Thanks to a 2015 racial slur incident, Hulk Hogan was not allowed in front of a WWE camera for three years. But Crown Jewel marked the end of his banishment, and his first appearance since WrestleMania 31 has Hogan ready to make an adjustment to his look.
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At 65-years old, Hogan says he’s over 300 pounds. But after checking the Crown Jewel tape he thinks it’s time to trim down—not for the sake of more mobility, but because he doesn’t want to intimidate WWE’s roster of Superstars.
“Ok, today is a new day. After seeing myself on Crown Jewel I have decided to get serious and get under 300lbs. I looked huge, swole, jacked and my arms are still bigger than most wrestlers legs. I don’t want to look like I can beat up the whole @WWE roster anymore. Only Love HH,” he wrote.
Ok, today is a new day. After seeing myself on Crown Jewel I have decided to get serious and get under 300lbs. I looked huge, swole, jacked and my arms are still bigger than most wrestlers legs. I don’t want to look like I can beat up the whole @WWE roster anymore. Only Love HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) November 5, 2018
Hogan’s tongue-in-cheek barb likely has fans and wrestlers like rolling their eyes, but perhaps he’s earnest in his intentions to cut weight. After all, now that he’s finally back in WWE, there’s probably a chance Hogan thinks he’ll have one more match.
Just in case Crown Jewel wasn’t surrounded by enough controversy, WWE elected Hulk Hogan as the show’s host. In July, WWE reinstated Hogan into their Hall of Fame but kept him off camera until the November 2 Saudi Arabian event. Hogan’s return to the company will always stir controversy, but WWE seems to think that Hogan served enough time for his 2015 transgressions.
While it still garnered no shortage of negative reactions, Hogan’s addition to Crown Jewel was likely a very intentional choice by WWE. With it airing at 12 noon ET during the work week, Crown Jewel’s western audience simply wasn’t around to admonish Hogan and WWE. Not to mention a chunk of WWE’s fanbase was happy to skip Crown Jewel thinks geopolitical stink that the wrestling show caused. So instead of bringing back Hogan at WrestleMania—which would have been a PR nightmare—WWE was able to sneak Hogan onto a low-stakes show. However, there’s a great chance we see more of Hogan in the near future.
