The Passing of Hulk Hogan & The Great Divide Among Fans | The RCWR Show 7/24/25 - The RCWR Show with Lee Sanders

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:54):
Here we are the RCWR Show with the Lea Sayers.
You know anytime I'm on here and you're checking this
out live for Thursday, July twenty fourth, twenty twenty five,
and it's early afternoon. That ain't a good thing. That
ain't a good thing. What's going on? Everybody? Lee centers

(01:16):
with you guys. I hope you all are doing okay
this week? Y'all have been hanging in there. This has
been a rough week in the world of entertainment and
for its fans. I see a lot of people are
going first Ozzy. That seems to be trending right now.
But let's not forget Malcolm Jamal Warner. Malcolm Jamal Warner.

(01:48):
He kicked things off then not even twenty four hours later,
Zozzy Osbourne. We haven't even been able to get to
three days since the news of Ozzy Osbourne, and we
got hit with another one this morning as the immortal

(02:10):
Hawk Cogan Terry Boleya has died at the age of
seventy one. Jesus, Jesus. This is so. As many of
you guys know, usually I am a late night owl,

(02:33):
and as a result of being a late night owl,
I'm usually messing around doing some type of video audio editing.
I'm usually doing something for a client, and then if
I'm not juggling that, I'm hitting the road. I'm out
there for a few hours making some money. Do what
you gotta do, pay your bills. So I say all
that to say this. I got in at almost five

(02:57):
in the morning and I stayed up just long enough
to see my wife off to work. And made her
breakfast and all that good stuff. And I decide, okay, well,
let me go ahead catch a couple of ease. I'll
wake up and work on some stuff, maybe go to
the gym. I probably was only sleeping for finally a

(03:19):
couple of hours because I was so wired up. And
the next thing you know, I get a call from
my wife. And the way I have my phone set up,
I set it up so that if I'll be getting
ready to go to sleep, you know, quick, nap, whatever,
the only people that can contact me are my contacts,

(03:39):
my immediate contacts. So I actually get a call on
my watch. I'm like, what the hell I see it's
my wife. I go, yeah, honey, everything good? Yeah, all right,
what's going on? She goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm good.
I'm good, Like everything's cool. She's like, I wanted you
to hear from me first before you even see it
online or whatever. But yeah, Hawk Hogan, he's dead. I'm like,

(04:04):
wait what, It's just like, yeah, he's dead. Like you
might want to do your research, and I'm curious your
reactions and all that. I'll see what you have to
say during my lunch break. But I had to let
you know asap. I'm like, okay, I appreciate that, like,
thank you. So that's how I found out. I'm sharing

(04:25):
that to you know, let you all know because I know,
like this is one of those things where and this
is very, very true despite all the controversies involving the Halkster,
which we will talk about here on the show, because
it is part of his legacy after all, Okay, something
that will be talked about how already has been talked

(04:47):
about for many many years, but it'll continue to be
talked about for many many years to come. But this
is a transcendent individual mistake about that. This is a
transcendent individual. And I say that to say, you remember
certain dates in history where you go, oh, I can

(05:11):
tell you exactly where I was on that day. For
a lot of us that grew up on Kurt Cobain
and Nirvana, we knew exactly where we were the day
we found out of his passing. Many of us know
where we were exactly the day we found out that
Michael Jackson passed away. Same thing with George Michael inserted.

(05:34):
The name hault Ogan is definitely in that same breath.
So credit goes to TMZ. TMZ Sports. They were the
first to report this news. And at the time that
I had received this phone call from my wife letting
me know what was going on with the Hawkster. This

(05:55):
was about an hour ago, so eleven forty six am.
And before I could even ask, Okay, how fresh is
this information? Wyfe Bb to the Punch. He said, look,
this went down within like the last twenty minutes, Like
it hasn't even been thirty minutes like this this is fresh,
like really, so I go online seeing what I can find.

(06:20):
This was so fresh that even when you did any
initial respected provider search, maybe you're with bing or Google,
like they didn't even updated yet, so you're like, what
the hell's going on here? First sight I'm thinking about
is TMZ. I'm going, well, if anybody's going to have
anything breaking news wise, it's going to be TMZ. Sure enough,
TMZ they did. They were the first to break it,

(06:43):
so credit to them. Apparently EMS were called to the
Halkster's home out in Clearwater, Florida, and they TMZ that is,
they provided the audio footage. Somehow they got ahold of
the audio footage of that phone conversation. We didn't hear

(07:06):
the address, nor should we hear the address, but it
basically is being described as a cardiac arrests. And when
you hear cardiac arrests, you're going, what the hell? Oh,
that's that's not good? What is going on there? To

(07:26):
read their exact post that they put out, TMZ was
told that a slew of police cars and EMTs were
parked outside Hogan's home and he was carried on a
stretcher into an ambulance. TMZ most likely probably has a

(07:49):
little bit of fish you know, photos and all that
running around as well. Shortly thereafter, he was taken to
a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
So this cardiac arrests episode and everything, this all had
transpired all Thursday morning. I'm not exactly seeing a time

(08:14):
table just yet as far as okay, like, what was
the Hawkster doing before? Was there anything particularly he was
doing during the morning leading up? Like, none of that
information this is still fresh. I would imagine though, that
before the weekend is out, we're definitely gonna know a
lot more information, a lot more information for sure. What

(08:38):
do I say about the Hawkster slash Terrible LEYA, I mean,
that's that's a big old ball of that's a lot
to unpack, isn't it? Just the Halkster terrible Leaya, it's
a lot to unpacking. And people, I see your comments,
I'll definitely show you guys infected love, uh, you know,

(09:02):
respecting all that for the now departed. But Jesus, you know,
it's interesting because I think about Eric Bischoff and the
Hawlkster's current wife and not for nothing, but we saw
some recent media interview appearances of the Hawkster where we're going, Man,

(09:26):
he doesn't really look that well, is he all right?
Some people thought that maybe he was on some type
of new drug, like he did not look right with people.
A lot of people noted that his eyes looked extremely
bugged out, that his neck was extremely, you know, very small.

