Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan.

I've written - and typed! - those words many times since my childhood. Today, I do so a little under a day since the news broke of his passing.

I remember the first time I came across the then WWF Champion. It was on Saturday January 17th 1987. My dad would have likely been on the road with the rugby team he was associated with at the time. My mum would have been at work, so my sister and I would stay with my aunt on those kinds of Saturdays. 

Those days were spent watching whatever morning shows were being served by the BBC and ITV. By the afternoon, we'd have the British wrestling on. That particular day saw something amazing happen in hindsight.

ITV's Professional Wrestling show opened with its usual theme song and clip of Big Daddy with 'Easy! Easy!' being chanted in the background. However, once that stopped, we were met by an American host.

'Mean' Gene Okerlund was in the American studio hosting the show. To cut a long story short, one of the bouts that afternoon had Hulk Hogan taking on 'Macho Man' Randy Savage.

I vividly recall being mesmerised by what I saw that day. My young eyes witnessed a huge difference between the US product and what I had been accustomed to with the British variety of wrestling. 

But, the WWF showing up on ITV on Saturdays was a one-off.

A short time after that, I watched Rocky III. Early in the film, Rocky Balboa took part in a boxer versus wrestler exhibition match. Hulk Hogan portrayed the role of 'Thunderlips'. Upon seeing Hogan in the film, I thought to myself 'oh, he's a real wrestler because he was on the wrestling'.

Or something along the lines.

It might have been an episode of The A-Team when Hogan and I crossed paths again. I'd bet I was at my aunt's home on a Saturday afternoon for that one as well.

And then Sky TV came along.

I went to stay with my relatives in west Wales during the spring of 1989. As we were settling in, my uncle came into the room and told us he had recently bought a satellite dish. I was ecstatic because Sky had a big proper launch in the UK weeks earlier. 

We spent most of the evenings of that time away watching Sky. On one of those occasions, an advert for WrestleMania V came on the screen. There he was again - Hulk Hogan! 

'You should ask your dad to get Sky, so you can watch that,' my uncle advised.

By the summer, we actually did have a satellite dish of our own because my dad won one in a Sunday newspaper. 

It was the WWF every week from there right through to this very day.

Seeing as Hogan was the most memorable figure from my first introduction to US wrestling, he was the wrestler I chose as my favourite in those developing years as a fan of US professional wrestling.

It was quite a ride. As I sit here, I have far too many memories to unload right now. I think the best thing for me to do is spend days, possibly weeks, jotting down everything and then sharing it in a second post somewhere down the road.

Until then, I want to make one thing clear: I wouldn't be as invested in professional wrestling if not for Hulk Hogan.  That's not hyperbole. That's a fact, Jack. 

Rest in peace, brother.