Hulk Hogan has long said he wishes his final wrestling match was in the WWE where he made his biggest name as the top draw in history.
It’s easy to take that as a slap in the face to TNA, and it may be in some respects, but it feels more like he wants to go home again and it makes sense.
A couple of years ago Hogan offered the idea of having a final match with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania. It’d be a perfect bookend to his career as they could culminate their previous feud and struggle within the WWE.
The only problem is due to age neither one could carry the match and Jim Cornette booked It perfectly on his podcast as a tag match.
But now we’re a year or two down the road and Vince is, well, Vince, it looks like Hogan was talking with Shane McMahon about having his final match with him at WrestleMania 39, but things didn’t work out.
Looking for a final moment
It’s been about six years since Hogan’s final match in a 6 man tag match in TNA, so this has some fans curious.
Hogan appeared on the MMA Power Hour Ariel Helwani (shared above) and he talked about how Shane called him about a final match at WrestleMania 39, but Hogan declined due to back problems.
“You know what’s so funny, Shane McMahon called me. He goes, ‘Hey, you got one more in you, old man?’ I said, ‘Take it easy with the old man stuff, brother.’
“I said, ‘What do you want to do?’ He goes, ‘All you gotta do is stand in the middle of the ring, and I’ll come do it.’ I said, ‘Right now, my back needs a little more work, but that’s something we can talk about next year.’
“I’ve always wanted to have a retirement match. I’m not moving around the way I should be, so I’m going to keep working and keep training and keep doing rehab and see where I’m at about 6 months from now. All I found out in the wrestling business, brother, is you never say never.
“I talked to Shane probably about 3 months before WrestleMania (39), and he happened to be at Madison Square Garden, and I guess there’s a place in Madison Square Garden where they got the Hall of Fame, and they’ve got my boots up there, and they got my tights.
“He took a picture standing in front of it, and Shane called me at home. He goes, ‘Hey, look at that picture I just sent you.’ I looked at it, he goes, ‘Well, you got one more in you?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’
“He started running storylines by me to try to ramp us into that mode. I said, ‘Those were all good storylines, whether you’re coming at me like, ‘Hulk, you quit. My father made you and you left, you walked out on my father,’ which I did. Or go the opposite way, that ‘my dad did you wrong,’ because him and his dad go back and forth all the time. ‘My dad did you wrong, I wanna revitalize your career.’ There’s several things we came up with.
“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 4 or 5 months from now and see where I’m at.”
Hogan’s back problems have been well documented as he’s had more than a few surgeries to remove screws and other equipment while trying to help him maintain a comfortable way of life.
At one point, he even pointed to doing his Atomic Leg Drop for 30 years as the main reason for his problems. Those bumps add up over the years.
Of course, Shane suffered a serious injury (torn quadriceps) at WrestleMania 39 against the Miz instead so it’ll be a while until he’s ready to go, but it’s possible we’ll see the two of them facing off to give Hogan a proper sendoff.
What do you think? Should Hogan have a final WWE match or leave it alone? Let us know in the comments below.
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