(09:53):
Everybody's so used to the Hawkster having that wide, you know,
thick neck, and you know, now you could and see
his neck and they're wondering what exactly was going on
with that. Some people just chalked it up to you know,
old age and everything. But there were rumblings even then
that and we were talking just within the past couple

(10:15):
of months. People there was chatter then about is the
Hawkster okay, what exactly is going on with him, and
people like Eric Bischoff, Hawkster's third wife. Now everything is
is good, just some minor surgeries that was done, you know,
nothing to worry about. The man is fine, right, I

(10:37):
mean that pretty much? Is it in a nutshell? And
then we heard rumblings that the Hawlkster was in a
coma and his wife Sky Daily she jumped out there
and and she said, no, on the contrary, this is
what happened. You know, the surgeries, you know, had to

(10:58):
do this, you know, stuff with his back, stuff with
his neck. Like, no, he's good, he's fine. Who are
we to even challenge that. We're hearing from his wife,
we're hearing from Erik Bischoff, and it's well, okay, keep

(11:18):
it moving along. But obviously the totality of those surgeries
and then the recovery times, yeah, a lot of people
just don't know. But the older you get, like you
can eat all the vegetables in the world, you can
take all the vitamins, no pun intended, because I know

(11:41):
that's a Hawkster thing, but you can do all of that.
As you get older, you know, unfortunately each time you're
going under the knife for whatever. But particularly when it
comes to anything dealing with the spine, dealing with the
neck area. That is where things can really start getting

(12:04):
pretty complicated. Unfortunately, of course, the Hawkster. Do you think
about his stamp on the world of professional wrestling? For decades,
the question has always been brought up that if Vince
McMahon never teamed up with Terry boleya hawk Hogan, with

(12:31):
Hawkemania even ran wild, would it even have occurred? You
know what, what really would have happened? I have been
here on this show many times throughout the years and
I have gone on records saying that, well, for Vince
McMahon and the WWE, everything leading up to that first

(12:53):
wrestle Mania, everything still I feel would have happened for
Vince McMahon, but it would have been a case where
likely it would have been much slower. It would have
been much slower. It wouldn't have came at the accelerated
rate of overnight success that it came largely on part

(13:18):
with him teaming up with the Hulkster and making the
Haulkster be the poster child for his vision of not
just WWE sports entertainment and beyond. It wouldn't be what
it ultimately would become today and definitely the Hulkster Vince

(13:41):
McMahon the greatest team up in making professional wrestling, laying
down that foundation and everything that we see that's happening
today with some of our favorite wrestling promotions, McMahon Hawk Hogan.

(14:03):
They basically laid down the blueprint, a blueprint that definitely
was borrowed there from Vince McMahon Senior, but expanded upon greatly.
I repeat expanded upon greatly. I definitely think about how

(14:26):
when I was growing up as a child in the
nineteen eighties, how I tell you it was magical. It
was so magical. The Halkster could do no wrong. You know,
you would have just had to actually live through it

(14:47):
in real time to know what I'm talking about. But faces,
including minds would light up when we saw this larger
than light behemoth of a man. I mean, this guy
came off like a real comic book hero, Okay, because

(15:09):
when you're looking at his classic build from back in
the day, You're going, man, this guy looks so cool.
This guy looks like he can rip somebody's head off.
And you know, just hearing him talk and.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
Everything, brother, and you're just like you're amped up, you're
you're you're getting into it and everything and seeing him
body press people.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Doing the big boot and all that ripping off the shirt.
Just children were just in awe. I mean, this was
a guy that knew how to work the crowd. This
man knew how to work the crowd. And we all
ate it up, we all ate it up. He hit

(15:52):
all the demos, all the demos. He hit him up.
He hit him up up. Every single time you turn around,
there was always somebody, a whole bowload of people pushing WrestleMania,
little Halcamania shirts forgive me Haulcamania shirts, little Hogan styrofoam joints,

(16:15):
the action figures. Man, I can just be here all
day telling you insane stories. But I know, as a
kid growing up in the eighties, I stayed being glued
to my TV set. Loved the Hawkster, I loved him
back in the day. I loved the Undertaker, Junkyard Dog, Coco,

(16:39):
beware Irs. I always leaned war towards the bad guys.
But as far as the good guys go, Hogan, Hogan
could do no wrong. He could do no wrong for me.
So I remember experiencing the steroid trow in real time

(17:02):
and just that whole I mean, it's pretty much been
well documented on the Netflix special covering Vince McMahon, and
I would imagine that documentary and some of the things
that Hogan has said is as well as some other
documentaries floating around there involving the Halkster. I would imagine
now those are going to become more popular and watching out,

(17:27):
you know, kind of a revision right going back and
you know now that he's passed, you know, kind of
one of those type of deals and everything. But that
steroids scandal that went down, you were looking at the
relationship between Vince McMahon and the Halkster. I still remember

(17:47):
vividly when the Hawkster went on the Arsenial Hall Show
and he's shooting down the rumors of steroids and all that.
I'm like eleven going on twelve, and I'm hearing this
and I'm going, uh, yeah, I don't know, I don't
know about this, just based off what I had knew

(18:09):
at the time about steroids. I'm looking at the Hawkster
and Hawkster shooting it down saying, nah, he he ain't
doing that, he don't do that type of stuff. I'm going, well,
you know, this is the guy that's telling us to
say our prayers, eat our vitamins, and train, Like, who

(18:29):
are we to even question? He's saying he doesn't do
that stuff. He's just gifted. It's the genetics and he's dedicated. Okay,
well who are we to And you know, then we
we find out. You know, it literally was almost like
the baseball scandal from back in the day with Barry

