Hulk Hogan is known for telling some of the most ridiculous lies in wrestling history.
The Hulkster’s fibs ranged from claiming he wanted to put someone over and feigning injury to movie role offers and being a world-class bassist and sports star.
Despite having huge matches with stars like Andre the Giant, Goldberg, Sting and Randy Savage, and becoming the biggest wrestler of all time, he still feels the need to over-exaggerate and straight-up lie about his life.
Nothing that comes out of his mouth can be trusted, although everything he says is hilarious (outside of a certain tape of secretly-recorded footage). There are some pretty horrendous lies that have been excreted from the mouth of Hulk Hogan through the years.
For a man who had an incredible 40-year+ career in wrestling, being part of some of the most incredible moments ever seen in the sport, it is bizarre that he would need to embellish his tales.
Here is a comprehensive list of all the biggest lies Hulk Hogan has told over the years. These range from small white lies to absolute whoppers that are so easily proven, it’s bizarre to think he even tried them on.
Hulk Hogan Lied About Almost Starring In “The Wrestler”
Hulk Hogan claimed he was the original choice to portray Randy “The Ram” Robinson in The Wrestler.
Mickey Rourke put in an Oscar-worthy performance in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler.
It was a brutal look at the life of a 1980s wrestler grappling with the end of his career, and the life outside the squared circle.
Hulk Hogan has claimed that he was the first choice for the movie. Of course, this was not true.
Given his abject failure in previous movies and a severe lack of acting skills, it seems very unlikely that he was ever considered for a role that requires some actual credibility in front of the camera.
Hogan claimed “The Wrestler” director Darren Aronofsky offered him the lead role three times.
Hogan claims he turned it down because “he didn’t deserve it”, and they had to go for the second choice, Mickey Rourke. Aronofsky categorically denies that Hogan was ever even considered for the role.
Hulk Hogan Claimed Wrote A Song For A Fake Dead Fan At An Event He Didn’t Attend
The worst lie Hogan told, from a moral standpoint, was one he used to write and promote a song as part of one of the worst music albums of all time.
Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Band features some god-awful tunes, including “Hulkster’s in the House”, “Hulkster’s Back” and “Beach Patrol”, but one of the songs is particular egregious.
This song was “Hulkster in Heaven“, the tragic ballad Hogan wrote about a young make-a-wish fan who attended Wembley Stadium for Summerslam 1992.
He claimed he met the child backstage before the show, but by the end of the show he had sadly passed away, being nowhere to be found while Hogan wrestled.
Except Hogan didn’t wrestle that night. He wasn’t even in the United Kingdom. The whole thing was fabricated for one of the worst songs of all time.
Hulk Hogan lied About being Scouted By The New York Yankees
Randy Savage was famously scouted to play professional baseball as a young man, before switching his allegiances to pro wrestling.
He became a huge star in the business as “The Macho Man”, and engaged in multiple matches with Hulk Hogan over the WWE Championship (although Randy Savage never beat Hulk Hogan).
Not wanting to be one-upped, Hogan also claimed he was set to become a baseball player, contrary to all evidence.
He was an all-state pitcher in high school, and that he was scouted by both the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds, but an injury prevented him from signing with either team.
This is just pure nonsense, created out of jealously that Savage succeeded at something outside of wrestling.
Kevin Owens Was Discovered By Hulk Hogan (He wasn’t)
One of the most bizarre lies was that Hulk Hogan discovered Kevin Owens, and forced WWE to make him a star in the company.
Hogan claimed that he saw Owens’ first two matches in NXT, and told Triple H to push him and make him a star.
This was after Owens spent years on the indie scene as a star, going by his real name of Kevin Steen.
He was signed by the WWE as a ready-made talent and was thrust into a main event program with Sami Zayn on his first night in the company.
Hogan’s arrogance in thinking that nobody – not even the man who signed him to a big-money WWE contract – noticed that Owens was a good wrestler is laughable.
