What Hulk Hogan told WWE announcer before unprotected chair shot during WrestleMania match [Exclusive]
Hugo Savinovich recently talked about Hulk Hogan hitting him with a chair during his WrestleMania XIX match with Vince McMahon.
Former WWE announcer Hugo Savinovich was a guest on UnSKripted with Dr. Chris Featherstone, and answered a bunch of fan questions. When asked about Hulk Hogan's incredibly brutal chair shot to him at WrestleMania XIX, here's what Savinovich had to say:
"If you look at it, there's no hand protection. The Hulk told me, you know, 'The Hulkster's gonna let you have it, you gotta protect yourself', and I said I'm old-school. I did 20 years in the ring, and I was like, the heel, and babyface and had all this stuff happen to me. One time, the chair almost went through the ear, the eye almost popped out."
"It was a top-secret, very few people knew about it, and I said, 'just let me have it'. And that night, The Hulkster made me a believer in Hulkamania, because he swung for the fences, he turned my eyes upside down."
Hulk Hogan took on WWE Chairman Vince McMahon on that night
The road to WrestleMania XIX saw Hulk Hogan kicking off a feud with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The boss had cost Hulk Hogan his No Way Out match against The Rock, and Hogan wasn't happy one bit about it. The duo agreed to a match at WrestleMania, which was dubbed 20 years in the making.
At WrestleMania, the two bitter rivals beat the tar out of each other for just over 20 minutes. At one point during the match, Hulk Hogan missed a chair shot on Vince McMahon, and hit Hugo Savinovich with full force. The announcer was immediately busted open, and was tended to by EMTs. The match also saw WWE legend Roddy Piper interfering and attacking Hogan.
In the end, it was Hulk Hogan who came out victorious. Hogan appeared weekly on SmackDown following the event, for a few months. He parted ways with WWE in June after being upset with the pay that he was getting. Hogan would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, on the night before WrestleMania 21.