As expected, Hollywood Hogan announced his retirement from professional wrestling on Thanksgiving night on the “Tonight Show.” As expected, no one took Hogan seriously. In fact, “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno was as skeptical as anyone and Hogan wasn’t happy with Leno’s relatively aggressive approach.
Hogan was the second guest on the “Tonight Show” after a bunch of kids made animal noises. Hogan wore a black bandanna over his head, loose-fitting black jeans, and a black t-shirt. Leno showed the Hollywood Hogan cover of TV Guide.
Leno gave Hogan a hard time from the get-go. He asked Hogan why he changed his name to Hollywood since he never lived there. Hogan said his son was born in Hollywood. Leno was only slightly satisfied with that answer. When Hogan said he took over the movie industry, Leno said, “Wait a minute, all of your movies put together don’t equal a multi-million dollar movie.” He asked Hogan what his real name was. Leno made fun of Terry Bollea, smirking and saying, “Terrence.” Hogan explained the roots of the Hulk Hogan moniker. After the fun banter was over, Leno asked Hogan what his big announcement was. Hogan explained.
“I had to come to the crossroads here. I’ve accomplished everything I want to do in wrestling. My family’s secure. I’ve had a great career. I want to come on your show tonight and announce my retirement.” Leno told Hogan his hair implants will come in soon enough and he doesn’t need to retire. Hogan forced a chuckle and continued: “No, I just really thought timing was everything with me. After sitting down with everybody involved, the promoters, my family, the fans. WCW has been great to me. Ted Turner has been really great. I owe one last farewell to my fans to say goodbye.”
Leno challenged Hogan whether he is promising to never wrestle again. Hogan joked, “Well, I’ll wrestle my wife.” Leno said, “You’re not going to come back in six weeks and say you’re back?” Hogan said, “I don’t think the transplants will be in yet.” Highlights then aired of Leno wrestling Hogan at Road Wild in August.
Hogan said all good things come to an end, but his retirement segues into him running for President of the United States. He asked the audience if they’d vote for him or Bill Clinton. When Leno asked Hogan if he has any experience, Hogan said he has made good business decisions. Hogan then rattled off a series of politically shallow clich?. “We need an honest American to take over and make all the decisions… Think of America first instead of everybody else first… I’m right in the middle. Everything across the board has got to be for America… The first time we sent our men and women (to Iraq), we should have taken the brother (Saddam Hussein) out the first time… Flat tax across the board…” Leno laughed at Hogan, saying the flat tax is “good for us rich guys.” He mocked Hogan when he settled in at 16 percent for the flat tax rate, asking him, “Why not 15 percent.” Leno clearly didn’t take Hogan seriously despite Hogan’s desperate attempt to be taken seriously.
Hogan said he got inspired by Jesse Ventura: “When Ventura won governor, all of a sudden all of the phone calls came in. He’s just a teeny minnow and you’re a big fish. How come you never run for something. I just kind of threw it out there I’d run for President of the United States, but didn’t want to take the cut in pay – joking around. As the media jumped on it and phone calls kept coming in, I thought, ?ow, if I really got serious about this thing, I think I could win.”
Leno joked that his running mate could be Prof. Tanaka. Hogan said he joked about Perot and Oprah, but now he’s getting serious about it and is meeting with third parties. When Leno asked about skeletons in Hogan’s closet, Hogan said everything is out in the open about him and he’s learned from his mistakes. He says the good thing about him is he is past his mid-life crisis, unlike Clinton.
When Leno asked if he’d run with Ventura as his running made, Hogan took some shots. “I’d love to run against Jesse because that would be really easy pickings. Everything I’ve always done against Jesse I’ve always won. That would be a lot of fun to beat him one more time.” There were scattered claps, but Hogan had clearly picked on a popular figure.
Hogan will make a “farewell” appearance at the Jan. 5 Nitro in Atlanta, Ga. at the Georgia Dome.
