Sharon Mazer: AUT theatre professor and Wrestling Book Author discusses the passing of WWE legend Hulk Hogan

Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollier) has died at the age of 71.

He was the face of the WWE in the 1980s, and stayed involved in the sport long after his retirement from professional wrestling.

Sharon Mazer, author of ‘Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle’, told Heather duPlessis-Allan, ‘He was the one in the bright light at the end of the night, and generally the victor.’

She also said that Hogan was known to stay behind after events to sign t shirts and pose for photos with children and young fans.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Seventeen past five sad news obviously with the passing of
Hulk Hogan. He passed away from a heart attack at
seventy one years old. His real name is Terry Bollier.
He became the face of the WWF with Hulkamania sweeping
across the US in the nineteen eighties. Now Sharon Maser
is a professor of theater and performance studies at aut
who literally wrote the book on professional wrestling and is
with us.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hi, Sharon, Hello, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm very well. Thank you. I can't tell if you're
excited to be on the radio or sad about Hulk Hogan.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm mostly amused in having flashbacks at the theme song,
are you?

Speaker 1 (00:39):
It was a good time? Did you ever see him wrestle?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Oh? Yes, I used to go when I started this
research almost forty years ago. I hate to add Matt
when I first wandered into Madison Square Garden for the
first matches, Yes, Alk Cogan was the top of the
card often.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, And is it true that he would stay behind,
he'd do his fight, he'd be the superstar, He'd stay behind,
and he'd pack up the chairs.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, he didn't pack up the chairs, but he'd be
in the center of the squared circle, still posing for
whatever kids were left, as the garden itself was getting
itself ready for other things, packing up the chairs as
fast as they could. I mean, Madison Square Garden very busy.
You know, basically you sneeze, they got right, you're over
and have you out and the next thing in. But

(01:27):
he'd be posing and signing shirts and entertaining into the
last little kid had left. It was quite extraordinary.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Was he the biggest star in recently?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
I think for a time? Yes, and no, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Who else is even comparable over the time.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Period, Well, I think they were all superstars in their
own way. He wasn't the best wrestler, but he was
the golden boy. He was the one in the bright
light at the end of the night and generally the
victor unless he was the poor but raggle cheated upon
and and you know who had been robbed of his belt.

(02:07):
You know, he was the golden boy in the spotlight. Yeah,
when he won at whichever WrestleMania it was, I watched.
I couldn't get a ticket. I was too late to
get a ticket. I watched at the Beacon Theater on
a closed circuit television, you know, back in the days
before we have all these fancy things now, But back

(02:28):
in the day, you could go into the Beacon Theater
in the Upper West Side and watch it on a screen.
And I watched WrestleMania, and when he won, the crowd
went wild and was taking pictures of the screen with
their little flash cameras. The end of the eighties, so
you couldn't see the screen any longer. I mean, just
wiped out the screen. The fans were so excited.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Why did you say he wasn't a very good wrestler
or wasn't the best.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well, he was stiff. He had a number of moves
that he could do, but he wasn't a great elegant wrestler.
He had his signature moves. He was best at work
in the audience and he did that really, really well.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, did you know that he was He got baptized
a couple of years ago.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Wouldn't surprise me?

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Why wouldn't it surprise you, because that seems so out
of step with somebody whose whole persona is this, you know,
aggressive wrestling character, pumped up on steroids.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, but he was mister Virtue. He was you know,
you know, a whole cam maniacs, take your vitamins, follow
the amandements. I mean, it was the kind of fervor
that you would associate also with you know, I don't
know the Power Team who were bodybuilders for Jesus at
the same time, and you know, big evangelical kinds of movements.

(03:45):
He was the same, big tent kind of performers. So
it doesn't surprise me.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Okay, hey, Sharon, thank you. That's fascinating. Sharon Mason, professor
of Theater and Performance Studies at aut For more from
Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks it'd
be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.