Hogan looks up and says "Where did you get this bandanna brother?" I respond "From inside the Spectrum I watched you wrestle today"Hogan then signed it and said "Ok brother, here you go" I thank him and before you know it the light had turned green.
Looking back at this moment I often wonder where Hulk Hogan thought I got that bandanna from. I guess he didn't put two and two together and realize I had attended the event. I also wondered though if maybe he had no idea what Vince McMahon had licensed and was selling with his name on it.
Anyway, the light had turned green and I got back into my car. My new friends were too scared to get out while we were at a red light. Of course at this point we were still behind Hulk Hogan's car, so my new friends suggested I follow the car a little seeing if it stopped so they could meet him.
I agreed I'd follow the car a little but if it got on a highway, I would stop following them.
So here I am following The Hulk Hogan motocade for about a mile or so when the car turns and stops and pulls into an A-Plus mini market a mile or so from the Spectrum. I park my car at the mini mart, too.
Out of the car comes Hulk Hogan, Brutus Beefcake, Jimmy Hart and some blonde woman who I had no clue who she was until Hogan Know's Best aired many years later. Me and my new friends walk right behind The Hogan Entourage as Jimmy Hart holds the door for me from behind.
At this point I start talking to Jimmy Hart.
For some reason, I never addressed Brutus Beefcake. Maybe I was afraid he'd pull out one of his pairs of hedgeclippers. Within a minute of being inside the Mini Mart with Hogan and crew the cashier recognized it was Hogan and a crowd former.
Poor Hulk Hogan was just trying to get some Evian water and split.
My new friends then approached him and had him sign there hand and baseball cap. I quickly realized what it must be like to be a celebrity and instantly recognized. An interesting note is it was only 1993 but Hogan was wearing all black and white out in public.
This is three years before Hollywood Hogan was born. It still stands out in my mind because It was the first time I remember seeing Hogan with all that black on. When Hogan and his crew was done in the store the crowd followed him and Beefcake and Jimmy Hart outside to the parking lot.
I remember kids, people of all ages swarming around them. Hogan stood and signed autographed. I then started talking to him. Looking back they were half decent questions. At least they weren't as bad as the questions I asked Chris Jericho recently.
I asked what kind of motorcycle Hogan had. Knowking he rode harley's I meant what type of harley. He responded he rode a harley, I then asked him what type of Harley, and he responded "A Soft Tail."
At this point Hogan was done signing and they went tot he car where none other then Linda Hogan waited away from the chaos. As they were walking towards the car I turned to the crowd and said "Let's hear it for Hulk Hogan" and then motioned to the crowd with my hand over my ear like Hulk does himself.
The crowd cheered. Hogan, Beefcake and Jimmy Hart got in the car and Linda got in the drivers seat and off they went. Yeah Linda Hogan was driving. Linda was driving, too, when the Hulkster Motorcade pulled out of the Spectrum.
And let me tell you from this incident, it may had only been 1993, but I followed the Hogan car for at least a mile, and at the time Linda drove like she was in a school zone.
If she had a need for speed she sure wasn't showing that day. Out of all the story's and wrestlers I met, this one was my favorite.
Immediately after meeting them I knew it was something special, and a stroke of luck to get him at a red light in front of The Spectrum. To have a bandanna ready to sign, and for them to stop at a mini mart for my new found friends to meet him and for us to talk to Hulk.
Will Sasso said it best watching Hulk Hogan as a kid in the '80s was like seeing a red and yellow street light. That day I think my mentor Alan Raskin was looking down and made a red light for me and "THE Red and Yellow Light" to meet.
1 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete