Latest / CBN Sports 1-ON-1 / EP.11 Hulk Hogan Reveals the Greatest Moment of His Life (And It Wasn't Wrestling)

Transcript

EP.11 Hulk Hogan Reveals the Greatest Moment of His Life (And It Wasn't Wrestling) · CBN Sports 1-ON-1

• Will Dawson: Welcome to CBN Sports One-on-One, where you'll hear exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in sports right here on the CBN Sports Podcast Network. I'm your host, Will Dawson. If you're like most of us and you love sports, but you're tired of the dark side of sports culture, me-focused athletes, or even organizations that bow to an unbiblical belief system, we think you're gonna love this podcast. There's no yelling, no sensationalism. Just great conversations with athletes and coaches who recognize that their purpose is bigger than their sport. Well, on July 24th, 2025, nearly one year ago to the day, famed wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan was found dead in his home. Terry Belea, known as Hulk Hogan, had suffered a heart attack at age 71. If you're like me, a child of the 80s, Hulk Hogan was bigger than life. Polcomania was worldwide. I remember going to the Tampa Sundome as a nine-year-old. It was a taping of Saturday night's main event. I was a huge wrestling fan, and the main event that night was the Big Boss Man and Akeem versus the Mega Powers, Macho Man, Randy Savage, and Hulk Hogan in a tag team match. No surprise who won. But the electricity I felt in that arena that night is the same that many guys my age during that time. Experienced as well, thanks to the Hulkster. As you'll hear in this interview, Hulk Hogan recounts how he became a superstar, his rock bottom, his baptism, and turning to Jesus. This interview was shot on March 19th, 2024, and the voice you'll hear doing the interview is our colleague Tom Buring, who asked Hulk Hogan some pointed questions that got the mighty Hulk Hogan emotional. Let's jump right in. Thirty-five years of wrestling. Yowza. Yikes. Wow, totally yikes. How in the world did you do that? But let me ask you this. What became the most draining for you to sustain the Hulk Hogan recognition? Well, 35 years of wrestling first, to answer your first question, I did it because I fell in love with professional wrestling. And I once I played music for ten years and was on a stage in front of people, so I wasn't, you know, daring the headlights as bad as I would have been if I hadn't had ten years of that type of musical background being on a stage. So when I got in the wrestling business, I just loved wrestling because I grew up with it here in Tampa, Florida. No Tampa Bay Buccaneers, no Lightning. All we had was spring training and a minor league team called the Tampa Tarpans who Support the Cincinnati Reds. So and played baseball but didn't have much else going on, but loved wrestling. It was larger than life. At this little armory downtown Tampa, Fort Homer Hesley Armory, that would hold like four or five thousand people. Every time Dusty Rhodes would throw a punch, it would sound like a cannon was going off. Boom, boom. So I fell in love. That's why I stayed in it 35 years. I basically got into the business. And once I saw, you know, the mindset, the mentality of the cigar smokers and the violence, it only took me so far because I still had that bug in me where I like to look to the crowd and see if I was getting a approved, you know, and after I slammed one guy and looked to the crowd, I guess I made a crazy face, but the look that I gave gave a better reaction than the the the wrestling move. I went, Okay. They wanna see me be a little goofy and have fun in here. So I kind of switched the business over from that hardcore, violent, bloodthirsty cigar smoker, middle aged man, to getting families at ringside. And once we got there, we told, you know, the kids and the moms and the dads that wrestling is predetermined. So we deregulated it so people knew it was an exhibition. And that's the reason I stayed in it so long. It was so much fun to do it and and be part of it. It just it just really ramped up once because I wrestled for many years and I wasn't Hulk Hogan. You know, I was the Super Destroyer, I was Sterling Goldman, I was Terry Boulder, I was Terry the Hulk Boulder. Then when I hit on the Hulk Hogan character and the four demands, the training purse, vitamins, and believe in yourself, all of a sudden that character launched me into this crazy genre where my gosh, the kids are coming to see you. Well, why is this happening? And then I'm used to the kids coming to see me. Thank God for the make a wish kids and the role model stuff. And then now as we sit here, I just thank God it's still happening because I can get to so many people. So it all intertwined together. You know, the character and the wrestling. That's why I did it so long. Was it a challenge for you to separate? Once you knew that things were scripted, there was a narrative with a a determined Predetermined outcome. Was that difficult for you to maintain the competition, the competitive side of you while entertaining? Well, as as a businessman, I look at it completely different than most wrestlers. Because w a lot of wrestlers they will look at it and go, Well, it's predetermined and it's a work, you know? And just like if I was to grab your arm like this. And put you in a top wrist