Bret Hart Stole His Catchphrase From Hulk Hogan, The Legend Lied
One of the most famous catchphrases in wrestling history is Bret Hart’s claim that he is “the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be”.
It characterized Bret as a confident wrestler who believed in his own abilities, and thought nobody else matched up to him.
During an interview with Bubba the Love Sponge, Hulk Hogan claimed that he was the first man to use that line, and that Bret Hart stole it after overhearing Hogan recording promos in a recording booth.
“I was sitting in the hot box doing an interview and Bret Hart and Owen Hart used to sit there and watch me right, and they come in and watch me and one time I said I’m the greatest there is, was and ever will be, brother! “
“Bret picked it up and ran with it yeah wow so he’s still your gimmick now let me ask you a question he just stole one of my lines and ran with”
The Undertaker Didn’t Almost Paralyze Hulk Hogan At Survivor Series
With the help of Ric Flair and a well-placed chair, The Undertaker won the WWE Championship from Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series 1991.
He landed a Tombstone Piledriver onto Hogan at the end of the match, with his head coming crashing down onto a chair.
Hogan claimed that his neck was broken upon impact, something he led The Undertaker to believe for over a decade after the match.
As it turns out, his head came nowhere near the mat and it was all a ploy to stop The Undertaker’s momentum and put Hogan back on top of the WWE (he won the belt back just weeks later).
Hulk Hogan Lied That Script Writers Stole Credit From Him In Hollywood Movies
After starring in Hollywood flops “Mr Nanny” and “Santa with Muscles”, Hulk Hogan claimed that he had credit for writing the film completely stolen by Hollywood scriptwriters.
He claimed that he and the directors completely rewrote the movie scripts while on set, completely changing the film and leaving them unrecognizable from what the writers originally handed him.
He lamented that they stole all his credit and refused to admit he wrote the script, which is an odd thing to admit – writing some of the worst films of all time.
Hulk Hogan Lied About Fighting Pride Fighters In The 1970s
Hulk Hogan claimed that he used to fight Pride fighters in Japan in the 1970s, proving that pro wrestlers were the toughest out of all the pro “fighters” across the world.
Pride was a MMA promotion in the 1990s and 200s, drawing tens of thousands of fans at their peak. They filled the Tokyo Dome and became bigger than any wrestling promotion during their peak, making huge stars of fighters like Don Frye and Yoshihiro Takayama.
Hogan beating up Pride Fighters in the 1970s certainly would have been impressive. It would have proven his toughness inside and out of the ring and made a compelling case for promotions to push him as their world champion.
Pride opened in 1997, making his claim literally impossible. He couldn’t have fought any Pride fighters, because they did not exist.
Hulk Hogan Basically Made Up Every Fact About Slamming Andre The Giant At WrestleMania III
Where do we even start with this?
Hogan has embellished (or straight-up invented) all the facts about his WrestleMania III match with Andre the Giant I’m starting to doubt that the match even happened, despite seeing it multiple times!
He has claimed that Andre the Giant was between 400lbs and 700lbs, that he tore every muscle in his back when he slammed him, that Andre the Giant died weeks after the match and that over 100,000 fans watched the match.
It’s all nonsense. Andre The Giant was clearly not 700lbs. Hogan wrestled weeks later, so his back was not torn to shreds.
The most egregious lie is about Andre dying soon after. He didn’t. He died a decade later.
Hulk Hogan should know Andre The Giant didn’t die after the match because he wrestled him a year later at WrestleMania IV.
Hogan Partied With John Belushi Four Years After He Died
The easiest lie to debunk is that Hulk Hogan partied with John Belushi after his win over King Kong Bundy at WrestleMania II.
After defending his WWE Championship against the giant, Hogan claimed to have partied backstage with John Belushi after the show.
The only trouble with this is that WrestleMania II occurred in 1986, four years after John Belushi died in 1982 of a drug overdose.
