Jim Ross: People Were Jealous Of Hulk Hogan Backstage In WWE
Many apparently didn’t like Hogan’s relationship with Vince McMahon
Get to the top of any industry and you’re bound to earn your fair share of haters. Doing whatever necessary to ensure success and cosying up to the fat cats are two surefire ways of succeeding, and in WWE few did both better than Hulk Hogan.
According to veteran announcer Jim Ross, Hogan’s close relationship with WWE Owner Vince McMahon drew some degree of jealousy from others in the company, saying on the Grilling JR podcast:
“He sometimes wasn’t very popular. That stems from a lot of jealousy and the fact that whoever’s closest to Vince at that particular time is gonna get some heat on them. Nobody was gonna say anything, maybe covertly… The jealously issues were tough for Hogan. He got an unfair hand more often than not, simply because he was very, very successful.”
Hogan's relationships with wrestling's decision makers is common knowledge, with his relationship with McMahon acknowledged by CM Punk in the infamous 'pipe bomb' promo.
According to Ross, when WWE ran their separate house show loops in the 80s, wrestlers backstage prayed they’d be on the same show as Hogan, as it was guaranteed to draw the most money:
“If you go back in his heyday of WWE when they were running three house shows a night, the first thing when a talent got their booking sheet was to look and see where Hogan was, and then hope that they’re on that same card. They knew it was gonna draw more money than the other cards. And that’s the guy that people got jealous over.”
