On a recent edition of his “The ARN Show” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson discussed Hulk Hogan leaving WWE for WCW in 1994, WCW making him an offer that WWE couldn’t match, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On WCW mentioning Hulk Hogan in March 1994 on TV despite him not being under contract: “For that time, that just was unheard of. I mean, you know, first right of refusal, is that a real thing? I think that’s what WWF had. I just remember that term, you know, first right of refusal which means, ‘Okay, his contract ran out. They can make him an offer.’ But it’s like, there can be a bidding war now, right? Because his contract ran out.”
On WCW making Hogan a strong offer that WWE couldn’t match: “Can you imagine in that boardroom with WWF them actually saying, ‘Well, he’s not worth that.’ After the career that he had had up to that point? I mean, it’s almost surreal, isn’t it?”
On WWE not matching the deal: “He [Vince McMahon] decided he was going to go with the youth movement. And it’s, like when you commit to letting Hogan go to the opposition, and various other guys eventually that were his friends and his comrades move over — you know, change companies, it must have been an, ‘Okay for damn sure, we’re gonna go with a different slant here. We’re gonna go with a youth movement.’ And he was already committed, 100%.”
On Hogan’s big money deal: “If you want to know the truth, if I can remember — and my mind will save me here — I must have had the thought that, ‘I don’t know that anybody’s worth that much money.’ And I was aware of who Hulk Hogan was, I’d been in the ring with him prior to that when he was at his hottest and double-clotheslined me and TUlly over the top rope.”
On whether the move to get Hogan was a gamble for WCW: “I don’t know if ‘gamble’ is the right word. We’re taking a chance. Because you gotta remember also, what was — going back from WCW to Jim Crockett Promotions, which WCW was an extension of Jim Crockett Promotions, the way we were able to compete with that company when Hogan was 300 pounds and you had all that talent, he went around and scooped up all the top guys from every territory, is because we could outperform them. From a wrestling perspective, Jim Crockett Promotions, which morphed into WCW — our crew could outwork their crew. And that’s how we were able to compete with the lunchboxes and all the marketing genius, and all the stuff that they had going on.”
On Hulk Hogan the businessman: “Well, it’s crystal clear he’s the smartest guy in the history of the business on how to market himself, and knows absolutely how to let everybody involved in the bidding war know just how important he is. He was a great self-promoter.”
On the WCW locker room reaction to Hogan’s deal: “Well, just the kind of thoughts that I would think would be going through my mind, being a guy that saw how you built a match. Like, a guy in a business that was working for a company, ‘How do you build a match? How do you build a character? How do you build a show,’ for that matter? How do you do all that and do it the proper way. And the wrestler in me that I had been taught up to that point is going, ‘Well, if you give them Flair and Hogan right away, how do you stop that?’
“But I also understand that that’s something that nobody expected to see. You go, ‘Holy Ghost!’ right out of the gate. Hogan-Flair. So it was one of those things that you kind of just go, ‘I know what I’ve been taught.’ I don’t know what you do after that, unless — there’s ways to do it. And none of those would involve Hogan winning.”
