Hulk Hogan is known for his iconic look, characterised by his towering height and imposing physique.
His distinctive appearance, often adorned with vibrant, colourful attire, became synonymous with the flamboyant and larger-than-life persona he portrayed in the wrestling ring. So with this in mind, one might not automatically associate the man himself with fast food giant, McDonald’s, but as is often the case, the truth is stranger than fiction.
Transcribing The Story Of: Hulk Hogan from Fox on WWE‘s YouTube channel, Wrestling Inc. uncovered what helped “Hulkamania” become such a craze with words from the man himself.
“I started printed all these ‘Hulkamania’ t-shirts. Bingo, I hit on something. I started seeing ‘Hulkamania’ shirts in the crowd. Now I’m in the mall trying to figure out how to print more t-shirts because I was out back selling t-shirts out of the trunk of my car, making more money than I was wrestling. So, actually, ‘Hulkamania’ started around 1980-ish, maybe 1981.”
Despite contrary belief and propelled by his famous appearance in Rocky III, Hulk Hogan was already well on his way to becoming a major star before his industry-changing WWE run. But as is often the case, settling on his distinctive colour pallet was initially influenced by another pro wrestler.
“I always remembered Randy Savage’s father, Angelo Poffo, when I was a kid growing up in Tampa. Sometimes, Angelo was in the main event and sometimes a tag match, but whenever he came out he had this unbelievable tan, kind of like a Hulk Hogan tan. He always wore those canary yellow trunks. It didn’t matter if he had a great or bad match, I just remembered how good he looked in the ring with that tan and yellow.”
It was his unique look and yellow trunks that helped propel ‘The Hulkster’ into superstardom. But where did the red come from?
“After I stumbled around and tried to find ‘my’ color. I just gave up and I went with Angelo’s color. Then I gotta give props to McDonalds, I stole their red and yellow, it worked forever, and the fans just dug the colors.”
Like McDonald’s, Hulk Hogan would of course go on to become a household name. He is indisputably one of the biggest stars in the history of wrestling, if not the biggest of all time.
Former WWE Superstar Talks About Getting Hulk Hogan To “Jump”
Former WWE Champion, Sgt. Slaughter spoke to Inside The Ropes about getting Hulk Hogan to go off the top rope. This was during the controversial main event of WrestleMania VII where Hogan had apparently promised Slaughter that he could do whatever he wanted.
H/t to WrestlingInc.com