Hulk Hogan passed away at the age of 71 last week after suffering cardiac arrest at his home in Clearwater, Florida. Medical personnel spent 30 minutes trying to revive Hogan before he was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Bischoff had a strong working relationship with Hogan, which helped transform the wrestling industry in the ’90s. Bischoff was the Executive Producer and Senior Vice President of WCW during its peak in the 90s, convincing Hogan to abandon his acting career and sign with the promotion in 1994.
During the latest episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Bischoff said he visited Hogan shortly before his passing. Bischoff said Hogan “was weak” and felt “embarrassed” about his condition:
“I could tell he was weak. He sounded tired.
(Hulk) said, ‘I really want to see you, but I’m kind of embarrassed for you to see me this way because I’ve been pretty sick,’” Bischoff shared. He said he told Hogan, “When I look at you, I don’t see the same thing you see when you look in the mirror, so f**k that, I’ll be down Monday.”
Bischoff and Hulk Hogan had “a fun, energetic” talk about business, the former explained. Bischoff wanted to give Hogan a reason for optimism, so he promised to set up some interviews for the former world champion:
“I knew it was going to be quite a while before he was going to be able to do interviews. I wanted to leave him looking forward to something. He said, ‘Brother, I can’t wait. I may not be able to do anything on camera for a couple weeks, but I’ll be good on the phone. You can set some stuff up for me.’”
Hogan told Logan Paul last year that he underwent 25 surgeries over the previous decade, including 10 back procedures and replacements on both his hips and knees.
Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff Put WCW On The Map In The ’90s
Vince McMahon’s WWF (now WWE) was the biggest promotion in the world throughout the ’80s and early ’90s. But Hogan’s arrival in WCW changed the wrestling landscape, with his legendary heel turn at Bash at the Beach 1996 taking the promotion to new heights.
WWE may have defeated WCW in the Monday Night Wars (McMahon later bought out the company), but Hogan, Bischoff and other talents like Goldberg, Sting, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall forced McMahon to change his product for the better to keep WWE afloat. If not for Hogan joining WCW, other legends like The Rock, Steve Austin and Triple H might have never emerged as main event draws.
