Former WWE Superstar Recalls Legendary Promoter Being Jealous of Hulk Hogan: “His Ego Got in the Way of Giving Hulk the Belt”

The two-time WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has been a part of the wrestling business for a long time. The WWE Universe has an insane fanbase for the blonde muscular legend.

The fans got the first taste of Hulk Hogan when he was wrestling for AWA. However, Verne Gagne, the owner, and promoter of the wrestling promotion, was not sure of making the Hulk Machine a champion in AWA.

The former WWE Superstar, Jim Brunzell, recently appeared on Wrestling Shoot Interviews. He attended the interview to discuss and promote Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell’s autobiography. The name of the copy is Matlands: True Stories from the Wrestling Roads. The title of the autobiography speaks for itself.

Hulk Hogan can be pretty intimidating!

Jim Brunzell mentioned the real reason, the legendary promoter Verne Gagne refused to make Hulk Hogan an AWA Champion. Jim was asked when he realized that the promoter Verne Gagne made a mistake by disliking Hulk Hogan to be a champion.

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He replied, “Well, I knew right away, when they brought Hulk in, as a heel, and they had Johnny Sullivan be his manager.” Brunzell mentioned that Hulk’s heel run escalated quickly, becoming the babyface. The reason for this was ‘The Super Destroyer’ used to beat two wrestlers in the ring on TV. 

Seeing Hulk Hogan beat two guys inside the ring, always recollects a memory to the wrestling fans. However, Jim assumed that “Verne was jealous of the fact that he had started the AWA under the auspices of having a scientific all-American type wrestler.” 

The desire of jealousy caused a huge loss to the late owner of AWA

The former WWE Superstar Jim stated that suddenly, the wrestling fans loved Hogan and the owner of AWA envied the same fact.

“I never saw such record crowds; I mean, it was unbelievable. His [Verne Gagne] ego got in the way of giving Hulk the belt,” said Jumpin’ Jim. However, late Verne Gagne did not give living legend Terry Hulk Hogan a chance to become an AWA Champion.

The owner of AWA and the former World Champion did not start off their relationship on the right foot. The situation led to The Super Destroyer becoming one of the greatest names in the history of wrestling when he joined WWE.

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Ultimately, the jealousy of one individual depicts how legendary Hulk Hogan is. As we all know, somebody’s loss is somebody’s gain. Here, Verne Gagne and AWA’s loss was Vince McMahon and the WWE‘s gain. The rest we know about Hulk Hogan is history!