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Hulk Hogan on the Return of American Gladiators
By Fred Topel | Image property of respective holders
American Gladiators: Hulk Hogan
Hogan Returns to American Gladiators
"I was trying to find my groove, because we kind of got thrown into the deep end of the pool," said Hogan. "When I would say, 'Hey brother, let me tell you something,' the Hulk Hogan thing, I knew I could go there and make it work. I just didn't know if the network and everybody sitting back watching it would go, 'Oh, he's too much like Hulk Hogan, too much like wrestling.' I didn’t know what the groove was."
It was actually cohost Leila Ali who helped Hogan reign it in. "She was such a pro and she was such a constant. She was always there when I'd say something really maybe not on point, come round about with my tail my between my legs in my safe place, and maybe have a tendency to run over, 'Hey brother, I love that jacket you got on,' being like Hulk Hogan. I'd come back and she's straighten me out. She was like a constant. She helped so much it made me find the groove easily. It seems to be working. It's a lot of fun."
Hulkamaniacs still relish in seeing some of Hogan's old mannerisms on Gladiators. "I started out with the Gladiatormaniacs, that phrase. It kind of caught on. Now that everybody is happy that it's working, the first thing that was really cool about it wasn't like the network execs hanging over us going, 'Well, that's not what the show should be.' The show is what it is, so we didn't have to deal with the creative tweaking because there wasn't much to say. So with all that being said, that we didn't have to go through all those creative changes and everybody's opinion and playing the political tug of war, the show is what it is. I was kind of walking on eggshells about this Hulk Hogan character but as soon as the show performed, it kind of gave me some more free range."
Expect more Hulk-isms in season two. "The other night, I was off last night, but the other night at midnight, we were doing Powerball and it was so exciting, I went right into Hulk Hogan. 'Brother, you've got two points…' They didn't say a word. They liked it. So I'm kind of getting away with more Hulk Hogan stuff because it's really tense sometimes. They've got a teleprompter there for some of the pre-interviews. I'll kind of read the bullet points but it's not the way I talk. But post-interviews, after the action, I get to roll with it so that's when it gets real fun. I can slip on a banana peel, jump off the edge and land on a lily pad. I can go with it because I watch what you're doing so that's what was really fun for me."
American Gladiators airs Monday nights on NBC.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of respective holders
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