Latest news with #HulkHogan
National Post
2 hours ago
- Business
- National Post
Eric Bischoff reacts to WWE's "hard decision" to release Ron Killings
WATCH BELOW: On the latest episode of No Holds Barred, Postmedia wrestling writer Jan Murphy and Postmedia's Rob Wong speak with former WCW President and WWE Hall of Famer, Eric Bischoff (via Jackpot City Canada). They chat about Eric's involvement with Hulk Hogan in Real American Freestyle, the state of the pro wrestling industry, WWE's decision to not renew the contract of Ron 'R-Truth' Killings, John Cena's heel turn, and more.
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
WWE Veteran Says Hulk Hogan 'Disqualified' From Pro Wrestling Mount Rushmore
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. It's hard to ignore Hulk Hogan's effect on the professional wrestling industry. The face of WWF in the 80s and WCW in the 90s, Hogan is the biggest draw in the business, with fans to this day saying that he is their favorite wrestler of all time. More Pro Wrestling: Released WWE Star Set For In-Ring Return However, public opinion on the Hulkster has changed over the years for various reasons. This was most evident when he appeared at Monday Night Raw's Netflix premiere and was booed by the crowd. Despite this, many wrestlers and fans put Hogan on their personal pro wrestling Mount Rushmores. That being said, this isn't the case for one wrestling veteran. ST PETERSBURG, FL - MARCH 08: NY POST OUT Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, testifies in court during his trial against Gawker Media at the Pinellas County Courthouse on March 8, 2016 in St Petersburg,... ST PETERSBURG, FL - MARCH 08: NY POST OUT Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, testifies in court during his trial against Gawker Media at the Pinellas County Courthouse on March 8, 2016 in St Petersburg, Florida. More John Pendygraft-Pool/Getty Images In an exclusive interview with current AEW star and former WWE Superstar Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) was asked who would be on his personal pro wrestling Mount Rushmore, and his answer was surprising. "Oh man, I hate these hypotheticals," MVP said. "Because there are so many greats, you know? There are some people that I think should be on it. It's a personal preference. It's all a matter of taste. Would I say Macho Man should be on it, in my opinion? Absolutely, he should be on it. "There are many people that would make the case that Hulk Hogan should be on it... I think he's disqualified in my opinion, because... he's who he is. Self-admitted, unapologetic, so that's that." MVP thinks Hulk Hogan is disqualified from pro-wrestling's Mount Rushmore: 'There are many people that would make the case that Hulk Hogan should be on it…I think he's disqualified in my opinion, because…he's who he is. Self-admitted, unapologetic, so that's that.' (via… — Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) May 30, 2025 MVP later addressed how other wrestlers like Becky Lynch and CM Punk had also called out Hogan, noting that they are able to because of their position in WWE. "They're box office level, so they have the ability to say what they wanna say," MVP explained. "People like Becky Lynch and CM Punk, they don't have to ask for permission, if anything, they just have to ask for forgiveness after the fact." More Pro Wrestling: Former TNA Champion Furious World Title Held By WWE Superstar Another WWE Superstar who has spoken out against Hogan is former World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, who said that Hogan deserved to be booed. "I am all for people getting what they deserve, that's how I feel about Hulk Hogan getting booed," Rollins said. "If you are getting booed by the masses, there is a reason for it, alright?" "So I don't know Hulk fully understands the scope, but people get what they deserve so I'm happy to see it. I loved to see it." More Pro Wrestling: WWE Legend Highly Critical of Jey Uso Booking Former AEW Women's Champion Mariah May Leaving for WWE: Report For more WWE and professional wrestling news, head on over to Newsweek Sports.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rick Derringer, Singer of ‘Hang on Sloopy,' Writer of ‘Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo' and ‘Real American' Wrestling Theme, Dies at 77
