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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The D'Amore Drop: The night Juggalos hit 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper in the face with a dead fish
The D'Amore Drop is a weekly guest column on Uncrowned written by Scott D'Amore, the Canadian professional wrestling promoter, executive producer, trainer and former wrestler best known for his long-standing role with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, where he served as head of creative. D'Amore is the current owner of leading Canadian promotion Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling. The end of July marked 10 years since the one and only 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper left us. A decade gone, and I still tell Piper stories like they happened yesterday. Roddy could have you ready to strangle him one minute — he could be relentless when he targeted you for a ribbing — but leave you inspired and speechless the very next day. We crossed paths in WWE, WCW and TNA, but it's two small moments in 2007 that really stick out when I think of him a decade after he left us. First was in the summer of '07. I had one foot out the door of wrestling at that time, but Violent J (Joe Bruce) reached out and said he wanted me to come to the Annual Gathering of the Juggalos for the Insane Clown Posse's JCW Wrestling. He wanted me to do a segment on 'In the Pit with Piper,' which was what Roddy had to call his segment then, as WWE owned the copyright on 'Piper's Pit.' This took place in this awesome makeshift outdoor stadium, purpose-built, in the middle of a camp ground. The ICP has built an amazing subculture out of nothing, based on accepting everyone and anyone, no matter what they look like, sound like or sleep with. On this night, though, the fans were so fired up, it was crazy. I'd worked in WCW when Eric Bischoff all but encouraged fans to toss trash and beers into the ring. (EZE felt it looked cool on TV, then a glass was thrown and they stamped down on it.) But these ICP fans were hurling beer bottles, large batteries, even fish that they'd grabbed out of a pond on the campsite. Minutes before I was due to go out and appear on Piper's Pit — I mean the Pit with Piper — wrestler Mickie Knuckles got knocked silly by a battery to the head. She was then pelted with more batteries and other projectiles while she lay there trying to regain her senses. I witnessed that and thought, "I don't know if I want to go out in that." I was literally crossing the room to talk with JCW boss Violent J when Roddy clapped me on the shoulders, grinned, and said: 'Let's go! We got a wild crowd! This'll be fun!' I wasn't going to tell Roddy Piper, of all people, that, nah, actually I don't want to do this now. So Roddy went out first. He was supposed to say, 'I was a Juggalo before there was even the name for being a Juggalo,' and babyface himself to the crowd. Instead, he took a fish to the face and started cutting a promo on the fans. 'I've been stabbed! I've been shot! You guys can't scare me,' he said. And the fans began to turn on him. They started throwing more crap at him. Violent J grabbed me and said, 'You've got to go out right now and become the heel.' He pushed me out there right away — no music, no nothing — with a microphone. I had to get Piper's attention. 'I know what you were going to say,' I told Piper in the ring. 'You were going to say you are the original Juggalo, but let me tell you …' And Piper locked in. We went back and forth, Piper spitting out zingers like it's MSG in 1985. What a pleasure to work with one of the best of all time. He was eyeing me up and down — totally back in character. I then hit my lines and did the finish we'd worked on, riffing on Roddy's famous line from 'They Live' (a John Carpenter film you've got to see if you haven't already, if only for the fight scene in the alleyway). 