lock here. That's a work. That's no, that's a work. But if I go to the outside, that's a shoot. That means you're actually trying to hurt somebody. Break bones, submission holds. So as everybody got comfortable in wrestling, and goes, my gosh, it's predetermined. It's a work. I'll take it easy on you out there. I did the same thing, but business wise, it was a shoot to me. Because if I'm wrestling somebody and they're going, it doesn't matter if you w win or lose, it's it's predetermined. Well, it does because if I'm the good guy and my merchandise is selling five times more than you, that's a shoot to me. If I'm wrestling somebody, he's making more money than me in Madison Square Garden. So I always looked at the business a little differently. So that was my mindset for it. Interesting that you I believe it was during one of your auditions. They broke your leg. And the statement you made walking away was No one will ever hurt me again. Is that what fueled you? Well, it was a situation where I had been going to the wrestling matches week after week after week. And sometimes in high school I would even kind of leave shop class and and phys the last class to sneak down on Wednesdays to see film down on At the sportatorium to see the wrestling, when I finally had enough nerve to ask for a tryout, I had already had a black marker on me and I didn't realize it because I had been around all the local businesses and all the nightclothes where I play guitar telling everybody, I want to be a wrestler someday. And I guess it kind of like at that time, the wrestling business was very different in the seventies. So if you want to be a wrestler You would walk in a dressing room, there'd be four or five bad guys sitting there, or the other side there'd be four or five good guys. If you want to be a wrestler, you have to take somebody's livelihood away. You know, these guys were cauliflower ears and over 300 pounds and, you know, pretty rough customers back in the 70s. I was 300 pounds and I was a mid-sized guy. So, you know, when I went down there, I already had this black mark on me from running my mouth. And they got me down at the sportatory and they exercised me. until everything was turning white, like I was gonna faint. And then they got me in the ring and something we call stretching somebody, making them scream. They basically stretched me and the guy got between my legs and he put his elbow in my shin and grabbed my toe and snapped my ankle and broke my leg. And they said, Don't ever come back again. And I made a decision from that point on that no one would ever hurt me again. Because I didn't know how to wrestle, but I knew how to stop somebody from hurting me, you know. So that kind of changed my mindset, you know, and that was how I came into this business thing that it was a shoot and I was gonna be fighting for my life every night. So actually when I found out it was predetermined, it was quite a relief. Yeah, yeah. And I and but Terry, when you think about it, I I wonder about the sustainability of that out of the ring. Right. Because for most people, that's that's why we mask up is so that we don't get hurt. Right? Yeah. So did that actually fuel you of avoiding just not the physical pain, but just the pain of life, the disappointments. Was that ever a fuel for you? It wasn't that type of fuel. It was a fuel that forced me into a position where now I had to do it because I'd already told everyone, you know, that you know, I was going to to Russell. And I made some really at the time very ignorant statements which turned out later to be true. But I just remember I was so upset with the band I was in. The band's name was Ruckus. And we had a chance to go on on the road in a national tour and one guy had just gotten married and he didn't want to go. The other guy's girlfriend just had a child. He didn't want to go. And so I was so upset with him, I told him at the practice session, guys, I'm quitting. I'm getting into wrestling. I'm gonna be the greatest wrestler of all times. And all five guys just fell on the floor laughing. They thought it was the funniest thing they ever heard 'cause at the time it was ridiculous. But the single most rewarding, memorable moment for you as a wrestler. If you had to narrow it down, what would it be? Well, the single most rewarding moment for me as a wrestler, didn't have anything to do with being in the ring. it had to do with after the match at Madison Square Garden, January twenty third, nineteen eighty four, where I wrestled the Iron Sheik for the WWF title. There was a huge political problem going on. Iran had four hundred and forty-four American hostages. and they were keeping our Americans and the Iron Sheik, Kaz, nicknamed Kaz, he was the actual bodyguard for the Shah of Iran. He was the real deal. And the fans knew it. And I was the all-American character, Hulk Hogan. That night I flew my parents up. And and, you know, my dad And I didn't see eye to eye because I was going to University of South Florida here in Tampa and I was majoring in finance and management and had a minor in music. And instead of moving on to becoming an accountant or whatever, as I was going to college, you know, I was playing music to get through college and all the wrestlers came down, that's where I got enough courage to get in the ring down