Rick Derringer, whose six-decade career spanned teen stardom as lead singer of the '60s smash 'Hang on Sloopy,' a '70s solo hit with 'Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo,' session work with artists from Steely Dan to Barbra Streisand, and extensive work as a writer and producer of wrestling themes like Hulk Hogan's seemingly ageless 'Real American,' has died, according to an announcement from his caretaker, Tony Wilson, and Guitar Player magazine. Wilson's post states that Derringer died Monday evening in Ormond Beach, Fl. No cause of death was announced although Derringer had been in ill health in recent months; he was 77. A fiery and remarkably versatile guitarist, a strong singer and a high-profile presence on New York's rock scene of the '70s and '80s, Derringer also produced the Edgar Winter Group's 1972 smash single 'Frankenstein' and served as the band's guitarist for several years; worked closely with Winter's brother Johnny as a guitarist and producer; produced 'Weird' Al Yankovic's first album; and even gave Patti Smith her first major credit, on the song 'Jump' from Derringer's 1973 debut solo album, 'All-American Boy.' His eponymous band released several albums and toured heavily throughout the mid and late '70s — the band's final major incarnation featured Neil Giraldo, who immediately afterward scored major success as Pat Benatar's cowriter and guitarist (and husband to this day). Derringer and his first wife, Liz, were also members of Andy Warhol's extended circle and frequently appeared in rock magazines of the era. In his later years he worked extensively with singer Cyndi Lauper and wrote and produced many popular theme songs for wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan's 'Real American,' which has the curious legacy of being used as a theme song by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Born Richard Dean Zehringer in Ohio in 1947, the young Derringer received a guitar for his ninth birthday and began playing local gigs with his uncle, a country musician, before he was in high school. As a teen he formed a band called the McCoys with his brother Randy. In the summer of 1965 the songwriting-production team the Strangeloves — comprised of Richard Gottehrer, Jerry Goldstein and Bob Feldman, who'd scored a major hit with 'I Want Candy' — hired the group as a backing band and soon after enlisted them to record a cover of the song 'My Girl Sloopy,' originally released by the Vibrations the previous year. With the title altered to 'Hang on Sloopy,' the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 that summer — replacing Barry McGuire's grim 'Eve of Destruction' — around the time Derringer (still working under his born name) turned 18. The hit has become a kind of theme song for Derringer's home state and, in a foretelling of his later years making music for professional sports, has been a staple of Ohio State football game for decades. The McCoys, who opened for the Rolling Stones on their first major North American tour, had minor follow-up hits but did not repeat that success, and began working with blues guitarist Johnny Winter in the late 1960s and, later, his brother Edgar, touring with both and playing on and producing their albums. The partnership with Edgar produced a massive single with 1972's 'Frankenstein,' an instrumental the band had been playing around with for years; the title came from the look of the master tape, which had so many segments spliced together that the musicians said it resembled the horror-movie character's stitches. The song, produced by Derringer, topped the Billboard Hot 100 in May of 1973; he went on to replace Ronnie Montrose in the band shortly after and remained the Edgar Winter Group's guitarist and producer for the next three years. Also in 1973, Derringer enjoyed his first solo hit with 'Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo' (which has had such a long life that it was used in the fourth season of 'Stranger Things') and, after leaving Winter, launched his self-titled solo band, which toured extensively throughout the decade and released several albums; their concerts were heavy on guitar dueling and showmanship, and climaxed with Derringer and his second guitarist dramatically throwing their guitars to each other from opposite sides of the stage. Throughout the 1970s and '80s Derringer also worked extensively as a session musician, playing on albums by Steely Dan (including 'Countdown to Ecstasy,' 'Katy Lied' and 'Gaucho'), Todd Rundgren, Kiss and even Barbra Streisand. In the early 1980s he soloed on two massive singles written by Meatloaf mastermind Jim Steinman: Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' and Air Supply's 'Making Love Out of Nothing at All.' In the mid-1980s he began working with singer Cyndi Lauper, touring in her band and playing on three of her albums (including the hit 'True Colors'), but perhaps more significant was the fact that it led to his entrée into the world of professional wrestling. In 1985, he produced the World Wrestling Federation's 'The Wrestling Album,' which consisted primarily mostly of pro wrestlers' theme songs, many of which he co-wrote. Most notable among these was Hulk Hogan's theme song 'Real American,' which was used by President Barack Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner when unveiling his birth certificate; as a campaign song by Hillary Clinton; and, inevitably, frequently by President Donald Trump. In his later years he toured with Ringo Starr's All Starr Band as well as Peter Frampton, Carmine Appice and others, aligned with conservative causes and released several Christian-themed albums with his wife, Jenda. Best of Variety 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
