Not only does Hulk Hogan believe he has one more match in him, he claims he was offered the chance to compete at WrestleMania 39.
Hogan hasn’t competed inside the squared circle since January of 2012 when he teamed with James Storm and Sting to defeat the team of Bobby Roode, Bully Ray, and Kurt Angle on a TNA house show in England.
However, speaking to Ariel Helwani on the most recent episode of the MMA Hour, Hogan claimed that not only does he hope to compete in one more match before retiring for good, he was offered a match at WrestleMania 39 by none other than Shane McMahon, who made a shocking return of his own at the event and immediately tore his quad. When asked about the potential of a retirement match, Hogan said:
“You know what’s so funny, Shane McMahon called. He goes ‘You got one more in you old man?’ I said, ‘Take it easy with the old man stuff brother,’ you know. And so I said, ‘What do you want to do?’ He goes, ‘All you’ve gotta do is stand in the middle ring and I’ll come to you.’ I said, ‘Well right now my back needs a little more work. But that’s something we can talk about next year.’
“You know, I have always wanted to have retirement match, but right now I’m not moving around the way I should be. So I’m gonna keep working, keep training, and keep doing rehab and see where I’m at about six months from now. But all I’ve found out in the wrestling business brother is you never say never.”
Hulk Hogan Claims He Turned Down A Match With Shane McMahon At WrestleMania 39
When Helwani asked Hogan about the timeframe of him being contacted by Shane McMahon, Hogan continued, revealing that McMahon had been in touch a few weeks before WrestleMania 39.
“I talked to Shane probably about three months before WrestleMania. And he happened to be at Madison Square Garden. And there’s, I guess there’s a place in Madison Square Garden where they’ve got a Hall of Fame. And they’ve got my boots up there. And they’ve got my tights, and he took a picture standing in front of it.
“And Shane called me at home, you know, he was like ‘Hey, look at the picture I just sent you.’ So I looked at he goes, ‘Well, you got one more in you?’ And I said, ‘Well, what are you talking about?’
“And so he started running storylines by me, you know, to try to like ramp us into that mode. And I said ‘Well those are all good storylines.'”
Hogan says he and Shane spoke about storylines that would reference his history with Shane’s father Vince McMahon before making it clear while a return wasn’t in the cards this past April, he’s not ruling out another match once his back is in better shape.
“But I told him I just need to get my feet underneath me more. Now’s not the time. Not this WrestleMania, definitely not. Let’s talk about four or five months from now and we’ll see where I’m at.”
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit The MMA Hour and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.