Hulk Hogan may have been one of the biggest names in wrestling history, but his upcoming promotion, Real American Freestyle, is off to a slow start.
According to a report from WrestleTix, only 380 tickets have been distributed for the debut event — a figure that includes both sold tickets and comps. With the venue configured for 3,882 seats, that means over 90% of the tickets remain available, just 66 days before the show.
The inaugural Real American Freestyle event is scheduled for Saturday, August 30, at the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University, which has a full capacity of 13,077.
The promotion is being led by Hogan, longtime collaborator Eric Bischoff, and Izzy Martinez, and is expected to showcase a diverse lineup of wrestling talent.
WWE Superstar Kevin Owens recently appeared as a guest on the “What Do You Wanna Talk About? With Cody Rhodes” podcast. During their conversation, Owens provided an update on his neck injury, revealing that he plans to wait until mid-July before deciding whether or not to undergo surgery.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his neck injury and spinal cord: “It’s been such a frustrating process. We’re trying to let my spinal cord heal as much as it can on its own before we go in for the surgery. How extensive the surgery will be depends on how my spinal cord looks when we go in there. The trauma happened in January, it was building up, but January is what did it. Then we had this nice and easy ladder match where nothing crazy happened at all, and I kept going for a while. The first week in April is when we had the MRI and they were like, ‘You can’t even get hit. Don’t get hit. You might die.’”
On opting to wait until July regarding surgery: “Everything took a turn and now it’s been four months almost since my last match. We’re waiting until mid-July to do the surgery. Hopefully, it’s a normal neck fusion. It might not be. We don’t know. Since then, I’ve felt fine. My neck has been fine, I’m not in pain. I have not really had any symptoms of what you would expect somebody with a spinal cord injury to have.”
On dealing with his symptoms: “In the last week, for some reason, the symptoms all came in one shot. Every symptom you’d expect me to have; the pain in the neck, the stuff going down the arms, the legs not really responding. It’s all been happening. It’s been pretty brutal. I can’t wait for this surgery. To move forward, whatever that looks like, it’s been very frustrating. I felt great. We had two incidents where, basically, in the ring, my legs fell asleep and I was like, ‘There is something wrong.’”
On his symptoms not being consistent with a neck injury: “We thought it was one thing, which is why we didn’t go right away for the neck because it wasn’t consistent with a neck injury. We looked at everything else and it wasn’t that. ‘Let’s take a look at the neck.’ It was that. Besides those two instances where my legs kind of fell asleep in the ring, I felt great. I’d have doctors call me. I’ve been very fortunate to have Randy [Orton], TJ [Wilson], and WWE put me in touch with all the best spine surgeons they have. They’re great. I’ve spoken to all these different surgeons, they give me their opinions on what they would do. All in the hopes that I can get back in the ring and be safe. I have all these opinions. All of them were like, ‘You don’t have any symptoms?’ ‘No, except for the time my legs fell asleep. I’m fine now. They came back. No pain, no discomfort, I’m great.’ The last week, everything hit. Now, it’s a different story. Now, I can’t wait to get the surgery. Not just because I want to get back in the ring, just because I want to not be in pain.”
On why Bron Breakker should be arrested: “Bron Breakker should be arrested [for his tan]. None of it is good. You weren’t born that color. I understand if you want to be a little darker. If your tan looks like it can rub off on someone else, it’s too much.”
(h/t – Fightful)
