Hulk Hogan took to Twitter once again to pay further tribute to his long-time colleague, the late “Mean Gene” Okerlund who passed away yesterday at the age of 76. Hogan gave a brief comment yesterday regarding the passing of his friend, but this morning the Hulkster, who goes hand in hand with Mean Gene in pop culture lore, gave some more commemoration to the best stick man in the biz.
The best partner I ever had. We never rehearsed or did anything scripted from a writer. Gene would ask me “hey big man what do u want to do?” I would always answer “just follow you brother” and it worked from 1980 – 2017. RIP my brother HH pic.twitter.com/OBtn6NxT1E
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) January 3, 2019
Wrestling stalwarts and friends such as Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone and Ric Flair all shared their condolences regarding the passing of “Mean Gene” yesterday, but it was also something that garnered major national news.
There’s no doubt of Okerlund’s legacy in wrestling and in popular culture. You can read a great deal of those regards in the link below.
Author’s Note: From the AWA days to the “Rock ‘n Wrestling” era of the WWF, Hogan is well aware of the impact Okerlund had on his career at getting Hulkamania over – even when wrestling’s biggest star turned evil in 1996. Okerlund was there for all of it and it’s pretty much impossible to fathom anyone else capable of having such chemistry for so long with one of wrestling’s biggest stars. Gene was the best and it’s certainly a silver lining that he gets his rightful recognition in popular culture.
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