(18:50):
Bonds and Jose Conseko, and you know, it's like your
favorite baseball player says flat out, no, I don't do steroids.
I'm not taking any and it has been drugs. And
meanwhile one of his play one of his teammates, is
going like, hell, I'm shooting you right up the ass
with the stuff. What are you talking about? That's literally
what happened there with the Halkster. It was very embarrassing

(19:13):
how it all had came about and everything, But somehow
the Halkster was able to survive that whole ordeal. You know,
his personality and all that was definitely still intact. You know,
we as wrestling fans, though, we did kind of go
through that period where, ah, it's about time for us

(19:36):
to have something new. But you know, no matter what
was fluctuating during that time period, it just seemed like
the Halkster was always at the right place at the
right time. And it was the best way I could
describe it. No matter how we might have felt way

(19:57):
back when when we saw him, it was just Hey's back.
You know, we were reminded why we fell in love
with the guy in the first place. And however we
might have been feeling, even if we were starting to
feel a little bit indifferent, you know, when we didn't
see him for a little bit and he would resurface,
you know, it was nothing, nothing but love, Nothing but love,

(20:20):
you know. Of course, at the turn of the two thousands, Yeah, again,
a lot of younger listeners out there, they really really
don't know. But those of us that lived through it,
we know. In the at the start of the two thousands,
reality TV shows it really really really was booming. It

(20:47):
really was, and Hogan was very successful with his hit
reality series. It ran for four seasons for a couple
of years. Hogan Knows Best. Not only were we first
introduced to the Halkster, we were introduced to his wife Linda,
his son Nick, his daughter Brooke, and you know, it

(21:11):
was a nice little show. I remember watching several episodes
because I was curious. I mean, who wasn't curious way
back in the day. It was like a guilty pleasure.
Of course, the show ended amid family breakdowns and controversy.

(21:34):
I can remember right around that time period. I didn't
want to believe it. I've told this story before. I'm
not saying anything new, but one of my former best
friends had a friend that directly knew a person that
used to be a chauffeur for the Halkster, and the

(21:57):
stories that he told where the show for driver would
just be driving around for a couple of hours, no
particular destination in mind, and Hogan had a couple of
women in the back seat. So none of those women

(22:18):
were definitely his wife. They were not his wife, I repeat,
definitely not his wife. So I remember hearing the chatter
way back then that, you know, as far as infidelity
and all that goes, right, But it seemed that Hogan,
whatever controversies, whatever might have been whispering in the shadows

(22:43):
behind the scenes there, his personality is famed. All of
that shit in general still intact, you know, honestly, things
did not really start to take a turn for the
better with the Haulkster than a one to two combo,
the Bubba the Love Sponge sex tape. But even but

(23:07):
even then, when the sex tape finally came out, I
don't know about you all, but for me, I wasn't surprised,
especially based off what I had new way back when.
I wasn't surprised. Most people in my inner circle weren't
surprised either. If anything, we were just a little taken

(23:28):
back by the fact that wait a minute, man, of
all the of all the women that you could hook
up with, because come on, man, look at your look
at your status, of all the women that you could
hook up with, you decide to hook up with your
friend's wife, Like could you could you? Could you have

(23:53):
done like any Like seriously, dude, how can you look
at your friend the next day and your friend's wife
had just that was just crazy? When we all experienced
that in real time, we were just looking at that,
going what the hell is going on? A whole lot

(24:14):
of stuff that was going on. Hogen going through a
nasty divorce, married three times, married to Linda Clarice from
the early eighties until late two thousands, you had a
second wife that eerily looked very similar to Brook. His
daughter Jennifer McDaniel, that lasted almost that lasted almost See

(24:40):
he married her in twenty ten, if I'm not mistaken,
and they divorced just a couple of years ago, so
that gives you that. And then Sky Daily, yoga instructor,
very religious part of that whole Scientology crew and everything,
married Sky Daily in twenty twenty three. I think about

(25:07):
that Gawker tape though, that Gawker tape and the racist comments,
that was the one two punch right there. It wasn't
so much the sex tape, but it was the stuff
that was said. You know, you're hearing those racial slurs
and everything, and you're just going, wait what. And social media,

(25:34):
Oh my god, social media way back then. You know,
we look at social media now. And as far as
wanting that real time news and information that instant gratification. Yeah,
but when the stuff went down with the Haulkster, you
want to talk about somebody's image being torn up to shreds,

(26:00):
like seconds or just however you want to describe it
when you rewind it back to twenty fifteen, cause remember
we've been on the air since twenty fifteen, so we
experienced all of this stuff, all of this controversy that
was going on there with the Halkster and everything. You know,

(26:22):
it was like Jesus Christ, you know, and I'm proud
to say that when you go back and listen to
any of the past shows that we did on the Halkster,
we never bashed the guy, but definitely when it came
to the racist remarks, it was like, what the hell.

(26:46):
It was like, what the hell do you think about?
What went down with the audio tape that was exposed
with him having a conversation with his son Nick after
Nick was involved in a really bad automobile accident. That
automobile accident had severely injured Nick's friend, And just the

(27:07):
way the Halkster had handled addressing that whole situation and
the fact that that audio had leaked, it was just
the you know, it wasn't so much the and I
want to make sure I say this just right, but
forgive me if I just throw it out there and
it sounds kind of sloppy. These few blemishes, though few,

(27:37):
the weight of it, the totality of it, it really
messed up his public image and made people take a
step back and go what the hell. And you saw
how WWE had handled that whole situation way back when
twenty eighteen. They decided, yeah, as far as your legends

(27:58):
contract and all that goes, don't want to have anything
to do with you. I mean they kept their distance.
I mean they ghosted him. You you to swore, Heaven
forbid this man who's not perfect you to score. He
pulled a Chris ben Wah and it was like, yeah, yeah,
he don't exist right down to the point. I remember

