8 Things We Learned From Hulk Hogan On Talk Is Jericho

2. The Rift With Verne Gagne

Verne Gagne is a professional wrestling legend. A 10-time world champion, Hall of Famer, world class shooter, Olympian amateur and promoter of the American Wrestling Association, he was also a driving force behind Hulk Hogan's early progress and planted the seeds for many of the things that would help make the character so successful. But it didn't take long for a mutually beneficial partnership between talent and promoter to turn sour. One of the reasons was Gagne's annoyance with Hogan's ability to jump back and forth between his company and Japan, preferring that he stay committed to working in Minnesota. Hulk had taken the initiative to start having his own shirts produced and sell them out of his trunk, which Verne also didn't like. Upon retuning from a tour of Japan, Hogan found that the AWA was selling their version of the same shirts and refused to give him a cut of the money. The two actually came to blows over the ordeal when Gagne went after The Immortal, an insane thought considering that Verne would have been about 57 years old at the time. But then again this is the same guy who KILLED A MAN WITH HIS BARE HANDS AT HIS RETIREMENT HOME, so being a bad*ss is just in his genes ( but definitely not his son Greg's). Hulk got the best of the old pugilist prune and the AWA chief vowed revenge. The next dispute between the two arose when Verne offered to put the AWA strap on Hogan, but in return he would be taking half of his new champ's earnings from his Japan deal. Hulk wasn't having any of that and never got the belt. Also, according the The Hulkster, Gagne was trying to hook him up with his daughter Kathy, who he describes as having a great body but a face just like her brother, Greg. That's harsh.