there. But when I left college and didn't become an accountant or whatever, that degree would lead me to. there was a huge divide as far as communication with my dad and I. And, you know, it was a situation for like when I see my son Nick, or we'd hang up on the phone, I all right, Nick, love you. Bye. Sa tell him I love him every time. Same thing with a lot of my family members. And I didn't realize that my dad hadn't said anything like that to me since before I was in high school. You know, so I it kind of was avoid. You know, I left home when I was seventeen and and just there was not a lot of communication. And so that night after Madison Square Garden, you know, my dad goes, Man, you know, Terry, I'm very proud of you made the right decision. You know, I love you so much. I'm so sorry, you know, that I tried to make you do something you didn't want to do. So that was the greatest night for me, for my dad to say that to me, because I really didn't know if I was right or right or not. It just I was doing what I love doing. And to me that felt right, but then to have my dad confirm it, but I had to be the main event of Madison's Square Garden to get him to break. But but that was probably the greatest part of my wrestling career to have that moment with him because I I really valued what he he thought about me. Yeah. Yeah, that affirmation goes a long way. Yeah. Yeah. Terry thanks, man. This is beautiful. Really, really cool stuff. Public baptism. Mm-hmm. You've said The greatest moment of your life. Yes, without a doubt. Carrie, what did that give you? What did that mean for you? It broke down that fourth or fifth wall. Because I caught myself trying to have perfect timing with talking to people. I caught myself going, Well, here's somebody that's, you know, kind of desperate and in need. Can I say something? Or, you know, there's a lot of people around. You know, and I was all c always kind of tentative, you know, to tell people the truth about my Lord and Savior, to explain to them, you know, how, you know, you should look at things or or how you should, you know, care for people and not judge people. I always was a very tentative, you know, but having the baptism kind of like set things in motion. It set me free to where even though I was a believer and I accepted Christ as my savior, I was still very tentative. So I wasn't that perfect vessel. I wasn't that conductor that I should be or should have been at the time to relay the truth, you know, about my Lord and Savior. So it was almost the situation as if I was addicted to drugs or if I was addicted to heroin or My body was full of cancer and I was gonna die tomorrow. Whatever those horrible feelings are, I felt like once I was baptized, I felt like they say, all anew again. You know, I was all anew and I really felt that way and I felt comfortable with talking to people and I just don't know what that weird barrier was that I had up. But the the baptism got rid of that for me. And it did become the greatest day of my life because my wife Skye and two of our children got baptized with us. So it really was a major pivot in my life. It almost sounds like you're relaying the difference between being outside the ring and watching as a spectator or getting into the ring as if defining this is what I am. Right? Yeah, you can you can relate relay relay that on so many levels because it's it's almost like people, you know, that say they're a Christian and and they know of our Lord and Savior, but they really don't know him. You know, the the the illustration you just made of talking about wrestling actually getting in the ring is is is different. You know, everybody I meet's a wrestler. Everybody I meet wrestled in Indianapolis or in LA or they tell me a name I've never heard it or some promotion. But there's a huge difference when you actually get in that ring just like you said. And that's exactly the perfect way to describe it. So I'm gonna jump ahead on this, while we're on that concept of the ring. What for you personally is the most significant opposition that you have had to wrestle with? Who's been or what has been that big opponent for you that maybe you're still wrestling with? If you're willing to share it? my if the biggest thing that I've had to wrestle with and I pretty much have every time that tries to jump back in the ring with me now, I I pretty much whoop it really good. is my own fear and and me not being strong enough, you know. And a couple of years ago, I w not last year, but the year before I went to a New Year's Eve party, everybody there was drinking. I mean, everybody. I was the only one. I went there with my wife and everybody there was drinking and I felt really weak. You know, I felt really weak, so I pulled myself out of the situation, you know. that's just one example. And you know, certain wrestlers that behave a certain way the and the way I used to behave, you know, just run around like a bunch of eighteen year old kids in a china closet, you know, or like a bull in a china closet. Can't hang around those people anymore because God took those people out of my life for a reason, and He He brought people new people into my life for a reason. So I was worried about my weakness, you know. And that was the main thing. That's been the main hurdle. But I'm over it. You know, I'm over