Hulk Hogan doesn’t seem to believe there’s much that he can do to stop his critics from booing him now.
Hogan and Eric Bischoff appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show this week. There, Hogan was asked about being booed during a January taping of WWE RAW in Los Angeles. Hogan previously claimed he expected to get booed that night, and Bischoff said he believed it was a “one-off.”
Hulk Hogan told Helwani that The Rock and John Cena get booed, too. However, he claims the media reaction is “different” when he gets booed.
“For some reason, I laid some type of groundwork that people are still interested in what I’m doing. And so for those that are on the team and are riding with a train to the station, that’s great. For those that are the haters and still have a problem with me, there’s nothing I can do to fix that, except just keep proving by my actions that I’m still in the game,” Hogan said.
Hogan then went on to try and make a comparison about him getting booed to always having a top spot in his prime. Hogan said it’s “part of the territory.” He also said he accepted it if it meant he would benefit from so much engagement on social media.
Hulk Hogan believes his getting booed is “part of the territory”
“During the 80s, it was just a situation where everybody was knocking me. Everybody was trying to knock me off that top spot. I’ll trade that for not being on the bottom of the card, or being on the bottom of the pile of life. So for me, it’s just part of the territory. I mean, it’s kind of like when you get booed and then you get 3.2 billion engagements all of a sudden. And then you rock that whole world in LA with how much interaction there was on the internet. I’ll take it.”
Hulk Hogan doesn’t seem to understand that The Rock and John Cena are booed by fans because their characters are positioned as heels. Hogan has been booed because fans don’t like his real-life actions, specifically the fact that he never apologized for being caught making racist comments on a leaked tape in 2015.
Multiple people from the wrestling world, including current WWE talent, have specifically pointed to Hogan’s lack of accountability as why they don’t like him. Actor O’Shea Jackson, who was in attendance at the Los Angeles taping, said it is very hard to forget Hogan making racist comments. Booker T said that he understood why fans feel that way about Hogan. Mark Henry also said Hogan never wanted to fix his issues and hoped it would just fade away.
Hulk Hogan is asked about being booed on Monday Night Raw in Los Angeles.#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/LLWgZQoc6k
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) May 12, 2025
Hulk Hogan’s problems haven’t just faded away
Clearly, it has not just gone away, as many people still feel strongly about Hogan’s lack of accountability and growth. Shelton Benjamin recently called out Hogan publicly, stating that he wants Hogan to stop talking about him. Benjamin mentioned that Hogan “lost [him] forever with [Hogan’s] ‘don’t get caught’” speech. He also clarified that his issues weren’t just over Hogan screwing up his name, specifying it was because of Hogan’s insincere apology to the WWE locker room he made in 2018.
Hogan addressed the locker room before WWE’s 2018 Extreme Rules event. At the time, Titus O’Neil said that he supported WWE’s decision to reinstate Hogan. However, he didn’t believe Hogan had any actual remorse for his actions.
Last month, Seth Rollins addressed Hogan being booed during an interview with Outta Pocket. Rollins said Hogan has been kind to him, but he still sees everything that’s out there. Rollins believes Hogan is “a victim of his own ego” and doesn’t understand the effect of his actions.
“I think he just lives in this space that he’s created for himself,” Rollins said. “He shaped his worldview, and he’s just this is how he’s going to see things. And I think if you’re going to be like that, people are going to treat you accordingly.”
It’s clear there was (or still is) something Hogan can do to make amends; he just hasn’t done it yet, or he hasn’t realized it yet.
