Wrestling icon Hulk Hogan has sparked confusion with a recent claim about facing Brock Lesnar in the ring following Lesnar’s return to WWE after his UFC career. However, historical records indicate that such a match never took place.
During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Hogan recounted a supposed match with Lesnar after the latter’s MMA stint, which spanned from 2008 to 2011.
“I got him first when he came back from the UFC, I was kind of winding down, putting guys over and doing my thing, and Vince goes, ‘I want you to work with Brock.’ I went, ‘Okay,’” Hogan said as quoted by TJR wrestling.
He described how he tried to get Lesnar to ease up during their encounter, recalling the intensity of their interaction.
“He was really intense. So my whole thing is we always grabbed somebody and squeezed him to give him the office, ‘You’ve got my head, you’re about to break my neck,’ you give him the office to lighten up, and I squeezed the ps out of him and gave him the office. Finally, I just started calling him Broccoli, I told him, ‘Broccoli’, and I got him to laugh a little bit, I said, ‘Let me tell you something, if you keep hurting me in here, if you don’t loosen up on the old man here, I’m going to make you look really, really bad because you can be in here by yourself.’ I used to tease him all the time because he’s a really good friend.”
Despite the tension, Hogan praised Lesnar’s success in the wrestling world.
“He’s turned out to be one of the best workers this business has ever seen, I mean, brother, he draws money.”
Historical Records Tell a Different Story
Hogan’s account, however, doesn’t align with documented events. Brock Lesnar returned to WWE in April 2012, facing John Cena at Extreme Rules. Meanwhile, Hogan’s last match took place in January 2012. The two only shared a WWE ring twice, with their sole singles match occurring in 2002—years before Lesnar joined the UFC.
Hogan’s Other Unusual Claims
This isn’t the first time Hogan has made a puzzling statement. In the past, he claimed to have wrestled over 400 days in a single year. Hogan argued that traveling from the United States to Japan immediately after a match in New York allowed him to gain extra days due to time zone differences.
However, this claim doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Japan’s time zone is ahead of the United States, and the time required to fly between the two countries would actually result in lost time, not gained days.
A Legacy of Larger-Than-Life Stories
While Hogan’s claims may raise eyebrows, they add to the larger-than-life persona that has defined his career. Whether fact or fiction, his stories continue to captivate fans and spark conversations in the wrestling world.