(28:18):
they took him out of the WWE Code intro code
video entry. They took him out of that. It was
like whoa, Like newer fans ain't gonna know all this,
but like that's how hardcore it was way back when.
But you know, it just seemed like, no matter what

(28:38):
would come the Halkster's way, he would always find some
type of way to rise above it. No matter what,
he always figured out a way to rise above it.
And man, I legit have mixed emotions. And I know

(28:59):
there's a lot of my friends and colleagues that are
also kind of struggling with their mixed emotions as well.
Because and see I mentioned all of this. You can't
help up mentioned because you're going to you're gonna mention
the good, but you're also gonna mention the bad. I mean,
without a doubt as far as one of the most
entertaining wrestlers in the business, hands down. Yes, you think

(29:25):
about some of his at least my favorite matches that
he was involved in. I think about Sean Michael SummerSlam
two thousand and five. I still have that on VHS,
the way Sean Michaels was bumping like a mofo for

(29:46):
the Halkster. I still remember how at one point the
Halkster is looking on as Sean Michaels like, dude, can
you like dial it back a little bit, Hogan? Look
legit pissed because when you go back of all the
Shawn Michaels matches that has gone down, that has to

(30:09):
be the And I am still a hardcore Shawn Michaels fan, Okay,
I have seen virtually every single Shawn Michaels match there
is to be seen. So for me to say that
had to been the one Shawn Michaels match where Shawn
was going overkill hey, and he was. When you go

(30:31):
back and watch it, you're just like, come on, dude,
it's not that serious, but it was still an entertaining match.
Definitely one of the most over selling matches by Shawn Michaels,
but entertaining as hell. Two thousand and threes WrestleMania match

(30:53):
with Vince McMahon and how everything was set up with that.
It's so funny too, because I don't know if it's
here in the studio. I don't think it is. I
think it's in the bedroom, but I would imagine, like
his anthology, DVDs and other collective collectibles is now going
to be up for grabs. But I still have my

(31:16):
original Hawk Hogan. Actually I have two versions. There's the
Hawk Hogan Anthology that WWE put out, but the very
first one that they put out, I think it was
Hawk Still Rules, and that was a really nice DVD

(31:37):
box set that they put out. I loved both of those,
but that match against Vince McMahon, just the real life
drama that ultimately turned into a street fight, gritty, definitely personal.
I loved seeing when Shane McMahon came out at the
end and Shane and Hawks there they're looking at each

(32:00):
each other and VNS is all bloodied and Shane is
looking on at the Halkster like you son of a bitch.
You may have won this one, but boy, I tell
you what, lock up with me and see what happens.
I bet you that won't be the same result. That's

(32:21):
how Shane was looking at. I love that fight between
Hogan and Vince and just everything leading up to that
WrestleMania street fight. Solid shit, of course, one of my
all time personal favorites. And anybody that's been a longtime listener,
if you've watched my video intro, what's one of the

(32:42):
first things that you see, and we've had it that
way since twenty twenty two, believe it or not. One
of the first little clips that you see in our intro,
you see the Halkster standing across from the rock WrestleMania
at eighteen, two thousand and two. One of my all

(33:04):
time favorite Hall Cogan matches man like like straight up,
one of my favorites. I love the build up for
that Icon versus Icon. Remember at that point the Halkster
was brought in by Vince McMahon, that whole nWo Kevin Nash,
Scott Hall. You know, I still remember when Vince McMahon decided, Okay,

(33:28):
you know what, let me bring in these three guys,
let me bring in the nWo. I remember how me
and my friends we got so excited over the prospects
of that, and we were going YO, because originally these
were the guys that we were looking for, originally to

(33:49):
be part of the WCW invasion. These were the people
we were looking at for that invasion angle NWWE and
when we got what we got, it was so damn
watered down. Those of us that experienced it in real time, like,
I'm not lying. I wish I could say I was

(34:10):
just I'm being a little too harsh, but no, a
lot of us that experienced it in real time we
were greatly disappointed with how the invasion angle was handled.
We thought, for sure, by hanging in there, maybe things
would get a little better and some of our favorites,
particularly nWo, they would surface. But they never did, and

(34:31):
that was because of the whole guaranteed time Warner AOL
contracts that they had. It was a case where like YO,
you pretty much go sit on your ass, make your
money until this contract is over and done with, and
then you can do what you want to do. So
the idea of the nWo in the WWE, and now

(34:56):
it's a case where you're getting away from NWOL Black, Nwogreen,
nWo Wolfpack, nWo Light. You know, like, no, we're just
gonna let it be about the three original members. We're
gonna let it just go back to basics. You're going, okay, well,
that's a great winning formula. You can't go wrong with that.

(35:19):
How can you mess that up? Off to a decent start,
but eventually, you know, but Hogan came in there as
a bad guy, but the crowd wanted to love him,
and that really had changed the trajectory of his career,

(35:39):
especially by the time it got to that WrestleMania eighteen
match Icon versus Icon crowd flipping for the Hulkster. It
was definitely one of the most electric matches slash atmosphere
of all time, taking on the Ultimate Warrior back in

(36:01):
the early nineties. One of those rare times where the
Hawkster that don't work for me, brother, But in this case,
this was one of the rarest times that you saw
the Halkster in his career at his prime, pinned cleanly
in the middle of the ring. Because this was a

(36:23):
historic moment where the torch was being passed on Vince
McMahon at this point, felt that, Okay, you know, Hall,
you know, Hall, it's been great. We've been tearing it up.
We've been making some really good money and everything. But
you know, maybe it's kind of time we go on

(36:43):
and we move on and do some other things. You know,
we got this new generation, this new sensation that's going on,
and you know, and I'm quite sure Hogan didn't exactly
you know, he wasn't really okay with that, but you know,
what are you gonna do? Well, maybe you give good

