WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan was a recent guest on the “Full Send” podcast to discuss his professional wrestling career, including how he looked at the business early in his career as a “shoot.”
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On how he looked at the business earlier in his career: “I worked for Vince Sr. first, from 78 to about 80, I worked for Vince Sr. So I was kind of his guy for a while, and I was kind of wild in the streets. I didn’t listen very well. I would disappear, make some money, pull no-shows. I was 27 or 28 years old, I was nuts. So I was running hard back then. I wasn’t married, so I pretty much was doing whatever I wanted to do. I kind of got involved with Vince, and everybody says, ‘Oh, this business is a work.’ Okay. Well, if I’m making twice as much money as you and you’re wrestling me, is that a work? It’s a f***ing shoot brother, and that’s how I looked at it. This business was a shoot. It was the man who made the most money.”
On why he saw things as a shoot: “So when I worked for Vince and Bob Backlund was the champion, I wrestled Backlund. Backlund always got paid more than me. Oh really? So this isn’t a work? So it does matter if you win or lose? It does matter if you’re the champion or not? Everybody goes, ‘Oh, it’s a work.’ Well, it’s really not a work. It’s about the money and the mileage. For me, if you’re a good guy, usually, until the nWo came along, back in the day, if you were a good guy, your merchandise sold two to one over the bad guys’ stuff. That’s not a work to me. That’s a shoot, brother. If I make more money than you and I’m wrestling you, my t-shirt’s selling twice as much as yours, maybe it’s a work to you, but not to me, if my check’s double yours. So I always looked at it that way.”