‘You suck!' Ron DeSantis hit with savage chants at WWE show
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was hit with a hail of boos and chants of 'You suck!' as he attended WWE 's Saturday Night's Main Event in Tampa over the Memorial Day weekend. The former Republican presidential candidate, 46, appeared ringside at the Yuengling Center to wave to the crowd but was not greeted with the warm reception he had evidently been expecting. Instead, he found himself having to grin and clap along awkwardly as the animosity rained down from local wrestling fans, who made it abundantly clear what they thought of him, a moment captured in a number of videos filmed in the arena and shared on social media. DeSantis is the second associate of Trump's to be booed at a WWE event in recent months after Hulk Hogan was greeted with a chorus of jeers when he made a surprise appearance on Monday Night Raw in January. DeSantis was briefly tipped to beat Donald Trump to the GOP nomination in 2023. He had built up a strong conservative following through his combative leadership of the Sunshine State during the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York Post even celebrated him as 'DeFuture' on a fawning front page. However, as the primary season got underway, it quickly became clear he was struggling to connect with voters and muster support. Then, on January 21 last year, two days before the New Hampshire primary, he suspended his campaign as it became obvious he could not compete, reluctantly endorsing Trump, who had spent several months mocking and insulting him, just a week after DeSantis had hit out at Republicans who 'kiss the ring.' Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson told The Independent at the time that DeSantis had proved to have 'the opposite of political charisma' and that 'the initial idea of Ron DeSantis being a great campaigner was rapidly put to the test and discovered to be a lie.' DeSantis is now nearing the end of his second term, and his next moves are unclear ahead of his scheduled departure from the governor's mansion in January 2027. Meanwhile, the president has wasted no time in backing Florida Rep. Byron Donalds as his preferred candidate for the job. 'He's completely crashed to the ground at this point and is certainly being treated like a more standard, average governor now,' political science professor Aubrey Jewett of the University of Central Florida told The Guardian of DeSantis recently. 'He's lost the ability to push things through. He's lost that luster he had that at one time seemed like he could do no wrong in Republican conservative circles. 'He's definitely come back down to earth and some of it is his own doing because if you govern with an autocratic style, that doesn't usually make you a lot of allies.' That assessment certainly seemed to be borne out at the Yuengling Center on Saturday night.
Irish Times
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Fake fitness influencers: They tell us about their morning ice baths and deep breathing, but not injections
Looking back to 2022, it seems impossible that anyone ever believed that Brian 'Liver King' Johnson achieved his physique without pharmaceutical assistance. He looks like a hot water bottle stuffed with bowling balls, an 1980s action figure with more veins – an improbably muscular man who put his bodybuilder-shaming physique down to a diet of 'raw liver, raw bone marrow and raw testicles'. And that last part, really, was the trick: by crediting his results to a regime that nobody else would dare try, he gave them a faint veneer of plausibility. Maybe, if you followed a less extreme version of his protocol, you could get comparable (though less extreme) results. And if you couldn't stomach an all-organ diet, well, you could always get the same nutrients from his line of supplements. The Liver King, of course, was dethroned – leaked emails revealed that he was spending more than $11,000 (€9,810) a month on muscle-building anabolic steroids, as detailed in a new Netflix documentary. But the story of a charismatic person promising ridiculous results is just the most outrageous example of a phenomenon that's been around since performance enhancers were invented. In the 1980s, Hulk Hogan urged a generation to say their prayers and eat their vitamins in his VHS workout set; then in 1994 he was forced to admit to more than a decade of steroid use during a court case against his former boss, Vince McMahon . In 2025, influencers post their morning ice baths and deep