Hulk Hogan is Ready For His 'Resurrection'

Around the three hour mark of Hulk Hogan’s autograph signing Friday, he briefly leans over a table and stretches out his surgically repaired back. His hands are holding onto one end of the table and his eyes are watering slightly from all the standing he has been doing in Toyota Park's Stadium Club.

Hours of autographs and pictures would tire any person out—but it takes an even bigger toll on Hogan, who has trouble just shaving these days.

Once the next fan approaches for a picture and autograph, Hogan slaps the table with both hands, almost as if to re-energize his 55-year-old body, and immediately switches gears.

“What’s up, brother?” says Hogan.

The showman in Hogan is still alive and well—even if his body isn’t.

Terry Bollea made his name in the WWF wrestling ring in the 1980’s and 90’s as the yellow and red wearing Hulk Hogan. His larger-than-life persona led him to endorsement deals, music, movies, a Saturday morning cartoon (remember Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling?) and a television series.

Although it’s been over 20 years since he famously bodyslammed Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III, the reaction he gets at the autograph signing reminds you that he is still the most famous wrestler around. About 400 fans show up to the signing, which isn’t cheap at $99 per person.

One fan, Wil Reyes (below), had Hogan’s signature tattooed to his left bicep after meeting him at Wrestlemania XIX in 2003. Reyes has Hogan sign his right wrist this time around before heading to a tattoo parlor to make it permanent.

Hogan 002 Most fans have Hogan sign non-body parts, including his famous “Sports Illustrated” cover from 1985 and replica championship belts. While many of their comments are similar (“I’ve been watching you for over 20 years,” “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this,” and “When are you coming back?”), you can’t help but feel excited for each of them.

As for the comeback question, Hogan gets it often—especially on this afternoon.

“About every third person was saying, ‘When are you going to get in the ring again?’ ” says Hogan in a Toyota Park suite following the signing and a massage. “They don’t realize that, even though I look the same way I looked 30 years ago—kind of—my body is pretty beat up. It’s kind of hard to explain to them.

“The hip replacements, the back surgeries, the elbow surgeries, the shoulder surgeries…I never like to say never, but right now I’m on the rebuild and rewind process."

Hogan admits that the autograph signing was hard enough as it is.

“I tried getting through it without letting everyone know I was having a hard time,” Hogan says. “I’d never had a chair there at an autograph signing before. Now I have a chair in my bathroom so I can brush my teeth. When I shave, I shave half my face, lay on the floor for 10 minutes and then shave the other half of my face.

“I had a hard time walking through the Chicago airport today. I stopped one time to sit down and acted like I was doing something. I walked farther and then went into the men’s room. I leaned on the sink to crack my back and pretended I was looking at my face."

Hogan says he had hoped to wrestle at Wrestlemania XXV last April and had even spoke to WWE owner Vince McMahon about it during the four months leading up to the event. Those plans fell through when Hogan had to have two back surgeries.

“It seems to get farther and farther in reach,” says Hogan about a comeback. “I just don’t want to exclude it from my thought process. It’s like the one place that, when I’m in there, I’m totally free.”

In the last five years, Hogan went from having his family featured on the VH1 reality show “Hogan Knows Best” to having his family regularly mentioned in the tabloids.

His son, Nick, was involved in a car accident in Aug. 2007 that left his passenger with incapacitating brain damage. Nick was charged with reckless driving involving serious bodily injury and served five months in jail. In Nov. 2007, Hogan’s wife of 24 years, Linda, filed for divorce.

Hogan says his spirituality and religion helped him cope with the “personal nightmares.” He is in talks to share his rebuilding story on a new reality show.

“It’s a show about someone that could have been a statistic, someone that could have been involved in turning everything into a crime scene, someone that could have ended up jumping off a bridge or sleeping in a gutter,” says Hogan.

“Even though I’ve had financial devastation, I am planning on having my greatest year physically, mentally, spiritually and financially. People will realize I’m not who they thought I was. I’m not who I used to be. Now I’m 100 percent dependent on the spirit of Christ.”

While he wouldn’t reveal which channel the show would appear on, Hogan said the series may be called “Finding Hulk Hogan” or “The Resurrection of Hulk Hogan” and the cameras could begin rolling as soon as late August. He points out that it will be much more real than “Hogan Knows Best,” which he calls a “softly scripted show.”

According to Hogan, anything that gets him to leave the house is a good thing. He doesn’t travel much anymore.

“My buddy Chris said, ‘It’s good for you to get out of the house and start doing stuff again. Let’s get the ball rolling again,’ " Hogan says of the autograph signing. “I came out today and the people were really nice. Nobody said, ‘You look old.’ It was really neat hanging out for five hours and hearing people say nice things.”

It’s hard to say Hogan looks old when he can still pull off a bandanna better than most, even as he approaches his 56th birthday. His physique doesn’t look like it has changed all that much in recent years besides a slightly bigger stomach. Even the biceps that he famously calls “pythons” continue to stretch the sleeves on his t-shirts.

Still, he laughs about how they’re nowhere as big as they used to be.

“They used to be 24 inches when I was 27 years old,” he says. “Now, last time I taped them, they were about 20 inches. That was a couple years ago. I haven’t taped them since. I’m afraid to.”

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