Hulk Hogan recalled facing Brock Lesnar and revealed the unique nickname he used to deal with Lesnar’s intense in-ring style.
Speaking to Alfred Konuwa, Hogan said he was one of the first WWE stars to face Lesnar when he arrived on the main roster in 2002 and that it wasn’t easy. Hogan claimed they wrestled around a dozen times, and Hogan recalled how rough those matches were.
“I remember when Brock Lesnar first came to the WWE. I got him first, and it was no picnic, believe me. I wrestled him probably 10 or 12 times,” Hogan said.
Hogan said Lesnar was so intense in the ring that he had to joke with him to get him to ease up, and called him by a funny nickname.
“The only way I could get him to lighten up on me at all was by saying, ‘Okay, Broccoli.’ I’d call him Broccoli instead of Brock Lesnar. I said, ‘If you keep doing this crap, you’re going to end up in here by yourself.’”
According to Hogan, Lesnar eventually started to understand how things worked in professional wrestling. He stopped wrestling so aggressively and began developing his character.
“Eventually, I got him to just go with the flow, which is what we did back then. But I saw his personality develop. I saw him go from just shooting in like a monster, grabbing a single leg, taking a guy down, riding him like a government mule, to becoming this crazy, over-the-top entertaining character.”
Hogan added that Lesnar became someone other wrestlers could trust in the ring.
“He turned into what we call in the wrestling business a good worker, someone you can wrestle every night without worrying they’ll break your neck or cripple you. But when I first got him, he was not like that. He was like a freight train running over you.”
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