5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (July 20)

5. Hulk Hogan Is Back...Or Was...

Ahead of Extreme Rules, with convenient timing, WWE drummed up interest for the show not by booking an absorbing weekly storyline cycle, but by announcing Hulk Hogan’s return to the company.

Per PWInsider, Hulk’s return came with a caveat: to prove his worth to the current roster and excuse WWE of eating cake, Hogan was instructed to apologise to the locker room. This was of course filmed, just in case you were concerned that WWE would not find a way of monetising the scandal. Whispers later circulated that it wasn’t filmed, but that seems another convenient hush-hush, given that WWE was subject to criticism as immediate as it was fierce. This was all completely inevitable. It was literally a matter of time; WWE waited patiently for the furore to dissipate before bringing the Hulkster back into the fold. Hogan didn’t need to apologise; he just needed to wait slightly longer than Nick Patrick’s count at StarrCade ’97.

Balls to WrestleMania VI; the prospect of Hogan doing everything possible not to utter the word “brother” in front of the black members of the roster surely represents the Ultimate Challenge.

Actually, f*ck that: the Ultimate Challenge is actually apologising. Hogan apparently showed no remorse over calling black people “f*cking n*ggers”, but instead warned his fellow roster members that you can’t bloody say anything in these PC-gone-mad-times because you might get recorded.

Wasn’t this guy the cleverest politician ever to enter the wrestling business?