WWE legend Hulk Hogan is ready to try and change the game alongside Eric Bischoff with the introduction of Real American Freestyle – but will it work?
In case you haven’t heard, Hulk Hogan is back in the spotlight. In addition to his new beer, the Hulkster is also attempting to launch a brand new form of combat sports – well, sort of. Real American Freestyle is an unscripted wrestling league focusing on freestyle and folkstyle wrestling, with the focus being on genuine competition as opposed to anything scripted.
While we’re still waiting to hear more about the details, the fact that Hulk Hogan is one of the faces of it suggests that it’ll gain a bit of traction – at least in the early going. In a recent interview, Hulk had the following to say on the project.
Hulk Hogan discusses new venture
“Well, I’ve got a new way to call it-it’s pro pro wrestling, brother. This is the elite of the elite. We saw that reality TV and scripted stuff wasn’t as strong as the new stuff that was taking off-sports, you know. And all of a sudden, somewhere in between UFC and WWE there was a market that was really underserved, and that was the amateur wrestlers, the gold medalists, the Olympians, the NCAA champions, the world’s champions.
“They would spend their whole life doing something they loved from four or five years old, and then when they get to the peak of their career… there was nowhere else to go. So, we started this freestyle league, and all of a sudden, man, it’s like jumping on that lightning bolt to Hulkamania. We made the announcement, everybody’s coming to the table. So it’s really exciting.”
“I didn’t realize how many of these amateur wrestlers actually grew up watching Hulk Hogan… So for me to be able to sit there with Eric’s vision and for Eric to be able to tell these backstories and watch these guys at home and how they got to where they are-I really feel that one of the things I was worried about is when I met all these wrestlers…
“I was worried that it would just be like flat, but these kids have been watching TV, they’ve been watching wrestling, they’ve been watching UFC, they’ve been watching Conor McGregor, and all these kids… they all got that swagger, man. I don’t want to create like superstars-I want mega stars out of these guys, because these guys are the real deal.”
