Shining a Spotlight 12.03.09: Hogan's New Role

Posted by Michael Weyer on 12.03.2009

A review of Hulk Hogan's new autobiography and how it sheds amazing new light on man most only think they know.

　


Wrestling biographies can be a tricky thing to read. The key reason is because wrestlers, by their very nature, are always working people and twisting things to their advantage. To be fair, most autobiographies strive to put their subjects in the best of lights. But with wrestlers, it's different since, by their very nature, these guys are always working the audience and can't let go of that. Bret Hart's bio was incredibly honest but also showed the arrogance and belief in how great he was that caused him so many problems. A common theme reading transcripts from wrestlers on radio shows is how they spin things their own way a lot and you have to try and cut through that to get at the truth.

As someone who's long been used to being in the limelight, Hulk Hogan has been spinning the truth for quite a few years. Hogan has always been an interesting figure to watch. He's been slammed constantly by the IWC for his selfish ways, for putting himself first above everyone and many believe his self-centered booking was a key element in WCW's fall. And yet, Hogan also has a reputation among workers for being good-hearted and a lot of guys claim he's makes his opponents look good just being in the same ring with them. He tells a story and recognizes how wrestling is a business where the point is to make money, rather than the pure sport guys like Hart and Benoit treated it as. And of course, Hogan still has incredible popularity with the crowds, who will go nuts when "Real American" plays today.




Hogan's first bio, published in 2002, was pretty self-serving. In fact, I understand, Dave Meltzer even did a bit online dissecting every lie he told. Of course, one must keep in mind the fact that there's "truth" and then there's "IWC truth." As more than one radio show host has learned, things the IWC take as absolute fact are either over-exaggerated or outright lies. Hogan's fame has grown in the last few years with his reality show, followed by the legal battles with his wife and son.

So My Life Outside the Ring (St. Martin's Press, $25.95) is a much more open affair from Hogan. Sure, you can see the spin in things but you also get stuff that's heartfelt. Hogan seems to finally understand the price of his fame over the years and how it's costing him now. Yet he still remains upbeat and even thankful for how he's gotten strong from it. It's a pretty interesting read that gives you new insight to a rather complicated individual.
　
Opening

The book opens pretty dramatically as Hogan has a gun in his hand, mulling over how easy it would be to pull the trigger. He remembers the night in August of 2007 when he was told of his son Nick getting into a car accident. Thinking it was a simple fender-bender, Hogan goes off, thinking of the bad press only to find the horrible crash site. While Nick was mostly okay, his friend John Graziano was barely alive and the weight of it all was still on Hogan months later as he hit bottom. But as he notes, it's from that that Hogan began to rise again.

The book moves to a bio on Hogan's life, which does cover much the same ground as his first book. He does go a bit more into his family with how distant they could be at times which probably explains quite a lot on Hogan's love of adulation. He admits how he actually loved bowling and how self-conscious he was about his large head ("and I'm not talking about my ego.") Never fitting in with sports, Terry Boella turned to music as an outlet and found he had a talent for the guitar. It is fun hearing how shy Hogan once was with girls but gets more dramatic as he discusses his older brother Alan, who got himself into some crazy situations with his drinking and drug use, particularly when someone shot him twice yet he got right up and walked away. Meanwhile, younger brother Kenny was so distant that Hogan never got to really know him.

Hogan does share some of his religious past and how he mostly skipped it as a kid but got involved playing the guitar for the local church. I'm sure more than a few people will sardonically note how Hogan's beliefs in fairness and living the good life don't jibe with his history but it's hard to not be moved by the man's earnest writing about it. Hogan does admit that the closest he came to a religious experience in his youth was when he flipped on Florida Championship Wrestling for the first time and instantly was hooked. He was there live for a Dusty Rhodes/Terry Funk match that spilled into the aisle and clearly enjoyed it. This leads to him talking about getting into weight-lifting and his decision to leave Port Tampa as soon as he could. There's a fun bit on the various odd jobs he tried to get and wondering how his life might be different had he gotten hired for an electric company or beer plant.

Hogan moves into getting into wrestling and fun where he asks Superstar Billy Graham about steroids, Graham denies it and Hogan notes how much crap that was. Hogan saw Bob Orton getting a guy to hit him which opened his eyes to the reality of the business and made him want to get involved with it more. Hogan now acknowledges he was pestering the wrestlers way too much and that they just didn't have the heart to tell him to get lost. A great moment is Hogan declaring he's going to be the greatest wrestler ever, Oliver Humperdink agreeing and Hogan writing "that was the beginning of my demise."
　