(37:06):
old Ted a call and the rest is pretty much history,
of course, because I know everybody's like Raddy Savage. I
just hear the veteran wrestling fans, Raddy Savage, Randy Savage. Yes,
the Mega Powers and it exploded the fantastic emotional storytelling.
Something that I say here on this show repeatedly is
emotional context. What we need here is emotional context, and

(37:31):
we got that with the Mega Powers. Oh my god,
Miss Elizabeth played her role so perfectly during that whole
during that whole joint, I mean, you know, and the
seeds that were planted, weeke in and week out, and

(37:53):
you know you're watching how Macho Man is reacting to
certain ways and how the Halkester is interacting with Miss
Elizabeth and just looking into the Macho Man's eyes and
you can just see, you know, those wild eyes his
You're just going, what is he thinking? What's seriously, what's

(38:16):
going on in that head of his? What is he suspecting? Something?
Is he So when the Mega Powers exploded, I loved it.
I loved it. You know, it's not a big deal
now for younger folks that watch this next one, but
of course the match with Andrea Giant WrestleMania three, Hogan

(38:41):
body slamming Andrea Giant in front of ninety three thousand fans,
it truly was a defining WrestleMania moment. And I know
a lot of people I've seen the chatter over the years.
A lot of people go, a, you know, A, yeah,
I watched that match. It was no thing interesting. It

(39:03):
was quite boring, and you know, and you know it. Look,
it wasn't though Brett Hard versus Sean Michael's sixty minute
or ninety minute Iron Man match, No, not by any stretch.
But you would have had to have lived through it
to really marvel, and especially with the way that the

(39:25):
storytelling was. I think that's the thing that most younger
wrestling fans when they watched that match, that like they
don't really realize is just how much of a special
attraction Andre the Giant was at that point in his career.
And the way Vince was trying to build up Andrea Giant,

(39:47):
you know, never mind the fact that we've already seen
Andrea Giant body slam you know, multiple times, and you know, yeah,
he's he's he's lost quite a few times already. But
just the way in which they went on on the
head and packaged this robbery and going into that WrestleMania
and everything. You know, somewhere I'm picturing the Iron Chic

(40:11):
just ha, fuck you, Hogan. I'm just picturing him, you know,
just all the stuff right to his dying breath, Iron
Shek just I mean seriously, seriously but very very influential.

(40:32):
Of course, Iron Chic. I'm gonna show Iron Shechic a
lot of love because i mean, look, when it's all
said and done, without Iron Sheic, Halkamania definitely is not born.
Hogan wouldn't have been able to capture his first WWF championship,
and it's kind of funny that we're here talking about

(40:53):
Hogan because just recently, matter of fact, I think it
was during fourth of You Lie, AMC the network, they
were running a Rocky marathon, and like, even though I
got the box set, I find myself anytime it's on,

(41:15):
like I will stop what I'm doing and if I
find out it's a marathon, I'm gonna watch it, like
I don't care. And I remember watching. I think when
I started watching it, I was at the tail end
of Rocky one and it was getting ready to go
into Rocky two, and my wife comes in. She was

(41:37):
running some errands and so she's like, oh, hey, Rocky
and she's like the same way. She'll like sit down
next to me and we're talking and everything. And when
we got to Rocky three, of course, the Haulkster was
in Rocky three. I said some fun little trivia to
her and she was like, I did not know that,
So like, for instance, did you guys know that? And

(41:58):
I didn't learn this until like recent recent But when
Hogan was fighting Rocky there, Rocky wanted that raw, authentic feeling,
so he says to the Hawkster, Hey, you know, really
go in pretty heavy on me. Here, right, like, let's

(42:21):
really make this look good in front of the camera.
And so Hogan did just that. Now, remember Hogan at
this point doesn't have boatload of movie credits to his
resume and all of that. So when he's going in
and he's you know, he's supposed to hold those punches

(42:44):
back and all that on Balboa, but there are actually
a half full of those that actually connected. There was
another spot where, if I'm not mistaken, Hawkster throws Balboa,
there was a legit throwing of Balboa and one or Stallone,
i should say, and Stallone did confirm that he ended

(43:09):
up in the hospital for a couple of days. Now,
before anybody goes no Lee, that was Dolph Lundry, No, no, no,
Stallone went on record and said that as a result
of all the stuff that he was doing with the Halkster,
he was in the hospital for a couple of days there.
So you know, you can, you know, maybe take that
with a grant of sant and go ah, that's just

(43:30):
the loan just kind of just kind of milking it there,
you know. But no, I honestly would not be surprised
if if if that was really the case whatsoever. Of course,
seeing those dollar signs in Hollywood, Hogan thinking, you know, well,
maybe I can make some more movies. Vince McMahon kind

(43:54):
of yeah, yeah, let's do some stuff in house, right.
I don't want to lose you, that's the translation. I
don't want to lose you, so let's do some stuff
in house. No holds barred nose Bard was good. I
liked it. I still watch it from time to time.
But Suburban Commando, the Nanny or whatever that other one

(44:17):
was he did, that was just, yeah, homie, you can
miss me with that. It's like you can miss me
with that. Man. Fans, as far as the legacy goes,
fans are definitely split, I would imagine. And I'm reading
some of your comments that's on here and everything. Shout
out to Daniel, who sang something told me it was

(44:40):
more of a problem than what his wife and Jimmy
Jimmy Hart were putting online. I just had a feeling
about this one, Daniel, you and probably everybody else, You
and probably everybody else you know not for nothing. I'm
gonna let you in on a little secret everybody, so

(45:03):
longtime listeners will know that for the longest time, I
had a hall Hogan poster. It was him in the
trademark bow and arrow pose. This was given to me.
I'm trying to see if I can find like just

(45:23):
an example here, and I'm like literally looking under the
death Sorry, Chloe, My poor Yorky is like, what are
you doing? Dad? Like, I just want to get this
real quick. So I had got it in a tube
just like this. I got it in a tube just

