Many of Hulk Hogan's peers and those in the industry who looked up to him were eager to share their tributes for the legend in the wake of his passing. Now ECW icon Paul Heyman has finally added his voice to the conversation, recalling his time with Hogan in the industry during an interview on "The Ariel Helwani Show."
"My interaction on camera with Hulk Hogan is limited to the fact that he worked with Brock Lesnar right before Brock Lesnar beat The Rock for the title," Heyman recalled. "And when we did MetLife Stadium in 2019, and the show opened with Hulk Hogan posing with Alexa Bliss? I interrupted it and walked out to the ring to 'Real American' to kick off the show for - of all things - Brock Lesnar versus Seth Rollins."
Heyman again emphasized that he had limited exposure to Hogan on air, but also didn't get to work with the late legend backstage either, even in 2002 when he was a writer for "SmackDown" during Hogan's run at the time. "I knew Hulk in 1980 when he was in WWE, and I was a 15-year-old photographer. And he was always super cool to me and even cooler to me once he knew that I was riding with Afa and Sika - The Wild Samoans - 'cause he loved The Wild Samoans and they loved him."