Hulk Hogan’s Close Friend Reveals a $100,000 WWE Secret That Changed His Career Forever

Hulk Hogan is one of the recognizable names in the wrestling industry. The Hulkster carried the baton of pro wrestling in the 1980s as its poster boy with WWE.

To change the face of wrestling, Vince McMahon acquired his rival territories and some of their top stars, including Hogan. This made WWE public enemy number one. Moreover, they even got into a tangle with popular comic book franchise Marvel over Hulk Hogan.

Hogan spearheaded McMahon’s wrestling revolution, but it was not without its hiccups. After WWE signed Hogan, he was initially called ‘The Incredible Hulk Hogan‘.

This caught the attention of comic book giants Marvel. Comic book fans would be familiar who a similarly named character in the Marvel franchise ‘The Incredible Hulk. Since Marvel had rights over the use of the name Incredible Hulk, it forced the WWE to sign an agreement with them.

WWE legend Kevin Nash recently talked about the cost WWE paid to Marvel to use Hogan’s name.

Nash revealed WWE paid $100, 000 to use the name Hulk Hogan

The Marvel-WWE-Hogan deal was one of its kind in pro wrestling history. The deal allowed WWE to use the name ‘Hulk Hogan’ but had to drop ‘Incredible’. Also, Hogan had to pay Marvel a royalty fee for every wrestling match he would take part in.

WWE had already marketed Hulk Hogan as a megastar, and his popularity was rising. Hence, it would’ve been a difficult business decision to stop using the name and switch to something else.

As such, WWE entered into the deal with Marvel. On his KLIQ This podcast with Sean Oliver, Kevin Nash talked about WWE trademarks and merchandising. He touched on a few topics before Oliver asked him about who the Hogan trademark was.

READ MORE: “People Thought He Was a Great Draw but..”: WWE Legend’s Genuine Judgement on Hulk Hogan’s In-Ring Quality in 2016

Big Daddy Cool, one of Hogan’s close friends, revealed Marvel owned the name and WWE had to pay a hefty amount to use it. He said “It was Marvel, and [WWF] paid, I wanna say one hundred grand, to use the Hulk trademark.”

The Marvel-WWE deal was one of the bizarre but significant deals in pop culture history.

Hogan had a burgeoning reputation and to keep his name, WWE paid $100,000 to Marvel.

But Vince McMahon’s determination meant he was willing to pay this price and the pro wrestling was never the same again.

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