The Rise in the Business
　
Again, some of the stuff on Hogan's rise in wrestling was in his first book but here, he elaborates more such as acknowledging how full of himself he was starting out and annoyed so many guys without realizing it. Right off the bat, Hogan grasped how wrestling has always been more entertainment as sport, something that went over the heads of a lot of others and was excited about training under Hiro Matsuda. Of course, Hogan had no idea until years later that Mike Graham wanted Matsuda to give Hogan the horrible training of a lifetime to drive him away. It robbed Hogan of some of his bluster but he still kept going. Hogan shares tales of some of the downright insane ribs guys could get to like Pat Patterson claiming he need a blowjob as an initiation and that if Hogan refused, he'd be basically gang-raped at the show. Hogan was naturally terrified and on edge and had no idea he was being put in a twenty-minute match with Brian Blair. However, when Hogan was told he was being sent to a Kansas City promotion, he got annoyed at being shuffled off after so much work and quit and worked as a bouncer for a bit before coming back.

Hogan is much more frank here about his steroid use. He's not proud of it but does point out that back then, no one knew of the long-range consequences or effects anymore than people in the 1950's knew smoking could be bad for you. He avoided drinking but did smoke pot as he got more into things. Knowing he wasn't the best worker, Hogan did more with his presence to present himself as more than just a big strongman. Hogan and Ed Leslie started off as the Boulder Brothers in Memphis but a chance meeting with Lou Ferrigno got him the "Hulk" moniker. Hogan was still annoyed at the low pay and considering quitting again when he was basically hijacked by the Briscos to meet Vince McMahon Sr. It is interesting to hear Hogan wearing a tie-dyed shirt and being mistaken for Graham by a fan. Vince told him not to wear it but clearly saw the potential in Hogan. He shares the story of his first serious girlfriend and how it ended badly, convincing him to step up more in wrestling.

There's more stuff we know about already like Hogan's feud with Andre and how he got cast in Rocky III which McMahon wouldn't let him do so Hogan became a free agent. While working in the AWA, Hogan met Linda Claridge and goes a bit more into their first meeting and how he got hooked onto her quickly. There's also talk on how Alan would drop by the shows with his biker gang, which got even the veteran wrestlers freaked. There's talk of the wedding to Linda with Hogan paying for the large bills himself as he had more money which really should have been a warning sign.
　

WWF

Surprisingly, Hogan skips over the problems with Verne Gagne that forced him out of the AWA, instead leaping right into winning the belt from the Iron Sheik and changing the business forever. Hogan admires Vince for his drive, noting Vince was probably the only person whose obsession with being on top matched Hogan's own (with a funny bit on how they wrote the script for No Holds Barred in one forty-eight hour span, not noting how that didn't equal a good script). Hogan seems to share the same attitude I've heard others say about Vince, that once he's made up his mind, he won't deviate no matter what.



Hogan is open on how he let Linda take charge of the money and how, despite being the biggest star in the business, he stayed in the same motels as the rest of the guys. He also acknowledges the hypocrisy of urging fans to stay clean while on steroids and cocaine but still feels putting that message out was important. It's interesting to see how things have changed as Hogan says back then you didn't have paparazzi or tabloid TV shows following you around all the time and no Internet to expose things. He did get a wakeup call when Alan's ex-wife was shot and killed by a boyfriend right in the middle of a bar. Hogan tried to help Alan out with his kids, giving money but Alan used it for drugs, eventually dying of an overdose, which convinced Hogan to give up drugs himself.

There's a big discussion by Hogan on how wrestling kept him "comfortably numb." He points out how he was the main event in those years and constantly on the go, flying around the world constantly to the point the was actually adding days to his life. There was no job security and the expectations of the fans were high so he had to keep working, even through his brother's funeral. Hogan talks about how he's amazed almost no one has understood what he did, which was that to get the fans on you, you had to in the moment and pull them into the feeling of the match. He was so convinced someone at the time would do it that he kept on working rather than be left behind. He finally managed to take a break after nearly nine years…which may have been a mistake.




　

Pain and Family Life
　
Hogan goes deep on Linda and you can see the bitterness in his words. But you can also see how it's the classic example of a guy marrying young and quick and not realizing the deeper parts of his mate until later. He talks of her temper and how her family life was a lot rougher than she let on, not to mention she wasn't quite the successful woman she'd portrayed herself as. Hogan sort of put any of their fights behind him, noting that it must have been hard for Linda putting up with him always on the road and tired of the same routine in matches so she agreed to stay at home. Hogan talks about how Brooke's birth put things in perspective for him majorly although he still kept to his crazy schedule, with flights home now mixed in. He was a bit annoyed when he heard from Linda's grandmother she was pregnant with Nick and was upset as she had never told him she'd quit the pills while he was still doing some steroids. Hogan notes how he was doing most anything he could to make money to provide and only later would understand that "putting all your focus on ‘more, more more' can wind up costing you, big-time, in the end."

