of the past. Many blamed Vince for the WWE's downfall in recent years, especially with the dorky TV-PG era, which was rife with weak storylines and an overall blandness in comparison to the "Attitude Era" which revitalized the brand in the late 1990s. McMahon sought to make the WWE a near monopoly as far back as when he purchased the organization from his father, who abandoned him as an infant, forcing his mother, Victoria to raise him as a single mother in a dilapidated trailer. At one point, the younger Vince was adopted by an abusive man, Leo Lupton, who adopted him, giving Vince his surname. Vince was sent to live with his father when he was 12, who was much better financially thanks to the success of the wrestling organization that would become the WWE, which was originally known as the Capital Wrestling Corporation and the World Wide Wrestling Federation. However, when the elder McMahon was dying of cancer, the younger Vince bought him out and broke a promise that he would not buy out other wrestling promotions. Well, the younger McMahon did, and when Time Warner sold the now-struggling World Championship Wrestling to him in 2000, he couldn't be happier to have the world of wrestling to himself.
At least until he sold WWE to TKO and Endeavor and was forced from the company he built on a broken promise.
I watched some of Raw's debut on Netflix and they made hardly any mention of McMahon. It started with a small film of wrestling's early days as circus sideshows and its evolution into what it is today. The film was projected onto four screens covering the ring, which collapsed, revealing the WWE's Chief Content Officer, Paul "Triple H" Levesque. Throughout the show, several of WWE's GOATs made appearances, such as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Mark "The Undertaker" Calaway.
Both the WWE and the Los Angeles Clippers needed new beginnings. It's too bad that the past had to show up.
During the program, Hulk Hogan appeared on stage, valeted by "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart flying the American flag. The whole crowd booed Hogan, proving that he's as warped and scratched up as an old vinyl copy of The Gentrys' "Keep On Dancing" that was used as a frisbee (and as any hardcore wrestling fan knows, Hart was a member of that 1960s band, whose song peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 60 years ago). The reaction to Hogan on the program is a far cry from the positive reaction he got when he appeared at both the Republican National Convention and Drumpf's rally at Madison Square Garden several months ago.
Many wrestling fans are comfortably on the left politically, though the McMahon family bows to Drumpf, and the aforementioned Undertaker is also a Repuke. The Rock has been all over the road politically, voting for Obama both times, though he claimed that he voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but regretted it. Ari Emanuel, the president of Endeavor and CEO of TKO, is a Democrat and the brother of Rahm Emanuel, the current US ambassador to Japan and former Illinois Congressman, Chicago Mayor, and White House Chief of Staff under Obama. The website and internet app Goods Unite Us list the WWE as a 100% Republican company with 98% of its donations coming from senior employees.
It's no secret that many in the wrestling community are still angry at the WWE for allowing Hogan to still be looked upon as a legend even though he also was caught being racist in a secret recording made ten years ago. In that leaked tape, Hogan was caught using the n-word multiple times. When it was made public, the WWE cut Hogan from his contract and eliminated most references to him on their website. Hogan apologized and amazingly, many black wrestlers announced that they had forgiven him. One black wrestler, however, Mark Henry claimed that he was an exception to the rule because Hogan "never tried to fix his problems". Hogan even claimed that he only used the n-word because all of his friends in Tampa - where he lived - used that word.
When Hogan was fired from the WWE, many fans pointed out that even Vince McMahon himself used the word during a skit on Raw many years ago. So, Hogan was reinstated. But, it was too little, too late. Hogan has appeared on WWE shows many times over the years only to get booed by people who look at him as a douchebag racist Drumpf supporter as opposed to being the man who helped to make professional wrestling the international pastime it became.
Yeah, I know. People of my generation still gush over Hogan's rivalry against Andre the Giant at the 3rd Wrestlemania. Plus, many of his fans followed him to WCW where his nWo stable helped them achieve record ratings. This helped McMahon's rival Ted Turner build his wrestling dynasty until he sold to Time Warner who ran WCW into the ground it created the opportunity for McMahon to transform the WWE into the extreme "Attitude Era" where matches got more violent, plus women wore fewer clothes. Many times, McMahon did his damndest to sweep Hogan under the rug, only for him to reappear.
Not only that, but some are still angry that it was Hogan who brought down the website Gawker because of a leaked video of him having sex with Heather Clem, the wife of radio personality and former Hogan friend Bubba the Love Sponge. The video was given to Gawker, who was forced into bankruptcy after being forced to give Hogan $115 million.
Yeah, the Hulkster is a legend. But, he's still a Grade-A asshole. Why the WWE still embraces him is a mystery. Granted, he got wild applause at those Drumpf rallies because he has the gall to wear a MAGA hat. But, that doesn't mean that all WWE fans voted for Drumpf, either.