'I came out here for two reasons: to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I am all out of bubblegum.' Then — as Roddy had instructed me to do — I spat my gum in his face. Roddy did not flinch. He just stood there with spit on his face, staring straight at me. Then a battery, one of those big fat ones, came flying through the air. I was inches from Roddy's face and I saw it graze his right eyeball. Roddy didn't even react at all. His eyes remained locked on mine. What a pro! Then my minions hit the ring. Piper laid them out. And then he got me in his classic Roddy sleeper, and we called it a night. What an experience! Maybe six months later we were booked for another show and, after we did our spots, we shared a taxi back to the hotel, which was about 20 miles away. We talked a bit. We got out of the taxi. It was late and really cold. From across the street came a guy running and flipping out that Roddy Piper was in front of him. He was so excited to meet Roddy. He told Roddy he'd been through it in life. Wrestling, and especially Roddy, had really brought him joy during the bad times. He said he had Roddy's 'Hot Rod' shirt at home and wore it when he needed a boost. The fans asked Roddy about the new, non-WWE branded shirt and where it was for sale. He took out his phone to make a note of a website, but Roddy was already handing me his leather jacket. There and then, in the freezing cold, Roddy took off his T-shirt and handed it to the guy. He hugged him, and thanked him for making his day. The fan went away with the memory of a lifetime. When we reached the hotel we walked inside without saying a word until the elevator doors closed. Roddy was clearly emotional and finally, just before we reached his floor, he looked over to me and said, 'Sometimes we forget how blessed we are to be able to touch people like that. That really made my day.' That was Roddy Piper. Fearless in the ring. Generous and gracious outside of it. Now 10 years gone. There will never be another one like him. Back in the early days of TNA, when I was known as the 'coach' of Team Canada, I found myself in a program with the legendary Dusty Rhodes. It was a highlight of my career. And it happened not because I pitched it, but because Dusty himself decided he wanted to work with me. For a kid who grew up idolizing the man, wow, it was an honor. Before we began the program, Dusty sat me down and was laying what he wanted out of me in the first promo. (Make sure you read this in Dusty's voice, a voice everyone on Earth can do a spot-on impression of.) He said: 'Baby, I want you to go out there and don't you hold back on anything. Say that I'm old, say that I'm fat, say I'm all puffed up like a horse that needs to be put down. Hit me with it, baby!' I listened, but finally said: 'Dusty, if you don't mind, I'd rather go another way. I'm not comfortable running you down like that. I'd rather talk about how you were my idol, how you were the reason I wanted to be in wrestling. You're a three-time world champion, one of the all-time greats. Nothing can erase that. But I have the honor of being the guy who's finally going to take you out, because you stand for the NWA tradition and for America, and I stand for the new wrestling and Canada.' Dusty thought about it and said, 'All right, baby, whatever you want.' Then he asked, 'But why don't you want to say that other stuff?' That's when I told him something I'd learned a long time ago. You don't run the older babyfaces down in that way. And not just out of respect, but out of good business and self-preservation. As I told Dusty, I had no doubt at all that this feud of ours would end with me flat on my back, taking a bionic elbow, and then Dusty laying on top of me for three seconds. So I had a choice. Get pinned by a legend, or get pinned by a fat, old has-been. I preferred to be beat by a legend. Dusty looked at me. He smiled, then he squeezed my knee and said, 'Oh, baby! You get it, kid!' I don't get how WWE can claim AEW isn't competition when it competes so hard with them. You don't counter-program a promotion you don't see as competition, and WWE apparently is looking to counter AEW's big All Out card in London with John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar. You only compete with competition. It's in the name, right? Put another way, does UFC — WWE's sister company — give a moment's thought to counter-programming other MMA organizations? Of course not. Bron Breakker's call back to the immortal 'Steiner Math' promo on Raw the other night was outstanding. I love these callbacks to previous eras. Longtime fans just eat it up. Bron's was especially effective, as it was almost an aside. I was a witness to the historic original in TNA, when Bronn's uncle, Scott, did one of the funniest promos of all time — and he did it all in one take!