Hogan nicely compares wrestling to reality TV in that the audience knows it's mostly scripted but goes along with it. He discusses his slew of injuries from an in-depth examination of blade jobs to the constant battering of his knees and back, including how he exploded his kneecap winning the title from the Sheik and never told Vince about it. One of his worst injuries came at Survivor Series ‘91 when the Undertaker tombstoned him for real on a steel chair and Hogan kept going afterward. He acknowledges how his steroid use probably contributed to those injuries but never noted any "roid rage," the only annoying symptoms back acne and ingrown hairs. This leads to talk on the steroid trial in 1994 and Hogan lying about never using it in 91 but admitting the truth later. So Hogan decided to bow out and do Thunder in Paradise which was a hell of a lot more work than he anticipated.

Adding to the troubles was Linda's insistence on living back in California. Hogan finally rented a house but had to put up with nagging not just from his wife but her relatives as well. Linda really comes off like a shrew here (at one point even yelling about how she hates the wind) but Hogan is quick to point out he was just as bad complaining about the trial, Vince and the show. He claims Linda went way too far making their dream house in Florida into a mini-castle costing $14 million and the contractor and decorators just happened to be Linda's family.

Hogan shares his feelings on the trial such as his fear Vince would flip the whole thing over on him. Hogan told the truth, which basically exonerated Vince but Vince would claim he'd lie, causing a severe wedge between them. That pushed Hogan to go more to WCW and be a success. He still faced troubles like being sued by a woman claiming he'd made sexual advances which fueled Linda's constant paranoia about him cheating on her with everyone from Cher to even Ed Leslie (insert your own joke here). Hogan has his suspicions about her not being faithful but never certain. Things really got rough when Hogan took time off in 1997 and realized that Linda just wasn't used to having him around so much. She'd complain about him making breakfast or not earning enough and Hogan pretty much sums up a lot of marriages by noting how the little things can add up to a major weight.
　

Reality Sets In
　

Hogan skims over the end years of WCW and how he entered WWF in 2002, as surprised as anyone that the fans cheered for him. He also encouraged his kids, Brooke in music and Nick with cars. In fact, for once, Linda was a bit more on top of things when she bought Nick a new car when he was only twelve but he'd grow to love it. Hogan can come off a bit too excited about Brooke's career which led to Hogan Knows Best. But this also brought Linda becoming Brooke's manager and driving producers crazy with her demands (given how one producer would later be indicted on a Ponzi scheme, it was actually a good thing). But Linda seemed content to not be a boss to the kids, even encouraging them to quit school and vanishing for days on end. Hogan told them they had to present a good image for the show and even hopeful it would bind them together more.

Again, Hogan notes the irony of how reality TV is just like wrestling in how things are planned out so he took to it with ease. Brooke and Nick did as well even if they were encouraged to act out more. Linda really enjoyed things, making sure she was up in time to do her hair and makeup before the camera crews showed up. She didn't like the actual work but Hogan insisted and with the show becoming a hit, things seemed to go well. Behind the scenes, things were getting rough, so much that VH1 didn't even want to film some of it. Most prominently, Linda's drinking got out of control yet Hogan didn't want to face the real problems. It was during one of her disappearances that Hogan began his affair with Christiane Plante. He talks about it in clear terms, perhaps not ashamed but admitting how it was a change after the troubles with Linda.

A funny bit is the episode where the family dons disguises to go to Universal Studios and Hogan marvels of how they have to pretend in order to have fun as a family. There's mentions of how he and Linda got separated and his affair ended but he kept them both quiet. His body was getting more battered than ever and he had to take time alone which he didn't like.

There's talk on John and how he and Nick became friends and the circumstances leading to the accident. Hogan defends himself majorly here on reports and given the media's overreaction to the recent Tiger Woods incident, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on how things got blown out of proportion. He had warned Nick of speeding before, grounding and taking away his stuff after tickets, he never bought his son booze and Nick wasn't drag-racing as videotapes show. Both Hogan's and police experts verified Nick was only doing about 40 when he crashed. He blames the media for really taking things out of context and you can feel the anguish in his words as he discusses all he worried about was his son's fate.
　



