Yesterday, Monday, April 14th, Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea came to train at Gold’s Venice and stopped by Jay Cutler‘s Max Muscle to renew his wardrobe with new Max Muscle gear. Hulk is in town shooting Season Two of American Gladiators for NBC. In its first season on the air, American Gladiators surprised everyone – even the Hulkster himself – by becoming the highest-rated new show any network this year and generating NBC’s best non-sports numbers in the time slot in more than three years I ran into him at Gold’s and asked him to stop by and he obliged. I also asked him a few questions for FlexOnline and he was nice enough to sit down for a brief interview despite a hectic filming schedule.
FLEX: Terry, are you surprised of the success of the new American Gladiators? HULK: Yes, very surprised, I did not really have an idea of what to expect but it really took off, the public really a liking to the show and now we will be smack tab in a Prime time slot of the network, I’m very happy.
FLEX: How do you feel about being behind the microphone instead of in front of it? HULK: It’s weird man! I’m so used to be the man being interviewed for so many years and now I have to be the one saying “You look good brother! You are really in shape! or That was a great move, whatever!” That’s ok though, I’m getting the hang of it, I’m finding my groove.
FLEX: Who inspires you the most on the new American Gladiators? HULK: The best one I feel is Wolf, he really gets the game and the concept of the whole thing, the whole biz, Titan is also good. As far as the contestants, the girl who won last year (Monica) is great, she came in, and kicked everyone’s butt including the Gladiators and this year she came back completely transformed, she went from looking like a soccer mom to completely shredded and in great shape, I mean WOW!
FLEX: Are you still doing your show Hogan Knows Best? HULK: Actually sort of, there is a spin off that my daughter Brook is the star of, so I am on a lot of these episodes, we are not so sure about the title yet so I don’t wanna say yet but look for it to come out soon. Hogan Knows Best was a big success so this will be a good one for sure too.
FLEX: Any other projects you are working on? HULK: Actually yes, my buddy here (he was with him) Eric Bischoff is starting a new reality show soon on June 2nd about wrestling. Sort of a “What does it take or do you have what it takes to be a wrestler?” We are not sure of the title yet but I’ll be on some of these as well.