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The D'Amore Drop: You can say John Cena's heel run was a failure, but you're wrong
The D'Amore Drop is a weekly guest column on Uncrowned written by Scott D'Amore, the Canadian professional wrestling promoter, executive producer, trainer and former wrestler best known for his long-standing role with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, where he served as head of creative. D'Amore is the current owner of leading Canadian promotion Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling. Fans love surprises, and Saturday's surprise — Seth Rollins' Money in the Bank cash-in at WWE SummerSlam — was one of the biggest storyline twists of the year. So the fans were super excited and cheered — even though the Seth Rollins character had lied and cheated his way to a title win in a terribly cowardly way, and at the expense of one of the most popular heroes in the sport, CM Punk. Fans cheer moments as much as they do their favorite wrestlers these days. For better or worse, there's no going back to the days when the fans would have booed Rollins for doing something so dirty. Not only was the execution of the 'injury' itself second to none, but Seth's commitment to selling the injury for the past month further underlines that Colby Lopez is one of the very best to ever do this. Wrestling really can be the best community. A week ago, my friend of 30 years, Jeff Kavanaugh — known to wrestling insiders as 'Drumboy' — got the gut-wrenching news he has stage-four liver and bowel cancer. The realities of modern life being what they are, we set a GoFundMe up, and it has already raised $27,000. It's a tough assignment, but 'Drummy' is focused on getting healthy. We love you, Drumbie. There's a saying in wrestling: The fastest way to get a secret out isn't by telephone — it's by tell-a-wrestler. We're two and a half decades into an era where, if a surprise has any chance of not getting spoiled for the fans, you have to keep the number of people who know about it to an absolute minimum. That includes people who work at the company. I've done it myself — during my second run with TNA, only four people aside from myself knew that Christian Cage was joining TNA for a few months while he was under contract with AEW. It always feels a little bit … well, not right … to keep your colleagues in the dark, but that's what the job is sometimes. And even with that degree of sneakiness in place, there was still a report by John Pollock ahead of SummerSlam that Rollins' injury was a pre-planned work. There are people outside — and inside — WWE who are understandably upset they were misled, if not lied to. However, you have to admit it worked beautifully. The moment where Seth Rollins stopped limping, stood tall, and cast his crutches aside was pure excitement. I continue to be over the moon for Trinity — aka WWE Women's World Champion Naomi — and her incredible run with WWE. Watching her not only have that great match with Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky in front of 60,000 people on Sunday, but also getting what I am sure will be a lifelong treasured moment with her dad during her SummerSlam walkout, was special. It also made me think of Mercedes Moné's recent AEW All In moment — wrestling in front of nearly 30,000 at AEW's biggest event of the year. Most fans will know Trinity and Mercedes walked out on WWE — as tag-team champs, no less — back in May 2022. They were not happy, to say the least, with their creative direction and how they were being spoken to. Now look at the pair of them. There are a million lessons here. Not only for talent — to listen to their guts and believe in themselves — but also for office, who should never lose sight of the fact that talent are people too, and have to be treated with that respect. The next Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling show will be Sacred Grown on Sept. 5 on the Six Nations territory in Ontario, near Hamilton. The Six Nations is the biggest native territory in Canada and we'll be bringing in a huge show next month. I can announce Maple Leaf's Champion's Grail will be on the line when Rohan Raja takes on Bishop Dyer as part of what's going to be a loaded event. In the meantime, check out Raja taking on Hammerstone earlier this summer. Now that I've seen a couple episodes of "WWE: Unreal" … I don't know that my thoughts have changed. I know Bully Ray and Josh Barnett don't like it — and my feelings kind of align with theirs … while at the same time, I understand that it's a promotion's job to give fans what they want. Like we talked about last week, the goal for WWE and Netflix here is to do for wrestling what "Drive to Survive" did for Formula One. But instead of viewers going, 'Oh, I didn't know it was this exciting, I thought they just raced round and round in circles,' they go, 'I thought it was just fake fighting — I had no idea it took this much creativity.' Anecdotally, I have a friend whose wife binge-watched the season … she loved Chelsea Green's real-life persona and really gravitated to CM Punk tearing up moments before headlining WrestleMania 41. And, for the first