Aftermath
　

John's father, Ed Graziano, comes off pretty bad as Hogan says he and John never had a good relationship and the man was talking of pulling the plug while also acting like he'd won the jackpot with Hogan. Hogan himself called in a top neuro-surgeon to adjust some of the brain swelling and thinks John would be a lot better had it been done in the first place. As bad as it was with Ed, things were worse with Linda, her drinking out of control and berating Nick for what happened and him going to jail. He played on her love of fame to keep from a divorce but she kept going downward. Yet she showed a surprisingly good side with John's mother Debbie, helping her get an apartment after Ed kicked her out. Hogan's up front over how he always knew the Grazianos were going to sue him and insists he wasn't helping to stave that off but really wanted to help them in such a horrible time. Hogan kept at John's hospital bed, even there when he flat lined briefly but of course was barred thanks to the lawsuit just as Nick was arrested. Hogan was hurt, even more so by how Debbie turned on him after all the help to bad-mouth him to the press.

Hogan moves to hosting American Gladiators and how nervous he was about it. He was about to start the first taping when he got the phone call about Linda filing the divorce papers and nearly lost it but pulled himself together. He told Nick, who seemed to know it was already happening. Looking back, as Hogan suggests, you can see he was out of sorts doing the show with all this weighing on him. Meeting his divorce lawyer, Hogan finally owned up to how he'd been browbeaten by Linda all these years and Brooke told him point blank Linda hadn't loved him for years despite his love for her.

This leads to the chilling part of Hogan talking about getting out a gun and seriously close to ending it all. He was pulled out by a call from Lalia Ali who got him into some church groups. A big story is Linda coming back, trying to reconcile but Hogan could tell she was thrown by his answering her divorce filing and refused. It was getting to the point where Hogan was unloading his troubles on total strangers and one of them gave him The Secret to read. Hogan knows readers will find it hard to accept books like this changed him but he insists it did, that it really did make his attitude better. It was about this time he met Jennifer McDaniel and really started to click with her.

Hogan shares how Brooke found out about his affair and it getting out to the media. Hogan blames Linda for putting out the letter about it as a shot in the divorce battle. On the civil lawsuit, he thinks the Grazianos were less interested in providing for John than punishing Hogan with Hogan at one point counting twenty-four lawyers at a meeting, not one of whom mentioned John as more than a figure in this. Hogan blames a DJ he had heat with years before for pushing the story so much in Tampa and it's interesting reading the various legal issues involved. Whatever else you feel about Hogan, you have to admit that letting TMZ have a live camera inside the courtroom was really ridiculous and giving Nick a jail sentence was severe too. I've lived in Florida, trust me, they have pretty loose standards when it comes to driving sentences. Things got worse with Nick ending up in a psych ward and Hogan choosing to stay home and help rather then promote the show, which got NBC angry. It's pretty rare to hear Hogan putting his family over his ego and public image but it shows how serious things were.

Hogan touches on the infamous jailhouse calls, apologizing for making it sound like he was blaming John for what happened. He and Nick are actually happy about the tapes getting released as the shitstorm it released was a wake-up call to remind them they were hardly the only victims in all this. Once more, Linda gets in a bad light with her dating a teenager and drinking, ignoring Nick in jail and Hogan apologizing once more for his "know how O.J. feels" comment. He discusses things like how Brooke offered a much different view of the marriage than Hogan ever had. Hogan claims he's not trying to trash Linda but understand her and figure how she changed so much. His afterword touches on how he met with Charlie after the divorce settlement and Linda fearing he'd kill him, the two managing to talk things out and mend it a bit. Hogan ends by noting that he's been changed massively but thinks it's for the best and promises "the best is yet to come."


Summation


A lot of people will just dismiss Hogan's claims as egotistical and covering himself. However, the words come off much more sincere than his first book, really heartfelt. Again, given the media's over the top coverage of the Tiger Woods accident, you can buy they warped things for Nick's case. It's hard not to feel for Hogan as he handles Linda's problems and the nightmare with Nick but the man is open about his own failings, both personal and professional. You truly feel for him and see him not as the guy the IWC so often demonizes but as a man trying his best to keep his family together, who's been pushed to the limit but has come through stronger. Sure, he's hardly blameless as he openly admits to cheating, drug use and pushing Brooke along. But Hogan still isn't the heartless guy a lot of folks say he is and even if he was, he didn't deserve what happened to his family. Whether you like him or not, Hulk Hogan's new biography paints a fascinating and moving picture of a man ready to move on with his life. If nothing else, it deserves a read to give you another side of a rather complicated figure.


Next week I kick off my personal look at the last decade in wrestling. For now, the spotlight is off.