Eric Bischoff Squashes Old Story About Hulk Hogan Refusing To Put Over Legend

Hulk Hogan is the subject of many stories throughout pro wrestling history. He has been a part of several important moments so it only makes sense. It turns out that one story that has been going around for years just isn’t true.

On a recent episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff squashed a long-standing pro wrestling rumor. The legend goes that Hulk Hogan didn’t want to go to Korea for the 1995 Collision In Korea event. The story is that he didn’t want to lose to Antonio Inoki at the show. Inoki went on to wrestle Ric Flair instead, but Eric Bischoff did his best to kill this time-tested rumor.

“No, there wasn’t a possibility. And I know a lot of fans and people that are students of the history of wrestling in general and Hogan in particular, want to believe that type of narrative because it’s been out there and it’s so prevalent. But, you know, Hogan had no problem job and for Billy Kidman on national television. So I don’t think that doing a job for Antonio Inoki in Pyongyang, North Korea, was really the issue.”

“The issue really was [the] travel. And to this day. I mean, Hulk doesn’t like to travel. He’s never really liked traveling. He pretty much wrote that off back in 1994 when he left the WWE, because, for a variety of other reasons, but one of those was he just didn’t like being away from his kids and his home. So it really was despite the narrative and I know it’s so popular and ingrained in so many minds that it’ll never go away. But, you know, ‘jobbing to Inoki,’ and I have a hard time even saying it because it sounds so juvenile. But I understand the question. I’m not criticizing you for asking it, because it’s one that I think a lot of people probably believe, but it’s just not true.”

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Hulk Hogan has put other performers over before. He realizes what it takes to make money. He’s also inclined to protect his brand. It seems like anyone who wants to continue believing that Hulk Hogan didn’t want to compete against Antonio Inoki needs to start believing the opposite.

Thanks to Wrestle Zone for the quote