time ever, she wanted to watch a WWE PLE last weekend with my friend and their son. Bringing in new fans like this is exactly what "WWE: Unreal" is supposed to be doing. If that really was John Cena's final WWE Championship match, what a match it was. You could lip-read him telling Cody Rhodes afterward, 'That's all I had.' And it was more than enough, John. Again, what a match. Now that it's over, the John Cena heel run certainly won't go down in history like Paul Orndorff turning on Hulk Hogan — much less Hulk Hogan's own heel turn in 1996. What I think we'll remember is that it was a shocking moment, it got off to a very strong start, but for reasons we may never know the full details of, it fizzled out quickly to the point where WWE simply dropped it. For all we know, WWE always planned for Cena to turn around at SummerSlam and drop the belt to Cody. That's certainly what I predicted in this column in late spring. If you hated the heel run, that's perfectly up to you. But I'll use the logic I use when I hear people try to say Jon Moxley's AEW title reign was a failure: Look at the gates, look at the numbers. While it wasn't nearly as good as we all hoped, Cena's heel turn wasn't a 'failure.' You'll have your own thoughts on Brock Lesnar's return to WWE, ranging from 'about time' to 'I hate they brought him back.' Measure that against the fact that Lesnar's appearance got the biggest pop of the weekend — by far — and Lesnar shirts are now the best, second-best and third-best selling t-shirts for WWE … there's your answer to why he's back. CM Punk winning a WWE World Championship in 2025 is a hell of a story. Again, there are real-world lessons here about it never being too late, and about letting go of feuds. I already said in this column how gracious Punk was when we spoke to him about joining TNA in late 2023. What I'll add here is that mere moments before he walked out to that insane reaction at WWE Survivor Series 2023, Punk texted me that he'd signed with WWE. It was important to Phil that I hear it from him before I read it on Twitter or was texted by someone else. The match he had with Gunther this past Saturday at SummerSlam was incredible. You can argue — and feel on solid ground doing it — that the best matches at both WrestleMania and SummerSlam this year were CM Punk matches. He turns 47 in two months. Like I say, it's a hell of a story. WWE's first-ever two-day SummerSlam delivered where it matters most — at the box office and in the ring. An announced attendance of 113,722 over two nights shattered the SummerSlam all-time turnstile record set by SummerSlam '92 at the original Wembley Stadium in England. And the matches were outstanding — it was the WWE's card of the year so far. It's an absolute given that the two-day SummerSlams are here to stay, and you have to guess that the Royal Rumble, surely, will be a two-day event very soon. WWE easily has the depth of roster to do a two-day Royal Rumble. They could do the women's Rumble and men's world championship on one night, and women's championship and men's Rumble on the other. I popped big for George Iceman, aka 'The Personal Concierge' from TNA, making his WWE/NXT debut. Iceman has hustled for 25 years in wrestling and it's great to see him get his moment. I tip my hat to the man who signed him to his first ever TNA deal.
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Scott D'Amore Sees The Young Bucks Going To WWE To Get A WrestleMania Moment
The Young Bucks in WWE? Stranger things have happened, but Scott D'Amore can still see it being possible. D'Amore published the latest edition of his 'D'Amore Drop' column on Yahoo's The Uncrowned. There, he recapped AEW's huge All In: Texas event, which saw Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland beat the Young Bucks. Due to the match stipulation, the Jackson brothers lost their EVP titles. D'Amore believes the Young Bucks, who were EVPs and with AEW since day one, have done it all in the company. It might not happen now, but he can see WWE calling again, and maybe this time the Bucks go chase a WrestleMania moment of their own. 'Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland beat the Young Bucks, with the gimmick the Bucks are no longer AEW EVPs. You had the top stars of tomorrow beating the guys who helped build the company. The Bucks — Matt and Nick Jackson — have done everything there is to do in AEW as characters and as real-life executives,' D'Amore wrote. 'Hmmm … It's no secret WWE wanted the Bucks badly before they helped form AEW — and I can see Matt and Nick, not tomorrow, but at some point — maybe deciding it is time to go have a WrestleMania moment like fellow AEW founder Cody Rhodes did,' he added. D'Amore was released by Anthem Sports in February 2024 and replaced as TNA President by Anthony Cicione. However, Cicione has also left the promotion and was replaced by the current TNA President, Carlos Silva. Since his departure, D'Amore started his own promotion, Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, in Canada. Read More: The post Scott D'Amore Sees The Young Bucks Going To WWE To Get A WrestleMania Moment appeared first on Wrestlezone.