Wrestling shouldn't have to deal with politics in most cases. The same goes with most sports, though when Donald Sterling was fighting to hold on to the Clippers, he pointed out that many sports team owners were also bigots. He mentioned the DeVos family, which owns the Orlando Magic. They spent millions fighting against pro-LGBTQ+ laws in several states. They even helped to shutter Grand Rapids' strip clubs in 2006 thanks to a city ordinance they reportedly helped fund. It might explain why in 2016 when a mass shooting at the gay Pulse nightclub occurred, the DeVoses spent over a million dollars aiding victims, plus the fact that they installed a banner at Amway Arena in Orlando honoring the 49 people killed in the massacre.
There's also the late Larry Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz and Salt Lake City TV station KJZZ-14. From 1995 until 2000, the station was affiliated with UPN but dropped the mini-network because Miller thought that it was too black for the market. Miller died in 2009 and his estate has since sold KJZZ to Sinclair in 2016, which also owns CBS affiliate KUTV-2 and KMYU-12, the local MyNetworkTV station. The Millers sold the Jazz in 2020 to billionaire Ryan Smith, who owns the NHL's Utah Hockey Club (formerly the Arizona Coyotes) and is part-owner of the Real Salt Lake soccer team.
It's no secret that no sports team has perfect ownership. Even my Detroit Lions suffered some controversy in 2003 when late owner William Clay Ford hired head coach Steve Mariucci without following the NFL's "Rooney Rule", an edict that forces team owners to interview people of color regarding coaching positions ahead of whites. The law was named for Dan Rooney, the late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. When Ford hired Mooch, the NFL fined the team $200,000. In the end, Mooch was canned after two seasons with an abysmal 15-28 record. Ford died in 2014 and his daughter, Shiela now owns the team, which is now one of the hottest teams in the NFL under coach Dan Campbell.
What's even more pathetic is that many of Hogan's fans are happy that as I'm typing this, Los Angeles is burning down. Over 26 people have all died and thousands of homes and businesses have all burned to the ground. Some have posted idiotic memes showing Hogan ripping his shirt off in front of a burning house with the caption "God is a Hulkamanic".
You know, I'm getting fucking sick of all these douchebag asslickers of Drumpf being all happy that in their mind, everyone whose home burned down in the wildfires was all against him. Dennis Quaid is a Drumpfter and even played Reagan in a stupid movie from last year. His home burned down. Same with James Woods, another asslicker to Drumpf whose home burned down in the fires. Mel Gibson, a noted anti-semite, also lost his home.
On my way home from my mother's on Wednesday last week, I decided to listen to a little bit of Mark Levin's shit show on AM talk radio. He's another douche happy that Los Angeles is burning. He even cried about how minimum wage is destroying America especially California. It reminded me of the one and only time I got a raise from my former boss, with whom I worked for 10.5 years. He took me to Brann's Steakhouse for an employee evaluation. On the way back to the shop, he wanted to listen to Michael Savage, but thankfully, WOOD 1300 was airing a hockey game. Bear in mind that Savage - like Levin - is an angry, homophobic, lying sack-of-shit Jew whose ideals are identical to Hitler's.
Yes, some people who lost their homes in the California wildfires were mega-wealthy, like Paris Hilton. I'm actually happy certain folks lost their homes, especially Heidi Montag, who shot herself in the ass in 2009 when she appeared in a Playboy pictorial where she hardly appeared nude at all. Her excuse? "I'lL sHOw mOrE iN My NexT iSSuE!" Well, it was her only issue. Now that 1) Playboy is all but nonexistent, especially after they went the no nudity route several years ago and 2) Heidi is now a mother and pretty much a has-been, karma's a bitch for her. At least she still has Spencer, though once a woman has a kid with another man, she becomes dead to me.
You see, most of the people whose homes were destroyed in the California blaze weren't rich. They were hard-working people with families and jobs that disappeared. The only crime they committed was being in an area where it doesn't rain often and is prone to fires, mudslides, and other weird weather. I predict that many will have no choice but to move, and I think that my home state of Michigan will be a top choice for some.
If there are Hulk Hogan fans out there, then why didn't they go to defend him when he was booed on Raw? Sorry for them, but they're in the minority now. The WWE has new management and they don't need to make the same feckless mistakes they've been making for years. If a good guy is being booed, they don't need to keep putting him on a pedestal because he's now the bad guy. Hulk Hogan hasn't been relevant in years and it needs to stay that way.
The question is, what is the Hulkster gonna do when reality goes wild on him?
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