Hulk Hogan discloses two WWE wrestlers who refused to lose against him
Hulk Hogan has explained what happened after two of his most legendary rivals refused to lose matches against him in WWE/WWF.
Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper teamed up to face The Hulkster and Mr. T in a losing effort in the main event of the first WrestleMania show. While they agreed to suffer a defeat on that occasion, Orndorff and Piper were not always happy with their booking against Hogan.
The two-time WWE Hall of Famer recalled in a recent Ringside Collectibles video how his rivals were reluctant to lose against him via pinfall. In an attempt to reach a compromise, he often phoned former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon before live events:
"Back in the day, when Vince first kinda took over and I'd go be the main event at Philadelphia or the main event at Hersheypark, Vince would say, 'Hey, we want you to drop the leg on Piper, drop the leg on Mr. Wonderful [Paul Orndorff],' and a lot of times they'd go, 'No,' so I'd call Vince back and say, 'Okay, what are we gonna do? They don't wanna end the match that way.' He goes, 'We'll come up with something else,'" Hogan said. [4:42 – 5:06]
In the 1980s, Hulk Hogan was one of the top babyface attractions in the wrestling industry. He headlined eight of the first nine WrestleMania events between 1985 and 1993.
Why did Hulk Hogan wear a helmet?
In 1988, Hulk Hogan added a gladiator-esque helmet to his signature red and yellow attire.
That time Hulk Hogan wore a helmet https://t.co/CCPnv51p3Y
The wrestling legend thought of the idea himself in a bid to make his opponents look strong against him in defeat:
"I came up with the helmet to try to come up with a way to give the guys an out," Hogan continued. "Like if I put the helmet on and cheated and headbutted them or something, I thought maybe I could get them to do the one, two, three, but that's where the helmet originally came from. It was a compromise so the bad guys wouldn't be whining and crying because the office wanted me to go over [win]." [5:15 – 5:37]
Hogan also spoke in the interview about the time he was told to lose in his first Madison Square Garden appearance as Mr. America.
Should wrestlers ever refuse to lose under any circumstances? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Please credit Ringside Collectibles and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.