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The D'Amore Drop: The Hulk Hogan stories you never hear about — and what it all means after a complicated week
The D'Amore Drop is a weekly guest column on Uncrowned written by Scott D'Amore, the Canadian professional wrestling promoter, executive producer, trainer and former wrestler best known for his long-standing role with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, where he served as head of creative. D'Amore is the current owner of leading Canadian promotion Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling. You hesitate to comment on the passing of Hulk Hogan, and I want to be very clear that I am one of those who feel his legacy is very complicated. It contains a lot of good and some very bad. The memory of the biggest star of a generation, perhaps any generation, is tarnished. The question for all of us is whether the good is completely erased by the very bad. As other commentators have written volumes about, Hogan completely changed wrestling forever. Twice. Sure, his motivation there was his own fame and fortune, and the high tides he brought raised plenty of boats. But there was no personal benefit to doing the thousands of off-screen appearances he did with no cameras and no reason to do them other than to make others happy. John Cena is rightly celebrated for doing more Make-A-Wish appearances than anyone else, but Hogan is a close second. I've been privileged enough to be asked to do these types of Make-A-Wish appearances. Please believe me — and I think every parent or anyone with a soft spot for kids will get it immediately — these visits can be gut-wrenching. The first one I did was with a kid named Joey who was a massive Border City Wrestling fan. Three of us went and Joey was so excited. I held it together for two hours talking to this great kid. And when the parents told us their boy had made sure to rest extra for days so he'd have energy to talk, I hung on while they told me their son probably didn't have long. Then I ran the last few meters to my truck and just bawled my eyes out for 15 minutes straight. Hogan did that thousands of times. Usually at least once in every town he visited on the grueling WWF tours of the 1980s and '90s. I can mention this next story now, because the kid passed away in the '80s and Hulk's gone now too… This comes via George 'The Animal' Steele, who went to many of those Make-A-Wish meetings with Hogan. George was so proud of Hulk doing these all the time. He added that Hulk instinctively found the right tone and words, depending on each child and how sick they were. If the kid had a chance of getting better, he'd talk with them about kicking out, Hulking up, and running wild on their illness. He'd tell them he believed in them. But where he was truly great was with the kids who knew the end was closing in. George said Hulk would tell them, 'Hey, there's always hope, but if that day does come, you'll get to meet our brother Jesus Christ. And I'll see you again in Heaven and you can introduce me.' I think it is OK to tell this now that everyone involved has passed on. One time, it was in St. Louis, a boy dying of cancer told Hulk that he wouldn't be going to Heaven … because the boy had done bad things. Over the next hour, the kid trusted Hulk enough to tell Hulk that he was being abused. George said Hulk told the kid that it wasn't his fault, that Jesus loves him. He stayed with the child until he fell asleep. Then Hulk took the stairs to the hospital administration floor five at a time — burst in and made sure the authorities were alerted. Arrests were made. Hulk Hogan really cared about kids. That shouldn't be forgotten. Neither should the fact some of those kids were desperately hurt by Hulk's words later on in life. I don't pretend to have the answer on whether you can separate that kind of good from the bad, or even if separating them at all is the right thing to do. Maybe we have to look at the good and look at the bad, side-by-side. Maybe we have to remember both. One interaction I had with Hulk Hogan was in WCW in the mid-'90s. I was working as a job guy — what they now call enhancement talent — and my boss, Jody Hamilton, pulled me over and asked if I'd be able to make it to more of the shows. He added that it was Hulk Hogan who'd insisted on it — and that Hogan said I should get a raise. I was 21 years old and on cloud nine that Hulk Hogan even knew my name, much less rated my work and went out to bat for me. I was floating around and then I got a tap on the shoulder. I turned around. 'Did they talk to you, brother?' Hulk said. 'Y-yes, sir! Yes they did — thank you!' And then he said the most Hulk Hogan thing ever: 'Don't thank me. I know you think I did it for you, and I am happy for you, brother, but don't make any mistake about it: I did it for myself. 