(45:43):
like this, like about almost five years ago, give her take.
And just with all the stuff that was going on,
I just I was a little sick to my stomach,
just I and for any personally, my whole thing is, okay,

(46:04):
you know you're apologizing. The whole racist comments is what
I'm referring to. It's like, okay, you're apologizing. But credit
to Big E, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, a
few other people, Titus O'Neil. They jumped out there and said, yeah,
this was a hollow apology, but like, if this guy
is really serious about being part of the solution and

(46:27):
not the problem, hey how about he you know, how
about he come and do a little tour with us,
go visit some schools. And I really liked what I
was hearing from from those people, I myself, I was going, Yo,
why not go visit a local boys and girls club?
Why not kicking some money and you know, donate a

(46:52):
check or whatever like, And we never saw any of that.
You know, it almost kind of came off. This happens,
let's move along. And from what all those guys had said.
No matter how you may feel about how the Hawkster
maybe handled that situation, the one thing amongst a lot
of those wrestlers that I mentioned, one thing that they

(47:14):
all had in common. You know, they were like, yo,
if anything, Booker t as well. If anything, it was
you know, this guy just basically gathered us up and said,
don't get caught like that's not really showing sincerity. And yo,
I messed up, And you know, I want to be
part of the process, the healing process. I want to

(47:37):
have serious discussions. I went, we didn't see him go
in that direction. So all the stuff, definitely you got fans,
that's that's divided. But yeah, I felt very, very conflicted.
This Hogan poster was given to me as a Christmas present,

(47:57):
and when all the stuff went down, I was like, eugh,
And my wife told me, she said, well keep it.
You know, maybe you can make some really good money
off of it. After Hogan passes, I said, I don't
know about all that, but you know whatever. So, as

(48:19):
many of you longtime listeners know, I just recently got
my associate's degree in media production and in the fall,
I'm going to be transferred to a four year university
for my degree, for my bachelor's degree. So I decided, okay,
well I need money, like cause I gotta get equipment.

(48:41):
I need equipment, you know, like I need equipment, I
need equipment. I gotta get this, I gotta get that.
So I was just going through the man cave trying
to figure out like stuff that I could sell. And
I sold my Haulkster poster to a guy. Oh it
was probably about, if not two months ago, almost three

(49:01):
months ago. And even then there was some whispers and
my wife asked me straight up, she said, are you
sure you want to sell this poster like right now?
Maybe you should hold off? And you know, and I said, ah,
like it's the Hawkster Hawkster come on, like, ah, he's good,

(49:23):
he's all right, Like I I got nothing to worry about.
Do I regret not keeping the poster longer legit, legit. No,
and my wife will tell you, like, I am happy.
And I said this exactly to her when I finally
did sell the poster. I told her, I said, you know, honestly,

(49:46):
I'm happy that it's going to be going to somebody
who is a Hawlkster fan and will definitely put that
on their wall. I'm happy that it's going to be
going to a place where it's going to be appreciated,
because all it's been doing is it's been sitting in
a tube in my closet. So if he can go

(50:09):
to a better home and hey, cool, that was my
whole thought process. And when she heard that, she said okay.
She's like, well, as long as you're you're okay, you're
not going to be going damn, you know if Hogan
maybe passes in a couple of months or whatever. I said, No,
I'm and legit, folks, despite this news, I am legit,

(50:32):
So I should tell you a lot. I should tell
you a lot, right. I think most people honestly would
not kill probably that way. I'm just picturing a lot
of people will probably go damn, you know, cause it's
like this, the Payday's like no. But I'm I'm actually good.
I know many people admire Hogan's impact and his iconic status,

(50:53):
uh hulcomania. Without a shadow of a doubt. It defined
a generation. Meanwhile, you have others that are struggling with
the personal scandals, the racist comments, the alleged backstage politics,
the discomfort of his reinstatement in WWE, as Per Booker,

(51:19):
t Mark Henry, you know, and it. Meanwhile, you've got
some legends like Rick Flair and Kurt Angle that have
defended Haul Cogan's character post scandal and everything. You know,
it's definitely a case where it's definitely a case where

(51:42):
communities will continue to be divided. Let me tell you something.
I've been doing this since twenty eleven, and when all
the stuff was coming up with the Hawkster, I can
remember folks that were going on YouTube. A vast majority
of them are no longer with us, thank god, but
I can remember a lot of individuals would do these

(52:07):
epic hour two plus hour long shows f Hawk Hogan
that racist pieces, I mean this, and they would title
their videos, you know, racist Hawk Hogan, and you know,
for clicks and all that. So they were going for
the sensationalism, right, that's just my whole thing. Some people

(52:33):
just got off. They would have like clickbait material for
weeks just doing stuff bashing the Haulkster and all that,
and it was just it was just sickening. It was
nauseating to see all of that. I always believe like
nobody's perfect. We all make mistakes. But it's that next

(52:54):
move that you do, that next step that you take
going forward that a lot of people are going to
be watching and everything, and you could definitely make an
argument that the Hawkster did not do enough to be
part of the solution. You know, you look at this
recent American president election, you know, and the fact that

(53:21):
the Halkster endorsed Trump, and not to get too political,
but you know, I can tell you as a person
of color and going back to what the Hawlkster meant
for me and other people of color, other minorities back
in the day. Back in the day, we looked at

(53:43):
the Hawlkster as our modern day Bruno San Martino. Shout
out to you ogs out there, you know, we we
kind of looked at him in that regard. You know,
plenty of black women, Hispanic women, but definitely amongst the
black community love them. Some Hank Hogan, that dude could

(54:04):
do no wrong and so as you would imagine, when
all the stuff got leaked many years later, it's like that,
Like it's really like that. Yeah, just insane. So, after

