Hulk Hogan Announced for WWE Raw to Honor 'Mean' Gene Okerlund

Hulk Hogan will make his first appearance on WWE television since 2015 on Monday, as the company [...]

By Connor Casey

Hulk Hogan will make his first appearance on WWE television since 2015 on Monday, as the company announced on Friday that the WWE Hall of Famer would make an appearance on Monday Night Raw "to celebrate the life of longtime friend 'Mean' Gene Okerlund.

"Now, in the wake of Okerlund's recent passing, Hogan returns to WWE programming this Monday night on Raw to honor his longtime friend," an announcement on WWE.com read.

With the exception of a brief appearance at the start of the Crown Jewel event is Saudi Arabia in late 2018, Hogan hasn't appeared on the WWE product since he was fired in 2015. The six-time WWF Champion was originally fired after racist comments from his leaked sex tape made their way online, but he had spent the next few years publicly campaigning for the company to bring him back into the fold.

WWE repeatedly released statements that Hogan would not be rehired, but announced in mid-July that they had reinstated him into their Hall of Fame.

"After a three-year suspension, Hulk Hogan has been reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame," the company wrote in a press release at the time. "This second chance follows Hogan's numerous public apologies and volunteering to work with young people, where he is helping them learn from his mistake. These efforts led to a recent induction into the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Alumni Hall of Fame."

Shortly after the news broke Hogan put out a statement of his own, apologizing again for his actions. He then met with the WWE locker room prior to the Extreme Rules pay-per-view and gave an apology speech to them. While many welcomed him back with open arms, several African American members of the roster spoke out against Hogans return, saying that his apology was insincere.

"I wanted to give him a chance, I didn't know what that meeting was about going in but I wanted to give him a chance," Titus O'Neil said in an interview with Busted Open Radio shortly after Hogan's return.

"He legitimately screwed that all up because again, it's not about making a mistake. It's not a mistake. You're talking about historically using language and saying things that a lot of people in our business unfortunately have said in the past. Although our business has come a long way from where it used to be, there are still some people in this business that speak that way they just aren't recorded. So Hulk Hogan or Terry Bollea is not the only person that have used those type of comments. I know that for a fact."

1comments
Comments ( 1 )

of