it. It's not you can put me in a room with, you know, a bunch of people drinking alcohol. I have no desire. You know, so and and it goes with behavior and it goes with thought process, it goes with judging people. It goes with loving people. It's all changed for me. Hey, Terry, you in the time that I've known you, you strike me clearly as a tenderhearted, compassionate man. Do you see that in yourself? Yeah, I like to think of myself as as a good person, you know, and always try to help people. I think we had a talk the other day about And I you know I've talked with handsome Ron about it a lot. I won't jump in the ditch with people anymore. You know, if somebody would have been had a problem and something I would have jumped right in, you know, it's so terrible. But now I you know, would just stick my hand out to to help someone and help them out of the ditch. But for me, I feel, you know, that I'm an easy going person. I try to be good to everybody. You know, I try to treat everyone the same is what I always say. You know, I just i had to explain to my wife Sky that, you know, I treat the homeless guy the same way I treat handsome Ron and all my friends, you know, and so I think I'm easygoing, I think I think I'm a good person, but I do have a little bit of a a trigger finger when it comes to physicality with other men and I think it's been since the wrestling thing, you know. And I miss it, you know, because every night about nine o'clock at night I'm going you know, I'm ready to go to the ring, you know. So Sky, my wife goes, turbulence? I went, Mm-hmm, turbulence. So put something on good that'll take my mind off it. Turbulence, huh? Yeah. Because when you go to the ring every night, sure. And you're used to twenty or thirty thousand people every single night going Hogan, Hogan, and and then we can be calmed down as the it's just as calmed down as we are right now talking in the dressing room. You and I can be. And they'll go, Hey, Terry, your music's playing. I'll be that door and by the time I get out the door and slide in the ring, somebody's kicking me in the head. So the transition all the time. And doing that for forty years, I kinda missed that. But that's the only thing that is a little different about my personality. I have a little bit of a trigger finger when it comes to, you know, the arm wrestle or lift weights or something. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's kinda like Yeah. No, I I listen, but don't get me started, man. No, no. Don't make no, don't make me come over there. it's okay. I'm way past my prime. You had an easy day with me. Real easy. Don't forget it's predetermined. No, yeah, right. That that still amazes me, but isn't that a lot like the lives we live? We we we attempt to write the script to control the outcome, right, Terry? Very funny. It's very funny to me. It's amazing. We talk about it all the time. This whole thing is a shoebox, brother. Yeah. And we're in the shoebox and he's in control. And it's gonna happen exactly the way he wants it to happen and exactly the way it's supposed to be. And we're meant to be sitting right here, right now. This is meant to happen and there are no coincidences. None. And I have to say this about you that I what I really appreciate and respect is you take the moment as it comes and you respect that moment. It's it's huge. I wanted to interject here because Tom is getting ready to transition from the past to Hulk Hogan's rock bottom. As you'll hear, Hulk will recount his divorce in 2007. It's clear that that was a turning point in his life. Hulk would still have some trouble coming afterward. But I like that up to this point the Hulkster talks about God's sovereignty, even down to the interview with CBN Sports. Philippians 2 13 says, For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. What Satan means for evil, God uses for good. He doesn't overlook our sin in the slightest, but our repentance and turning to him. Will be used for our good and his glory as Hulk Hogan found out. Let's get back to it. Rock bottom. Yeah. That is a hard canvas to hit. How did you land in your moment? What was your rock bottom? For me, it was a combination of the sun, moon, and the stars and everything just colliding at one time. it's kind of hard to talk about. It's really hard to think about, but I had a situation where I was married for twenty three years, my first marriage. And I used to brag in the dressing room, I'm the only world's heavily champion that will never be divorced. You know, because I thought this contract under God, you know, till death to us part, for better or worse, I thought that's supposed to be something that is a true statement and you stick by your word and your word's your bond. And if you're making this promise under God, I mean who would break this promise? So I figured I'll never be divorced, you know. So the time came where things didn't work out between my first wife and I, and we went in different directions and she divorced me and around that same time my son got in a a bit bad car wreck. So between my son being in trouble with a car wreck and my fifty three year old wife being with a a teenage kid, I kind of bottomed out, you know, and I was Drinking very heavily during the day. And of course, at night, and you know, running around with this chip on my