Mike Tyson Was Too Scared To Fight Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan claims that there were two times that Hulk Hogan nearly wrestled Mike Tyson. Once was in 1990 for the WWF, while the next was years later in WCW.
Both times, Hogan claimed that he was game for the fight, but that former World Heavyweight Champion boxer Mike Tyson was too scared to step into the ring with Hogan.
WCW actually pulled out of negotiating with Tyson after he bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off, leading to him joining the WWE.
Learn more about Hulk Hogan vs Mike Tyson
Hulk Hogan Wrestled 400-Days A Year In His Prime
One of the funniest lies Hulk Hogan ever told was that he wrestled for 400 days in a single year.
He did not mean that he wrestled twice on Sunday, counting that as two days when it was actually two matches, but literally meant that he wrestled on more days than there were in the year.
He claimed that he would wrestle in the United States in the afternoon, and then fly to Japan to wrestle later in the evening.
Because of the time difference in the two countries, Hulk Hogan claims that he lived and wrestled in over 400 separate days, due to going “back in time” when travelling from country to country.
Not only did Hogan not wrestle 400 days a year, but there were no instances of him wrestling in Japan and the US on the same day. Even if you take his dreadful grasp of maths and time zones seriously, Hulk Hogan is still a massive liar.
Learn more about Hulk Hogan wrestling 400 days a year.
He Invented The NWO
Another lie that is very, very easy to dissect and disprove is Hulk Hogan’s claim that he invented the NWO
Hogan claims the gimmick was completely his idea (despite also claiming he didn’t want to be part of it when Bischoff told him about it), and that Hogan’s idea for the group included himself, The Booty Man (Brutus Beefcake) and The Nasty Boys.
Plus the fact that the storyline was stolen from Japan, by Bischoff.
Elvis Was A Huge Fan Of Hulk Hogan
In Hulk Hogan’s autobiography, he is said to have made the claim that Elvis was a huge fan before Hogan joined the WWF.
He worked in Memphis early on in his career, which would have been the perfect time for him to be watched by “The King” on local TV.
He did work in Memphis in 1979, after debuting in 1977.
However, Elvis died literally one week after Hulk Hogan wrestled his first match in wrestling (in Florida), so if he did turn out to be a fan of The Hulkster, it is a miracle if Hogan found out in that week, from a man he never met.
However, this one may not be the fault of Hulk Hogan. There is no mention of Elvis Presley being a fan of him in the book and no quote is available online that shows him claiming Elvis was his fan.
This could be a piece of misinformation attributed to Hogan, so it’s hard to blame him for this one.
Hogan Wanted To Lose The WWE Title To Roddy Piper
Hulk Hogan has claimed that he would have loved to have lost the WWE Championship to “Rowdy” Roddy Piper during the height of Hulkamania.
However, he argued that Piper’s refusal to lose was the only reason why he didn’t get to put over the late WWE Hall of Famer. Piper remains one of the best wrestlers to never win the WWE Championship.
Piper never held the WWE Championship. Hogan claimed this was due to his attitude, which may have been the reason.
However, Hogan famously never wanted to put anybody over. If he did give the signal that was willing to lose, there is no way that management would have said no to him.
“I Only Used Steroids Three Times, Brother”
We all know Hulk Hogan used steroids. No man can look like he’s bulging out of his own body with a heart currently exploding out of his chest without a little bit of help from his crooked doctor.
However, Hogan originally denied the fact he was on the juice.
Hogan claimed during an interview in 1991 that he only ever used steroids three times, and “only for injuries”. While this was clearly a bald-faced lie, it was one Hogan actually admitted to later on in his career.
This was while he was under oath, on the stand during the infamous “steroid trial” that nearly killed wrestling in 1994.
Hulk Hogan Killed Antonio Inoki and Had To Flee Japan
Hulk Hogan admitted to murdering a man in the ring and was run out of Japan by the Yakuza for his crime.