(54:24):
the recent rumors had surfaced about Hogan appearing to be
very fragile unable to speak, Bischoff publicly had refuted claims,
stating that these were exaggerated and tied back to a
routine neck surgery that Hogan had underwent, there was nothing serious. Meanwhile,

(54:48):
Eric Bischoff's wife had not made direct public comments. However,
Bischoff's positive rebuttals that pretty much sir as reassurance from
the family side that you know everything. But fans, definitely
and legit had every right to be concerned because they

(55:11):
looked at some of his recent appearances, especially during his
beer tour, where they say, yo, something doesn't quite look
right with him. But yet Eric Bischoff still no, everything's good.
That Real American Beer he launched that last year, the

(55:31):
meet and greets that came from out of that, some
of the people that were employed with Real American Beer,
and the controversies surrounding that off to a bad start.
You know, I can't help but wonder what's going to
happen with that new promotion adventure that he and Eric

(55:54):
Bischoff are supposed to be bringing us next month. Of course,
I'm talking about Real American Freestyle. That promotion is supposed
to be premiering on August thirtieth, so in a little
bit over a month on Fox Nation. And for those
of you that maybe missed that, apparently this aims to

(56:15):
spotlight freestyle wrestlers, blending amateur Olympic talent with storytelling. And
it's supposed to be backed by Hogan and Bischoff and
a few other investors. So Kurt Angle was supposed to
be one of the color commentators for this event. So

(56:39):
you know, now you look at Hogan's passing and you
can't help but wonder, so what's the future of that
looking like? Are they still gonna have a green light
for this project, or now that the Halkster is no
longer involved, are they going to maybe go in a

(57:00):
different direction. Very seldom have I seen a a business endeavor,
TV series or a movie continue to thrive without the
main core piece being there, very very very seldom. I

(57:24):
think about the late John Ritter in that ABC show.
It was. It was a hit series. It was, it
was really good, but when he died, that show didn't
last much longer. I think about Patrick Swayze in The Beast.

(57:45):
The whole purpose of that series getting picked up was
because of Patrick Swayze and man, did he give a
really damn good, riveting performance. And when he passed away,
that was pretty much that was pretty much it for
that show. I think about that hit series. It was

(58:08):
a hit series Training Day. Believe it or not, there
actually was a TV series Training Day based off of
the movie with Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington. The TV
series lead actor's name escapes me right now, So you
guys got to forgive me. But when he passed that

(58:29):
pretty much was it for that respected series. So I know,
I'm trying to think of the name of that show
back in the day with the late Phil Hartman. The
name is case. You're forgiving me, it's part of getting
O He's just news radio radio news. I'm trying to

(58:52):
think of the name, but it's not coming to me
right now. But when Phil Hartman Saturday Night Live alumni,
you know, when he passed away, the show went a
lot a little bit longer, but it wasn't the same.
You can kind of tell that something was lacking, something
was kind of missing there. So it'll be interesting to
see because I would imagine the way the Hawlkster was

(59:15):
likely going to be positioned with this promotion. He probably
was going to take on a similar role like what
he had in TNA Wrestling, where he mainly was a
on screen character and try to help bring in the
eyeballs and all that. But now, you know, some good

(59:39):
stuff between him and Bishchoff during their time in TNA,
But there was definitely some actually, I won't say something,
there was a lot of lol TNA moments and all
of that. You know. But when it's all said and done,
whether it's beer, wrestling or his health, Hogan's choices have

(01:00:04):
sparked both admiration and definitely controversy. Yeah, I would imagine
the real American legacy. It just rolls on just in
shifts and it's definitely not always smooth. Apparently, shout out
to Scott. That's very sad to hear about Hawk Hogan.

(01:00:26):
He was my favorite wrestler. I used to love to
watch him when I was a kid. Not another person
passing away just like yeah, Ozzy Osbourne in the most
recent Yeah yeah, very very very sad, very very sad
week This is this is a rough one. This is

(01:00:49):
a rough one. Let's not forget, especially if you know
your hit TV shows. Let's not forget Malcolm Jamal Warner,
you know, not for nothing. But a lot of people
think that just because the Cosby Show ended like that
was it for him. This dude continued to be involved
in the entertainment business, starred on some hit TV shows,

(01:01:12):
guest rolled on a lot of really good TV shows.
When you go look up his IMDb, you're like, Wow,
I didn't know this guy was that damn busy. But
he also won a Grammy. Believe it or not, he
also won a Grammy. But he passed away. This is
all this week, Malcolm Jamal Warner passed away. And I

(01:01:35):
remember watching my local news and that picked up a lot,
like all my local networks reported on his passing. And
then you know, and let me say this, let me
say this. I'll talk more about it likely this weekend
with TAM's for a new Wrestling with the Topics. But

(01:01:57):
let me say this. If you were with me for
the Monday night show, we were dealing with the information
as it came to us in real time over Malcolm
Jamal Warner's passing. There was something very eerie that I
said in that which was what does this remind you of?

(01:02:20):
And I said, go back to May seventeenth, twenty twenty,
that's when we lost Shad Gaspark And boy was that
now back looking back at it, you know in retrospect,
was that extremely eerie because it wouldn't be revealed until

(01:02:45):
basically around Wednesday, So like, you know, a little bit
over twenty four hours ago that apparently for Malcolm Jamal Warner,
him and his eight year old daughter, they were swimming
over there, you know, Rica and a current had got them.
And oh to learn that it wasn't just him because

(01:03:11):
the initial reports, you know, we were dealing with it
as he came in, so we didn't do anything wrong,
It just wasn't revealed that, yeah, his daughter was swimming
with him. The daughter thanked God, she's alive. She was rescued.
But when you hear that, you go and the fact
that I said Shad gaspart, it's like a holy shit

(01:03:33):
moment right there. But then we immediately followed that up
with Ozzy Osbourne passing, and we'll talk more about Ozzy
because I know a lot of people are like, should
that concert have happened? And well, we'll dive into we'll