shoulder, you know, why am I? Why is this happening? Couldn't figure it out. And when I bottomed out, I I hit hard, you know. I hit hard. And it just got me to the point where I realized I had to get back up, move forward, and you know. not let that define me, don't drag that dead animal into this moment right here. Because if you sit there and think about it and and think about bottoming out and I mean I'm just not talking emotionally, I'm talking about spiritually I bottomed out. I didn't care about anything. Financially I completely bottomed out when, you know, the divorce happened, Florida's a fifty fifty state, and I said, just give her everything. I never want to see her, talk to her, be with her again. Once she said she wanted to divorce me and didn't love me anymore. I w you don't have to tell me twice. So it's just I kinda like I either go one way or the other way. I'm either all the way in or all the way out with whatever I do. So if you're with me, there's no guesswork. You know, if I'm with my Lord and Savior, I'm all the way in. You know. And when I bottomed out, I was all the way out. So this is the only two gauges I have. You know, I can't lie and split the baby, you know. Love it. Yeah. Terry thanks. Yeah. You good, buddy? Yeah, you want a Kleenex? No, no, I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. Yeah. I'm just telling you it's no it's Bearing the soul man is just it's it's a strong, strong sight. So Hulk Hogan has that Clearwater Beach store, mm-hmm restaurant. How do you manage the brand and Terry? All the while tending to the expectations of people and the image that you've had to project. How do you now balance that? Well, you kind of hit on a question earlier and then you stacked another question on top of it. And I went to the second question and didn't come back to the first one. So we're kind of getting there now. Yeah, it's all right. well the moment I come home, the headband comes off the bald head and you know, it's just Terry. Dad, father, husband, friend, just Terry. the problem is the moment I leave the house, the moment I walk out the front door, the world doesn't want Terry. I walk out the front door and the mailman goes, Hey Hulk. So instead of saying good morning, sir, I go, Hey brother, how you doing? I give just a little because they expect it, you know. So For me it's real easy to separate the character from the person because I always have been able to. You know, I don't have any pictures. I have no wrestling pictures in my house. I have no wrestling belts. I have none of this stuff where almost every wrestler I know has a montage of their career all over their house. I mean every single wall in every room, they usually have some type of picture of them doing some phenomenal feat of victory or something. So I kinda like really have gutted down to science and I think that's one of the reasons I'm still here because I can read between the lines and I can see what's important and what's not. And this character other than a job, you know, is the only thing, you know, that I plug into. Now a lot of other stuff comes along with it. You know, there are a lot of tributaries that come along with the character and that's getting to meet people and The whole make a wish thing, Dalmatian Foundation, you know, everything we do from the Fifty Legs charity where we get legs for kids. I mean, it all parlays off this Hulk Hogan character, which I really appreciate and value very much. So it's not just a job, like I just said. There's a lot more to it, but I learned to separate myself. You made the you made the comment they don't want Terry. No. Has that left Terry maybe up until recently? That's that's your answer. Leaving you isolated, leaving you with that sense of being abandoned. Well, I know, you know, there's a lot of soul searching that it's gone on with this whole life of being Hulk Hogan and then Terry. I mean, after the second divorce, I shut down, I went into prayer for two months. I did not leave my house, I didn't watch TV, and This is a story I told Ron and a couple people, not too many people know, but I speak out verbally when I'm at home. You know, God, why is this happening to me? You know, God, thank you so much for my perfect health, for my perfect walk, thank you for the perfect day. I speak out loud when I'm at home, you know, and I I can say what I want to say. And as I shut down, you know, in prayer for a couple of months, I kept saying to me, you know, why is this happening to me? 'Cause here we go, a second divorce, you know. Second wife leaves for a younger guy too. So why is this happening? Why is this happening? I just was in this human incarnation and I just was not on my game and I was caught off guard and you know, I just, you know, went through the situation again where this person was un was unhappy and didn't want to be with me. Like I said, you don't have to tell me twice and I I was trying to move on, but as I kept saying, you know, why is this happening? Why is this happening? I went up in my bathroom and I have a little chair that I sit in, you know. And I just kinda closed my eyes for a minute. And there was no one else in the house. And it wasn't like I thought I heard something, you know. If you were to close your eyes and I was to get right in here and go, Tom, you got a blue shirt on. You would know I said that. I closed my eyes and I had said, Why is this happening to me? hundreds of times that day. And I'd been saying it for two months. Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to me? I closed my eyes, I nodded back, and I heard the words, I'm putting you through a cleansing. Or what? I got it. From that point on, everything changed, you know. And so, that's why I can do all that I do. That's why I can do it with a character, that's why I can deal with Terry. I understand, you know, why I'm here. Yeah. You know, so it's it was powerful. You know, I really don't say too much about that stuff, you know, to a lot of people. But yeah, I'm putting it through plunging. Those words were as clear as I'm speaking right now, and there was no one in that house except me. gosh, there's just there's so much Terry on this and I still think I wanna I wanna keep unpacking just a couple more because Well can I tell you a crazy wrestling story? Yeah, of course. Okay. Well, I do these specials with A and E once in a while and I they ask me to comment on wrestlers, you know, that that aren't here 'cause I pretty much knew everybody in the business and I try not to go down the rabbit hole with these guys and try to keep it Fresh and upbeat, you know. But a buddy of mine, Roddy Piper, passed away. Roddy, Roddy Piper. And, you know, he passed. And I we were going back and forth, and he was really trying hard to, you know, surrender and try to get his life straight. So I mean, we would text every single day. Now in the wrestling business, for 25 years we couldn't stand each other. We were at each other's throats. I know it's predetermined, all that, but he did not like me, and I did not like him. And that's just how it was. Well Once we got older and, you know, we basically had some conversations and I teased him a lot, you know, about him not wanting to do business and how much more money he could have made if he wanted to do business with me. Could have been you instead of Macho, man. You know. And he goes, you're right. you know, and so we we started talking a lot and he started asking me about my spirituality, you know, and about religion. At the time I was going to the Agape Church in Culver City. And he started asking me about it and I took him there and he really didn't connect but He was very curious, you know. And I couldn't get him to accept Christ as a savior. You know, he wouldn't surrender. And all of a sudden he passes away. And two days after he's passed away, and this was on one of the specials, and it was an Andy special about Roddy Piper. And the very thing when they get ready to go to credits, it wasn't a text message, but it was a text message that was a voice message on the text. You know, so he he must have. Whatever he did, but this was two days after he passed away. I've I'm used to getting text messages ten minutes later, or somebody will say, I texted you an hour ago, did you get it? No, I didn't get it yet. They real they'll resend it or something. But this text message came in two days after he died. And the text message goes, I'm just loving you, my brother. I'm just walking with Jesus, walking with Jesus and loving you, my brother. And was like, He would have never said that when he was here. And Terry, he wanted you to hear it and not read it, right? Yeah. Yeah, 'cause he he would have never said that when he was here. So it's just it's amazing how things work, you know. So I mean, maybe I'm maybe I've been hitting the head too much, but No. Not at all. Terry, let let let's keep going there on this because again, you are we can use all these analogies of how all of us are in our own ring. All of us are using stage names, characters. Trying to predetermine scripts that we can manipulate outcome. But at the end of it, we have very little to control. Huh, that's true. Isn't that right? Yeah. It's true. I mean, you know, once again, you know, he's holding us by the hand and guiding us and leading us. You know, he's always there, even if we decide to release his hand, he's, you know, still there with us. So it's amazing once you connect. Yeah. And you realize it's, you know, in his perfect timing, this is kind of like wrestling. It's all predetermined. Yeah. It really is. Yeah. I just thought of that. That's pretty cool. So it's so help a brother out. Brother. Mm-hmm. Help a brother out. Those that are looking. It's like, yeah, I'm kind of caught in that too. I'm kind of caught in this false self. Yeah. I'm not really being true to who I am. Therefore, I'm not really being. Everything that God wants me to be. Help them take off that mask. How did you take off that mask? Well, I mean, I've I've talked about it so many times, you know. First off, once you realize the the scope and how big this is, this is just a temporary situation that we're in right now. This this meat suit, this this human incarnation is is just like a a temporary situation. But what happened to me was like I get ti sick and tired of I get sick and tired of myself, you know, like I've said it a million times, the two people in my head, the ego And the real I am. So it just that's what broke me through. You know, I got tired of the suffering and making mistakes and just not th having things happen, you know, the way I the way I wanted them to happen. So it