The Wrestling Thread

The best pure babyface they've had since Bret Hart in the early-mid 90s. Unreal he's back. Normally HATE people coming out of retirement, but he desperately didn't want to retire in the first place, was entirely forced, so this is different. Can't wait to see him back.

 

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan may finally be returning to the company soon.

WWE officials are currently having talks about a Hogan return, according to PWInsider. Discussions for the return began several weeks back.

There's no word yet on what kind of role Hogan may come back for but there's speculation on an authority role for SmackDown now that Shane McMahon took an "indefinite leave of absence" from his SmackDown Commissioner duties and current blue brand General Manager Daniel Bryan has been cleared to perform as an in-ring talent once again. PWInsider also noted that Hogan could be coming back just to resume his role as a WWE Ambassador, not necessarily as an on-air performer.

WWE distanced themselves from Hogan back in 2015 due to the racist comments debacle that he was involved in. Hogan made the comments during a conversation he had with Heather Clem, the then-wife of his former best friend, Bubba the Love Sponge. Hogan was secretly filmed by Bubba and this footage would lead to Hogan suing Gawker and other involved parties. Hogan ended up winning a judgement of $115 million against Gawker and that led to a settlement of $31 million.

There have been rumors of WWE working with Hogan again since the heat died down from the scandals he was involved in but it looks like the return may actually be happening now.

WWE issued the following statement to PWInsider in response to the report and confirmed that they have had talks with The Hulkster:

“We have had discussions with Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan) about how he can help others learn from his mistakes, however, he is not under any contract with WWE."

 

Wish he would * off permanently. I despise the man

 

My gripe with Hogan (apart from him ranting about "* *") is, if Vince went totally off his head in the morning and said "Hulk, we're bringing you back next week on Raw, and you're beating Brock clean for the title", he would never have the awareness or sense to say no, that's a horrendous idea. He still thinks he has "one more run". Offer a Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels that, and they'd say * no, what a horrendous idea. But you know Hogan would still go for it.

 

His ego is bigger than Boerigters *

 

Always knew there was a reason why I could never take to Grado.

 

Heyman will be inducting Goldberg into the Hall of fame.

 

Odd choice but oh well

 

Bit of a strange one Heyman doing it but good to see Goldberg getting his entry, one of my faves.

 

Show last night wasn't very good.

Other than the bullet club stuff.

And Rey turning up.

 

Shane McMahon is currently recovering from acute diverticulitis and an umbilical hernia in a New York-area medical facility, WWE.com has learned.

Two weeks ago on SmackDown LIVE, McMahon announced he would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from his position as the blue brand’s Commissioner. Following that announcement, McMahon was brutally attacked by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. WWE medical staff initially diagnosed him with a laryngeal contusion and trapezius and rhomboid strains as a result of the beating.

Following the vicious assault, McMahon went to the Caribbean with his family to rest and recuperate. While there, Shane developed a massive infection due to acute diverticulitis and was hospitalized for several days in Antigua before being flown back to a New York-area hospital, where he is currently being treated with heavy doses of antibiotics. The doctors in New York have also discovered that Shane suffered an umbilical hernia during the attack, which will require surgery once the infection has been eradicated.

Stick with WWE.com for further updates on Shane McMahon’s status as they become available.

 

Mania still a week and a half away but I'm so pumped for it, it's honestly the best card I can remember in a long time with Taker vs Cena still yet to be announced. I'm readying myself, this could be top 5 mania's ever.

 

Monday's WWE RAW, featuring John Cena defeating Kane in a No DQ main event, drew 3.366 million viewers. This is up from last week's 3.327 million viewers. This week's show featured Cena vs. Kane advertised ahead of time plus appearances by Ronda Rousey and WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar.

For this week's show, the first hour drew 3.403 million viewers (last week's hour 1 - 3.434 million), the second hour drew 3.547 million viewers (last week's hour 2 - 3.472 million) and the final hour drew 3.150 million viewers (last week's hour 3 - 3.076 million).



This week's WWE SmackDown, featuring Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Shelton Benjamin in the main event, drew 2.576 million viewers. This is down 11% from last week's 2.888 million viewers, which was the best blue brand viewership of 2018 and the best SmackDown viewership going back to the April 11th, 2017 episode.

This week's show featured fallout from Daniel Bryan getting cleared last week, The New Day vs. The Bludgeon Brothers, Bobby Roode & WWE United States Champion Randy Ortonvs. Jinder Mahal & Sunil Singh and Nakamura vs. Benjamin advertised ahead of time. Natalya vs. SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair was also advertised but did not happen due to Flair's minor dental operation from last week.

 

* man, have a Life will ya...