(01:03:56):
dive into all of that a lot more. But Ozzie
passed sing we haven't even had enough time to recover
as a community, and boom, then we get then we
get this with the Haulkster. Ugh, it's going through a

(01:04:16):
couple more of y'all's comments, Jaslyn saying rest in peace,
King Underground forty one pretty much saying it best. Wow,
they say death coming three Malcolm Jamal Warner. Yeah, you
got it right, You got it right, Malcolm Jamal Warner,
Ozzy Osbourne and haul Cogan shaking my head. Rip, you

(01:04:42):
nailed it perfectly. You nailed it perfectly. Very sad, very
sad man, very sad. So feel free to continue to
sound off share some of your thoughts on the passing
of the Halkster, even if you know I did this,

(01:05:05):
because I know that a lot of you all, especially
you longtime folks, long time subscribers and everything. I know
a lot of you guys are like, hey, you know, Lee,
what do you make how you feeling? How should we
be looking at this, and so I definitely want to
create a atmosphere and hopefully we were able to do that.

(01:05:26):
Hopefully we did not come up short. But I wanted
to create a safe place, a safe atmosphere for everybody
to be able to come together. And no matter how
you may feel about the Halkster, even if you are
a little bit with some of the decisions that he

(01:05:46):
made in his life and all that, I at least
wanted to create a space for you all to you know,
as long as you're being respectful in everything, you know,
you can be vocal, you know, and like all them
is that it's been coming in so far, you know,
everybody being very civil, very respectful and all that. I

(01:06:06):
know there's gonna be clickbait stuff that's gonna be going on,
and good that racist piece of shit is dead, like
I already I'm telling you and you know it too,
you know, deep down in your yards you're gonna be
seeing that stuff. I always feel that there's a right
and the wrong way to go about this, and definitely

(01:06:26):
the Hulkster is no different. You know. I really really
hope though that my friends and colleagues, when they reflect
on this man's passing. I really hope that they can
do like me, if not better, and really put some
class into it. And you know, if you don't have

(01:06:49):
anything really nice to say, don't say anything at all.
I mean, yeah, you could definitely mention the bad. There
is a lot of bad you can mention that you
can tackle in a way like what we just covered
here and everything. But you know, I'm really hoping that
a lot of my friends and colleagues in the podcasting

(01:07:11):
writing world, I really hope that they don't just look
at this as an opportunity to take a massive shit
on the guys like the dude's dead, Like come on, man, seriously,
like seriously, the dude's dead, but continue to sound off.
I will definitely share more of Hugh All's reactions going

(01:07:31):
into the weekend, and for sure on Monday's next edition
of the RCWR show. After WWE Rawl goes off the
air will be streaming live on multiple social media outlets.
And as I always close out every single show, and
now more than ever this rings true, I'm wishing all

(01:07:52):
of you all to be safe, most importantly, be kind
to one another. Once again. Rest in peace to Terry
BULEYA the Immortal Paul Cogan, who tragically passed away today
at the age of seventy one. He definitely will be missed,

(01:08:16):
make no mistake about it. A transcended individual, definitely help
changed the wrestling business as we know it, one of
the greatest entertainers of all time. Without a doubt, there
is going to be emotional tributes, and I promise you

(01:08:40):
you better brace yourself as we get ready to go
into Friday Night's SmackDown. Rest assured a lot of that
show is going to be dedicated to the Halkster, and
you best believe that come Monday's Raw, they are definitely
I know we're pretty much getting ready to go into SummerSlam,

(01:09:01):
but best believe they're going to be making sure they
represent because no matter what is going on with Vince McMahon,
you know, for Vince McMahon, that was his boy, and
you know it was a one two punch. Wouldn't be
a WWE without a Vince McMahon most likely without a

(01:09:24):
Hulk Hogan. So best believe. Well, I want to condition
you guys right now because I don't want you all
going what you best believe they're going to make sure
that they give the Halkster, his flowers, and we all
are aware of all the stuff that's going on with
Triple H and Stephanie and how they may personally feel

(01:09:47):
about Vince these days. I know Jonathan Coachman and a
few other people have gone on record and said from
their respected sources, Vince is no longer talking to them
and everything. But you believe when it comes to the Halkster,
differences are definitely going to be put to the side
and things are going to be said before I bounce.

(01:10:11):
I'm just trying to see if Vince McMahon maybe has
says something, because I know he has social media, and
Lord have mercy. I'm on Twitter right now and I'm
seeing a hashtag that's already started, which is Vince McMahon
is next. You can't make that stuff up. You can't

(01:10:36):
make that stuff up. I still remember when Jesse Ventura
tried to unionize the WWEE and Hal Cogan got wind
of it. Let's not also forget that. I mean, there's
like so many there's like so many, But I'm looking
to see if Vince McMahon has maybe said anything, and

(01:11:00):
I'm looking at his social media right now. Nothing from
Vince mcmanyat. No statement from Vince mcmanyet. But I would
imagine before the weekend is out, something's definitely gonna come out.
Shout out to BF via Twitter, reacting to the news

(01:11:23):
about the haulkster's passing. There. So all right, guys, that
is gonna do it for me. Once again, wishing all
y'all to be safe, most importantly, be kind to one another,
keep the discussions going. I'll be checking out y'all's comments
next couple of days, so we come back on the
air and share more thoughts and reflections. When the passing

(01:11:46):
of Hall Cogan Terry boleya dead at the age of
seventy one cardiac arrests, It's like, after all the recent
surgeries and health issues that's been plaguing him these past
couple of months, he finally he finally kicked out. He's

(01:12:09):
always kicking out, but not this time. Not this time.
Rough week, Take care of y'all, Thanks for listening. In
Infinity one Productions presentation to be an honest, insightful and
interactive

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Passing of Hulk Hogan & The Great Divide Among Fans | The RCWR Show 7/24/25