• “I could be next” – Ric Flair
Ric Flair appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show today and talked about Hulk Hogan’s health issues. Here’s what The Nature Boy said:
“I think he just got tired. 11 back operations, hip replacements, now a neck surgery… How much can your body take? We’ve all put ourselves in ridiculous positions in the business, but I mean, I’m 5 years older than Hulk, and I don’t hurt at all. I’ve had some serious health issues, but I don’t have an ache or pain in my body… Of course, it gives me anxiety that I could be next (laughs).”
• Kevin Nash Regrets Not Seeing Hulk Hogan One Last Time: “I Didn’t Have That Chance With Scott Hall Either”
During Kliq This, Kevin Nash opened up about a familiar regret – not getting a chance to say goodbye to another close friend before they died. Nash said Hogan’s death brought up painful memories of losing Scott Hall. “The whole thing was, especially when it first went down, I was still here in Florida. Terry’s two hours from my house. I could’ve gotten in my car and popped over there.”
“Even if I had to put a mask on if he was worried about germs, or talk through the front glass door. I didn’t have that chance with Scott either.”
He explained that Hall was alive for 20 hours after his cardiac arrest, “but he wasn’t conscious.” With Hogan, the same opportunity was missed. “It would’ve been nice to at least tell him I loved him. That’s selfish on my behalf, you know.”
Nash’s voice turned reflective. “I would have needed five minutes. After four minutes of putting each other over, I would have just said, ‘I love you.’ Maybe that would’ve been enough.”
Kevin Nash on Hulk Hogan’s N-Word Tape: “Smelled Like a Hit Job”
Nash also addressed the most infamous scandal in Hulk Hogan’s career – the leaked $ex tape and the N-word use. “I never heard him drop an N-bomb ever,” Nash said. “The time I hear it is on tape, along with a $ex tape that got leaked. Who’s to say that wasn’t a f**king hit job?”
He questioned the tape’s legitimacy. “You get a $ex tape of him f**king his best friend’s wife and an N-bomb in one tape? I’m smelling a setup.” While Nash made clear he couldn’t defend the content, he emphasized the context: “I personally found it offensive. But let he who is not without sin throw the first stone.”
Kevin Nash Slams Black Wrestlers Over Hulk Hogan Controversy
Nash didn’t hold back when it came to Hogan’s critics flipping their stance after his death. “I saw several f**king Black wrestlers that, when Terry was alive, talked nothing but sh*t about him,” Nash said. “And now? Now they praise him.”
He acknowledged Hogan’s use of the N-word was offensive – “I personally found it offensive. It did diminish how I felt because I’d never heard it from him before” – but said it was hypocritical to attack him while alive and glorify him when dead. “If you get a pass in death, then where’s the line?” he asked.
Nash emphasized, “How about f**k you, man? How about his kids, man? Can you just… lay off the man? Ain’t nothing’s going to change now.”
Mark Henry Refuses To Say Anything Bad About Hulk Hogan Despite Past Issues
After Hulk Hogan got booed on the RAW Netflix premiere in Los Angeles earlier this year, Mark Henry said the following to TMZ in an interview: “Right now, with the social climate and the things that he’s said and done and the lack of effort to try to fix it, people are gonna come down on him. I never had an issue with him before I heard all of the stuff. Even then, I believe they’ve given him second chances. He never wanted to go forward and fix it. That’s what happens when you think that everything is gonna go away. It’s not gonna go away. He thinks it’s gonna go away. That it’s not gonna be that dark cloud over his career. I offered to say, ‘Hey, let’s do a tour of the black colleges and law schools and explain what happened.’ He didn’t want to do that.”
Despite his past issues with Hogan, Henry has decided to not say anything negative about Hogan and went on to praise the Hulkster for what he did for the wrestling business. Here’s what the World’s Strongest Man said on Busted Open After Dark:
“His place on Mount Rushmore, I think, is concrete. We’ve always talked about the Mount Rushmore of pro wrestling, and it’s debatable, but what I’m gathering is there’s always Hogan on it, and there’s always Ric Flair on it. It’s choice, it’s what your preference is, what you like. But I’ve never heard somebody say, ‘Oh yeah, my Mount Rushmore,’ and Hogan wasn’t on it.
I felt like some of the people out there have this bias, or they want to delve into the negativity of Hogan’s life. Not going to do it, guys. Not on a night of celebration of his life and what he gave to the sport. Had nothing to do with any of the foolishness and backstory lines. Hogan gave probably the most important thing that any wrestler can give to our sport and to our business. He made it better.
He made the whole world know about the sport that particularly didn’t even watch wrestling. They was like, ‘Who is this Hulk Hogan guy?’ He went in, he started doing movies and TV shows, and that was an element that… had been done. Andre did The Princess Bride, Roddy Piper had his film… but Hogan was the one that took it to Hollywood. That’s where you get the… it went from being ‘The Immortal’ Hulk Hogan to ‘Hollywood’ Hulk Hogan.
Hogan went to Los Angeles, as you saw in the videos. He did all the shows, you know, from Johnny Carson to Jay Leno to you name it. He did all the shows. And he was a very frequent guest on those shows, promoting pro wrestling shows, his own personal TV shows. I mean, he did it all, and from the video games, and, man, the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling cartoon was, I mean, I remember being a little kid sitting on the floor, not wanting to clean my room or do anything until I watched that cartoon, and Hogan was the star of that cartoon.
When I competed in the Olympic Games and the Olympic trials, me standing on one leg, me waving to the crowd and putting my hand behind my ear, where did that come from? That was Hogan 101, to get the crowd to react to you. And nobody did that before him, but hundreds of people did that after him. And that’s the mark of somebody that I feel like is a great beacon and a great stalwart for our industry.
He even told me at one point… ‘Man, if you can find something else to do, you might want to do it, because I had both my hips replaced during those leg drops.’ And of course, I never did. I kept doing them. And you know, I don’t have any regrets, and I don’t think Hogan had any regrets as it relates to pro wrestling.
When you abuse your body, guys, the way that we abuse our body in this industry… you always hear that term, ‘Man, boy, that knocked years off my life.’ Like, there’s a little truth to it. So all of the people that you love watching and respecting… appreciate it for what it is.”
RELATED: Maven Issues Apology After His Hulk Hogan Video