'Because while you and me will probably never wrestle, you are great at putting over the guys that I wrestle. I need monsters to slay — and you help create those monsters.' While finishing this column I got the news my friend 'Champagne' Gerry Morrow had also passed away. Gerry's name won't be known to many of today's fans, but he had a huge impact on professional wrestling. In the ring, Gerry was a massive regional star in Stampede Wrestling and, with partner The Cuban Assassin, won tag-team gold all over North America. He was a friend and mentor not only to me, but a generation of Canadian stars like Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, Edge, Christian Cage, Don Callis and many others. Rest in peace, Gerry. We'll all miss you. My friend Bully Ray over at the mighty "Busted Open" podcast is predicting, or at the very least fantasy booking, that Seth Rollins returns this weekend at WWE SummerSlam and cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the WWE World Championship. There's certainly something odd about the way Rollins' injury has been reported on. If the idea was to make fans wonder what on Earth is going on, it's worked. MLF's big role in the massively successful "Happy Gilmore" sequel is yet more evidence that AEW has become entrenched not only as a super-massive planet in the wrestling solar system, but also increasingly in pop culture. I'm excited to see who the next challenger for AEW World Champion Hangman Adam Page will be. Obviously MJF won the Casino Gauntlet and can step up and challenge for the title at any time. He's the top and most likely major challenger for Hangman — but is he next? AEW has major options: Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland — coming off a big win over the Young Bucks — are both gunning for the gold. And on the women's side, the debut of Alex Windsor from the U.K. adds some fresh blood in that division too. AEW's title scene is loaded. Meanwhile, the WWE women's roster have a great opportunity to continue the red-hot run they've all been on this year. Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair had the best match of WrestleMania Night 1 — no, WrestleMania WEEK — in April, and Sky, Ripley and new champ Naomi will, I think, steal the show at this weekend's SummerSlam event. WWE is on fire — they are very close to selling out their first ever two-day SummerSlam — but wrestling is doing great up and down. This week the NWA, the historic promotion owned by Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, debuts on Roku. My buddy Pat Kenney — better known as Simon Diamond — is one of the guys driving the NWA, and it's great to see. Corgan loves wrestling and keeps finding ways to get content to fans. Obviously, Billy used to co-own and run TNA. I'll never forget getting Billy, Dixie Carter and Ed Nordholm in one photo at TNA's 20th anniversary. Three presidents from three different TNA eras of the company, all in one shot. We had a blast at Downtown Throwdown, Maple Leaf Pro's outdoor show on the streets of Windsor, Canada this past Saturday. You roll the die when you run outdoor shows, and rain was given out but, luckily, never arrived. Main-eventers the Good Brothers, especially, had fun performing for a street audience. We recorded the event and it will be going up on our YouTube channel shortly. In the meantime, check out this classic from earlier in the month between Josh Alexander and Ace Austin. Speaking of The Good Brothers, my guys also got a deal with Roku too, for their own promotion Lariato and their always hilarious "Talk'n Shop" podcasts.
CTV News
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Local Windsorites remember Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan makes his entrance during a match while working for the WWE. (Photo by WWE/WWE via Getty Images) 'Hulk's been so influential,' said Scott D'Amore, president of Maple Leaf Wrestling. He was a young 20 year old trying to cut his teeth in the business when he first came across the man behind Hulkamania. 'My boss goes to me, hey kid, are you available to be around a lot more often? I said, yes, of course. He goes congratulations, you got a I said, oh, thank you, sir. He goes, well, don't thank me, thank Hulk.' Hogan wondered why high-quality regulars, like D'Amore, weren't always around. According to D'Amore, management pointed towards money. 'I guess he (Hogan) just looked at them and said then give them more money.' Hogan approached D'Amore later that day and was greeted with a thank you. 'I'm happy for you,' Hogan told D'Amore. 'But I did it for me because even though me and you will never wrestle, you and your guys are the guys that make the guys that do come up and wrestle me. You're so important in making them look like powerful monsters for me to beat.' During a trip to meet the Hulkster, Maxine Abegbuzie was thrilled to see him make a surprise phone call to her father and two brothers who are big wrestling fans, which she captured and shared to social media. It's a moment Maxine will never forget. 'What you didn't see on camera is that him and my dad had a longer conversation after, and my dad was just thanking him for the experience; that he gave that wholesome experience that he gave me as his daughter.' Maxine described Hulk as a nice witty man who was down to earth, willing to lend a helping hand and inspired. 'He was not afraid to even talk about his faith. He was not afraid to talk about even his personal struggles. Like, it was just shocking to me how transparent this man was about his life and how heartfelt he was,' Maxine explained. Claudia Renkwitz felt the same way after she met the Hulk through a friend, rolling with him and his crew. She spent time reminiscing about the many times she spent with Hogan and looked over her camera roll after hearing the news of his passing. The memories that I have as a real person he's just... you forget who he was. You forget he was Hulk Hogan. He was just a real person." He was a real person who changed wrestling and was an influential character. 'You think about how many kids he got to eat their vegetables, you know, and eat a little healthier and go for a run or, you know, try to lift a weight or whatever he did because you just wanted to be like that larger-than-life character,' said D'Amore.