was I just got to the point where I just got, you know, really tired of of me clawing and scratching and fighting, and you get so far and then some drama happens and back and forth. And It's just I just was so beat up. I mean, I just I just surrendered. I just said I can't do it anymore, you know, and I had went back to to the Bible, you know, and I'd started reading again and just everything about it, you know, felt good. You know, everything worked in my favor from that point on. So, you know, if people, you know, are are fighting an uphill battle and they're all worried about, you know, what type of car they drive or how much money they have, this is first stuff you need to realize this is just a temporary situation. I've never seen anybody going to you know the cemetery with the the hearst pulling the U-Haul with all with all the gold and silver clothes. You know, I've never seen anybody, you can't take it with you. So it's kinda like, you know, once you get that in your head, it makes it easy to to step up. I mean, who who wouldn't want the perfect life or want life easier? And that's what you get, you know, and you realize how fortunate and lucky we are to be right here. But that's all it for me. I just get tired of you know pushing against the wind. Hulk Hogan, that name, even his name, Jesus Christ, offends, divides, mocks. What does the person of Jesus Christ, Terry, bring to you as Terry? Who is he to you? Well, you know, we all have that God presence in us, you know, that still small voice. I call it the Spirit of Christ. it's an experience for me. You know, this is a test of faith here. So what Terry brings to the table is a meat suit, you know, a meat suit filled with the spirit of Christ, and it's a testing ground for me. And that's what that's what Terry does. He he has Given me the opportunity to prove to my Lord and Savior that I'm faithful, you know, I'm loyal, and that now I've learned. I've learned, and I'll never make those same mistakes again. You know, there's no way I could go back to who I was before, you know, I was baptized. There's just no way. The greatest day of my life changed everything. I mean, I accepted Christ as my savior when I was fourteen, but I derailed, you know, and was working different. musical business type jobs and went to school for a while the whole time it it was just a thought. It wasn't my life. But the moment, you know, I started going back to my faith, the momentum was overwhelming. There was nothing stopping me. I could not wait to get baptized, you know, and meeting the right person. my wife, she's a believer. It really made things really easy for me to to to move forward with this. So I just really think that the person, Terry, like I say, you know, there's the meat suit and there's this energy inside of us, the spirit of Christ, it just makes it so easy for me to use this as, you know, a test of faith. And and the reason I and God, I hate to keep rambling so much. You're right. But as I talk to you, I keep thinking about situations. But but when my father passed away, you know, I was a little confused about a lot of things, you know. My religion, you know, my my relationship with our Lord and Savior. And when my dad passed away, we were we had our hands locked like this. That that man handshake and my yeah. My fist was real close to his chest and I was face to face him. And I had my dad it's all Mother Nature, Terry, don't worry, it's all Mother I said, No, Dad, you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you know. You you know, we're This is serious now. We're going to the main event here, you know, the bell's getting ready to ring, so you need to step up. He goes, Well, it is all Mother Nature, isn't it the same thing? I said, Well, maybe in your mind it is, but you need to understand he died on the cross to pay for your sins. And my dad accepted Christ as his savior probably about a half hour before he passed away. And so as I'm looking at him, his face was completely like yours, and my hand was like the fist we just made, but it we were very close, very close. And so, you know, his face type color like you, so I took that last breath. It went. And then when he didn't exhale, he turned gray instantly. And the moment he turned gray, I had I was chest to chest with him face to face. I got knocked backwards. And I looked at the people in the room, I said, my God. Did you guys feel that? And they went, No, I said, I don't know what just happened. But whatever energy was in his body, it either c went in me or it went through me. But I got knocked backwards like I stuck my finger in an electrical socket. And I knew from that moment there was without a doubt the Spirit of Christ, the energy in our meat suit, as I call our body. And you cannot tell me otherwise, 'cause I felt it, I experienced it, and I saw his body go dead, but I saw him live as he exited that body. And it was it was it really a lot of things have put me placed where I need to be, and that's one of Mm. Terry, so you refer to dad and a breath and a blink away, right? Mm-hmm. And here we sit in your store, circled with almost a museum. It's retail, but it's a museum of your history. Glimpses of your career, achievements, all of it. When we meet him, champion, wrestler, if you could take one thing out of here to lay at his feet, what