Today is Hulk Hogan’s birthday. And if you didn’t know Terry Bollea (Hulk’s real name) was born right here in Augusta! From the time I started watching wrestling I’ve been a Hulk Hogan fan. As a kid, Hulk Hogan was my hero. I had all of the Hulk Hogan action figures, I even took the Hulk Hogan kids vitamins. If there was one wrestler I would want to meet, it was Hulk Hogan. On June 23 2018, I finally got the chance.
My wife’s side of our family lives right outside Orlando Florida. Hulk Hogan has a store in Orlando, and announced he was going to be there doing an autograph signing. I checked the date of the signing and it was the same weekend that we were going to be in town! I had my chance to meet Hulk Hogan! This was going to finally happen! I took to Twitter and tweeted the man himself, and he responded!
We got down to Orlando a few days before the actual signing, so I made a trip to Hogan’s Beach Shop to buy something to have The Hulkster sign. I got the old school red and yellow “Hulkamania” t-shirt. While I was at Hogan’s Beach Shop, I was talking to one of the guys who runs the store and he said “do you wanna take a picture with Hulk’s championship belt?” Uhhh yeah, of course I do! I got to hold and take a picture with Hulk Hogan’s WWF championship belt, the one he wore when he body slammed Andre The Giant at WrestleMania 3!
Next up was the day of the actual signing. My best friend Chris, who had come with us on this trip, and I got to Hogan’s Beach Shop as early as we could to get in line. The line was crazy long, but we were in it for the long haul. As we got closer and closer to the store, we could finally see him. There was our childhood hero in the flesh, Hulk Hogan! Let me tell you, Hulk Hogan couldn’t have been nicer. We told him we were from Augusta, and he asked if there were certain places that were still around that he remembered from when he was younger. He took time with each fan, he talked to each person, he was very personable, it was an awesome experience.
They say to never meet your heroes because you’ll probably be disappointed. I was not disappointed! This is a day I will never forget, and a picture I will always treasure.