Of course, this happened during a match against Japan’s greatest wrestler of all time and actually didn’t happen at all.
Hogan claimed that he and Antonio Inoki had a match in Japan where Hogan beat him up so badly he died.
Luckily, Inoki got brought back to life via CPR after the match, but Hulk couldn’t work in Japan for a while after because the Yakuza were after him.
Did Hulk Hogan kill Antonio Inoki? Obviously not. And there is proof that he was running out of Japan for years, as he originally claimed.
Hulk Hogan Lied About Nearly Playing Bass For Metallica
One of the most bizarre lies that is easily disproven is that Hulk Hogan was offered the chance to play bass guitar for Metallica.
In an interview with The Sun in the UK, Hogan said “I used to be a session musician before I was a wrestler”.
This is true, as Hogan did play bass guitar fairly successfully in a number of bands. “I was big pals with Lars Ulrich and he asked me if I wanted to play bass with Metallica in their early days, but it didn’t work out.”
Lars has outright denied ever meeting Hulk Hogan and the band claim this never happened. Later on in an interview with Joe Rogan, Hogan admitted he never auditioned for Metallica and that he sent letters and tapes to the band, with no reply.
Hulk Hogan Lied About Having A Credit Rating Before They Were Invented
He claimed that he was paying off two cars at the same time as a teenager, and he had a hell of a credit score because of it.
The “two cars” claim could very well be true, as he worked a musician during this time and made decent money for a younger.
However, credit scores weren’t introduced until 1989, when Hogan was a multi-millionaire superstar.
So while the whole thing may be true, it had literally zero effect on anything to do with Hulk Hogan’s credit score.
Hulk Hogan Tore His Back and Flew To Japan After WrestleMania III
Hulk Hogan made a number of fantastical claims about his match with Andre The Giant, and what happened after the match was even more unbelievable. Hogan claimed he tore all the muscles in his back when slamming Andre, before embarking on a 29-day straight run of matches in Japan.
Well, none of that was true. Hogan didn’t tear any muscles in his back after WrestleMania III, wrestling just weeks after the biggest win of his career. His back was completely fine, and while he was probably sore after lifting Andre The Giant, he did not tear every muscle in his back, as he claimed.
He also didn’t fly to Japan straight after. In fact, there is no record of him wrestling in Japan after that match until 1994, when Hulk Hogan wrestled The Great Muta in one of the most infamous matches in the history of the WWE Championship.
Dusty Rhodes Was Hogan’s Favorite Wrestler As A Child
Hulk Hogan’s autobiography is full of fun little nuggets of absolute rubbish, with an anecdote about Hogan’s childhood being one of them. The two-time WWE Hall of famer claimed that, as a child, he used to watch Dusty Rhodes on TV, and would throw a tantrum if an episode didn’t feature his favourite “Son of a Plumber”.
However, this was simply untrue. Dusty didn’t debut until Hogan was 14 years old, while there was no way Hogan could have seen him on TV until Dusty debuted in Florida (where Hogan grew up) in 1970 when a young Terry Bollea was just 17 years old.
This makes the tale of his tantrum much worse, but it is likely all just another one of Hulk Hogan’s lies.
He Had Heat With Steve Austin, Which Is Why They Never Wrestled
Steve Austin vs Hulk Hogan is the one match that fans always wanted to see, but never happened in wrestling.
As two of the biggest stars of all time, it truly would have been a one of a kind match, and was rumored to take place at WrestleMania X8.
Instead, Hogan faced The Rock in one of the best matches of all time.
Hulk Hogan claimed that “Stone Cold” had heat with him, and the rest of the NWO.
In an interview, he claimed that Austin was jealous that the trio were getting cheered over him and The Rock, which is why he refused to wrestle Hulk Hogan.
However, Austin and Jim Ross have denied this and told the real reason why this match never happened.