breathing exercises, but don't mention what they're injecting at the same time, whether that's steroids intended to encourage muscle growth in the same way that testosterone does, or testosterone itself, or human growth hormone (HGH). As a result, a generation of young men and women – and, to be fair, plenty of middle-aged ones – are developing a completely skewed version of what's possible with hard work and a chicken-heavy diet. And things might be getting worse, not better. It's never been easier to start a business based on your body. With a couple of hundred thousand followers and a decent angle, it only takes a couple of days to whip up an ebook, online course or meal plan. Apps make it easy to start group coaching or habit-tracking services, and even supplement companies are easy to start, if you're happy to just stick your own label on tubs of protein powder. 'In the current economic climate, the fitness industry is a very appealing place,' says James Smith, a personal trainer, fitness influencer and bestselling author who has been open about using steroids in his early 20s (he is now 35). 'If you've got decent genetics, you're a decent coach and have a grasp of marketing, you can unlock a very good income selling workouts and training plans. So maybe you take a little bit of testosterone to get a little leg up, and suddenly you're getting compliments at the gym and posting record lifts on Instagram. Surely a bit of human growth hormone couldn't hurt? Okay, business is now at an all-time high; followers are coming up to you and asking about reps and sets. You've dug yourself a hole that is hard to get out of. What do you do now? Tell your audience you're on steroids?' READ MORE Un-natty … Rich Piana in 2015. Photograph:If you did, you'd be in a very small minority. There are – at a conservative estimate – tens of thousands of fitness influencers globally, and only a small handful have openly admitted to using steroids, even among those posting the most outlandish results. Larry Wheels, an influencer and powerlifter, talked about the muscle cramps, depression, lethargy, loss of appetite and low libido he suffered from steroid abuse in a 2018 video. He then announced he was no longer taking them in 2022, followed by a relapse in 2024. Sam Sulek, one of the current kings of fitness on YouTube thanks to his combination of chatty, informal videos and unbelievable physical dimensions, hasn't elaborated, but in a video last year he did tell fans he'd be unable to reach his goal weight of 300lb 'natural'. Rich Piana, famed for inventing an arms workout taking eight hours, was open about his steroid use for much of his career, discussing his own 'cycle' and giving out advice for other users on social media. He died in 2017, aged 46, and with a heart weighing twice the normal amount for an adult male. But while a high-profile handful of people decide to open up, most other influencers continue to maintain that they're 'natural' or just avoid the subject entirely. A few even take tests to 'prove' they're clean, ignoring the fact that tests are easy to cheat: most steroids are undetectable after a weightlifter cycles off them for a month or so, while their effects can linger in the body forever. And, make no mistake, the effects of enhancement can be huge: in one study, a group of men who took 600mg of testosterone enanthate for 10 weeks and did no exercise saw greater gains in strength than a placebo group who took nothing and worked out normally. 'In my first cycle of testosterone in my early 20s, I climbed the status hierarchy in 12 weeks,' says Smith. 'I didn't use steroids to benefit my business, but I completely understand why people do it. It sounds bad to say, but if you want to ever make a living from fitness, you're almost stupid for even trying to do it naturally.' Meanwhile, it's not just influencers getting bigger who might be misrepresenting how they achieve their unbelievable results. In April this year, Peloton instructor Janelle Rohner agreed to refund followers who bought her course on food macros, after admitting to using GLP-1 weight loss drugs. 'I could have kept this a secret,' she said in a TikTok video posted after the subsequent backlash. 