Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff spoke with the super entertaining Alfred Konuwa of Forbes for an in-depth interview to promote their new Real American Freestyle Wrestling League, which they announced today after a pair of mystery, nWo-style vignettes.
During the discussion, the pro wrestling legends gave their thoughts on John Cena’s recent shocking heel turn, spoke about their favorite talents in AEW and more.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where they touch on these topics with their thoughts.
HULK HOGAN ON JOHN CENA’S HEEL TURN:
Alfred Konuwa: “How would you guys compare the John Cena heel turn to the Hulk Hogan heel turn? What was better? What do you think was more monumental, etc.?”
Hulk Hogan: “I’m going to let Eric comment on that, because if I talk first, I could say something that’s not appropriate.”
Eric Bischoff: “Look, I respect the hell out of John Cena. He’s a good man and I consider him a friend, but I’d say the differences are pretty substantial. There’s some parallels, too. John Cena was a babyface throughout the majority of his career. Okay, that’s a strong parallel, the “who’s the third man?” storyline that played out for weeks, however long, before Hulk Hogan turned heel. That was an integral part of the story.
John Cena’s change of character to heel was spontaneous. There were rumors of it, and people speculated about it, but it wasn’t part of a storyline that was being built, and creating anticipation and then delivering at that moment and surprising people along the way. John surprised everybody because they didn’t know it was coming, but it just wasn’t the same because it wasn’t part of a story.”
AK: “Do you agree, Hulk? You have anything inappropriate to add?”
HH: “Oh, you’re killing me. You’re killing me (laughs.) Well, first off, John Cena was my favorite wrestler. Let me start there. Because I grinded for years, brother, and there was no Rock, no Stone Cold. There was only me for 20-plus years. I saw all the Make-A-Wish kids. I’ve met with all the station producers, everybody. So John stepped up and really ran with the ball and he did a really great job. I think he saw more Make-A-Wish kids than anybody’s ever seen.
And at the end of the day, when he turned heel—like the [nWo] storyline, like Eric said—we set it up, we set up, we set up, then we delivered. And then not only did we deliver, we rolled out with me, Hall and Nash. And that story kept snowballing and snowballing, and we kept getting more evil and evil. And so for me, watching that story with John Cena, when The Rock did the throat thing, cut his throat, and John Cena turned heel, I expected more of the same.
And then John Cena came out and there was no Rock, and I just got disconnected at that point, ’cause I was expecting the characters to keep rolling out like we did. So I know everybody’s got movies and obligations and stuff, but it didn’t feel like that big tidal wave coming at you. Like when the nWo took over, man, I even hate to say the word, we just cleaned house and beat everybody’s ass, and we just killed it. All the babyfaces were crying and complaining, and it got really ugly. We were so powerful with that trio.”
HOGAN’S FAVORITE AEW WRESTLER:
HH: “Well, I don’t know Tony Khan, I got nothing but respect for what he’s done, and how he’s pushed and created opportunities for these guys. And you can get hooked into some of those storylines. I started watching some of those girls grind out there, and I’ve never seen people work so hard in my life. Some of the girls, phew, some of bloodbaths and some of the stuff I’ve seen is kind of really cool stuff. But I like the grit and the real aggressive stuff. But yeah, nothing but respect for Tony Khan.”
AK: “Do you have a favorite women’s wrestler in AEW?”
HH: “Bro, I kind of like was all over the place until I watched that Toni Storm. The one that acts like the 1920s, the Roaring ’20s. Bro, when I saw her start grinding in there and digging, and when I saw her gaffe through her hairline, when she pulled that blade through her hairline and she needed about 10 staples, I went: “Holy crap, this girl ain’t playing.” And the girl she was wrestling, I can’t remember her name. It was like a protege or a really hot blonde…”
AK: “Mariah May.”
HH: “Yeah, bro. She was grinding too, man. And I’m telling you, those girls, I would not want to be in that match with them. They were playing a hardball.”
If you have never seen Alfred Konuwa’s “Pro Wrestling Bits” YouTube channel, do yourself a favor. Watch any video from it today. Always entertaining.