would it be? If I could take one thing out of here. That represents that career. Yeah. Well, I'd give him two t shirts. I'd give him the Hulk Rules shirt that says on the back, train, say prayers, each of vitamins, believe in yourself. And I'd give him this shirt. Because they go together. They go together. And That's it in a nutshell because this character has quite a longevity. I mean, you know, I've always said Holt and then you live forever. It's just so positive and to be fortunate enough to have the prayers and the vitamins and the training attached to the character it makes it so the character is so big and powerful. The character is so big it can withstand any storm, any paparazzi, any media attack. The the the the the the character is so big you can't destroy the man. You know, and what the character did for me was this character a Hulk Hogan that was impeccable. It took Terry that was here and started pulling me up. And over the years it started pulling me up. And over the years I got closer and closer. And before I knew it, I was, you know, a halt and maniac training, saying my prayers eat my vitamins, which I always did, but I was serious about it and it works and it really affects kids and it it changes their whole mindset on things. If they put that as a priority to start their day, you know, I'm gonna say my prayers, I'm gonna train, eat my vitamins, you know, it kinda like gets you get you training for your future, get you off on the right foot. You know, it kinda gives you that nudge in the butt to get you out the door correctly, you know. So, you know, those would be the two things I'd give him. That's almost where the two come together, right? Hulk and Terry. Do we see the reflection of do we see Terry's reflection in Hulk by those four? yeah. Mandate, yeah. Yeah, it's just it's actually the really only difference in the character is just the name. You know, only the names change. I think I've said that before. Cause I know you and I talked on the phone a couple of times about you valued this simply because of Getting the message out that just seems really clear to me that you it's really important to you. And I thought what you did the other night with the kids was just profoundly Terry specific. So let's be Terry specific in this. What message do you now convey at this stage of your life? What do you want people to know? Well, there are a lot of people that don't realize that we're in this war right now. It's a spiritual war in in this fallen world. And if you turn back to our Lord and Savior, he's promised us, you know, that he would heal the land and heal our people. So, you know, if the one message, you know, I could give to people would be to turn to the truth. Seek him and you shall find. I mean, it's just it's all there for, you know, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and we're not talking about money. We're talking about health, relationships, we're talking about just everything, you know, and so I don't understand, given the choices that we have and seeing how things have diversified and fallen apart, why anybody wouldn't make that choice, especially now, it's gonna be much easier for people. to step outside their their comfort zone and, you know, accept Christ as their savior. So knowing that He would heal the land and heal this nation and heal the people, it just seems like such an easy choice for everyone that's and you know, there's the normal stuff I can't afford the rent, can't afford the food, can't afford this. Everything gets fixed across the board with your life and he'll provide everything you need. if you'll just surrender and, you know Accept him as your savior. Hulk Hogan was far from a perfect person. He had a share of sinful failings, and those failings, unfortunately for him, were public. He would have been the first to tell you that he absolutely made huge mistakes in his life. But what I love about God's grace is that it's greater than any sin. My sin and your sin is great, but our God is greater. Those who turn to him and acknowledge that they've earned nothing but judgment. And that Jesus is their only hope, are the ones who, in fact, are given eternal life. Think of the thief on the cross. He did nothing, absolutely nothing, to earn his place in heaven. In fact, he did everything to ensure that he wouldn't be in heaven. That is until he recognized his sin and Jesus. As his savior, and you know what happened. Jesus said, Today you will be with me in paradise. From all accounts, that's exactly what Hulk Hogan did. Well, if you've enjoyed this podcast, please follow us. Please follow us, like us, subscribe to us, all of that good stuff. Also, check out our weekly sports show with guests, where we break down the biggest stories in sports, fuel the fire with Will Dawson. You can watch this podcast and that one on YouTube. And we have feature stories with athletes as well as video shorts that we we think you're going to enjoy. And we're on social media as well. We're on Instagram at CBN Sports underscore. And if you go to Facebook, X, or TikTok, all you need to do is search CBN Sports. You should be able to find us there. On the next episode, I talk with Paralympic gold medalist Jessica Long. She has a tremendous story about overcoming. leg amputation. You won't want to miss that. We'll see you then.