'I could have gone on and on for years and not told, but I don't want to do that. I don't want to be that person.' The implication, of course, is that plenty of people are prepared to be that person, and it's hard to argue. In the years since Wegovy and similar drugs have been approved for weight loss, plenty of influencers have undergone near-miraculous transformations, most of them citing clean eating when it's possible they're doing the exact opposite. At the same time, some influencers are taking a far more dangerous route than pills or chemicals – injecting synthol, an oil used to bulk up their muscles, or having high-risk 'Brazilian butt lifts' to compensate for bodies that won't change naturally. Bad influence: live streaming at the gym. Photograph: PeopleImages/Getty Images How much of any of this is a problem if you, personally, are blissfully unaffected by every Love Island contestant, #NoExcuses Insta-reel and celebrity success story? The answer, on a societal level, might be: quite a lot. In a 2022 survey from social enterprise Better, 23 per cent of men and 42 per cent of women reported that they 'rarely' or 'never' feel body confident. In a small-scale study from 2024 , participants who were active social media users, frequently liking and commenting on content, were less satisfied with their bodies and had an increased level of negative feelings about their appearance. For anyone who takes online influencers at their word, training can feel dispiriting and hopeless: even working out multiple times a day and eating perfectly, it can be impossible to reach the same levels of fat-free muscle as your Instagram feed will show you after 20 seconds of scrolling. And, of course, film stars male and female are hardly helping the situation by showing up more lean and muscular than they've ever been in their 40s or 50s, preaching the virtues of twice-a-day training and drinking lots of water. 'It's quite clear there's been an uptick in this stuff,' says Dan Roberts, a personal trainer who works with actors and Broadway stars. 'It takes time to build muscle, so when you suddenly build a lot of it, that's not possible without extra testosterone in your system, or growth hormone, or something. Also, sometimes the signs are just really obvious … when someone's neck thickens up suddenly …' Some fitness enthusiasts, meanwhile, are fighting back. In Reddit's 'natty or juice' community, members debate whether celebrities and influencer physiques are achievable naturally, or if their results show signs of substance abuse: a distended stomach (sometimes known as 'roid gut') can be a sign of excess growth hormone, while gynecomastia (an increase of breast gland tissue in men) is typically caused by an imbalance in hormone levels. On YouTube, bodybuilders and coaches such as Greg Doucette, Dr Mike Israetel and Derek Munro (whose channel, More Plates More Dates, exposed the Liver King) explain what actually goes into a serious steroid regime, as well as the disastrous possible side effects. But even with millions of viewers well versed in the minutiae of Winstrol or the signs of an HGH habit (it's all in the jaw), millions more hang on to the hope that the right protein powder or workout regime might be enough, and end up hopelessly disappointed. Shirtless selfie. Photograph: Getty Images So what's the solution? A good start would be for the most high-profile influencers and celebrities to be honest about what they're using and the risks they're accepting to do it. 'Look at testosterone,' says Smith, who posted a video about his own regime earlier this year. 'It's cheap, easily accessible, well tolerated and arguably less dangerous than a lot of other things young people do. There are multiple implications for using it over the long term, problems with use versus abuse, fertility and many other psychological implications and impacts to using it, but it's absolutely becoming more common. I look better with my shirt off at 35 than 25 because I now use a TRT [testosterone replacement therapy] service.' We could also reframe what we're looking to get out of exercise, from an enviable physique to a better quality of life. 'When it comes to our health, there are so many actually proven things we can do to live longer, be happier, fitter, stronger,' says Roberts. 'The good information is out there – we just have to look for it through all the noise and nonsense.' We should also probably ignore the people who have lied to us in the past. The Liver King has now, in a way, come clean: after claiming to go 'natty' for 60 days in an Instagram post, he admitted to being back on steroids in late 2023 (although he is still preaching the value of his 'nine ancestral tenets', which include sleep, sun exposure and cold therapy, and which the Netflix documentary claims were made up in conjunction with his marketing agency). 'I think he thought the broader message was more important than the steroids,' says Ben Johnson, former CEO of the Liver King's holding company, Tip of the Spear, who seems genuinely shocked that his former associate was doing anything untoward. 'It's unfortunate that the messenger has killed the message … when there's a kernel of truth at the centre of the message, it's easy to focus on that and ignore the other variables.' What isn't quite so easy is looking past the abs and the arms, and finding people who value health and wellbeing over aesthetics and false promises. But as anyone who's put in the work knows, sometimes the hard path is the one that pays off. – Guardian
