What’s Up With Hulk Hogan and the WWE Right Now?

July 24th, 1:49am July 24th, 1:50am Stef G.I’m one half of the geeky duo that founded GeekMundo. I’m a bibliophile, love comics, study history in my spare time, and live-tweet WWE Monday Night RAW. Prior to starting GeekMundo, I wrote for several outlets and blogs interviewing celebs and other gossipy stuff. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+

Word is spreading like wildfire through the internet streets that Hulk Hogan and the WWE are parting ways, and the rumors as to why are disturbing.  And no, it may not actually have anything to do with the Hogan sex tape, and the WWE Hall of Famer’s legal battle with Gawker Media.  Here’s what we know so far:

It looks like Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter was the first to take things to the next level when Twitter user Ismael Rodriguez asked him about the rumors about Hogan–real name Terry Bollea–on the internet:

@Junior082487 @bryanalvarez Seems like he’s gone, trying to find out. — Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) July 24, 2015

Meltzer then followed up with these tweets, and as these things go, word spread far and wide:

WWE web site told a few hours ago to remove all references to him. That’s all I know so far. — Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) July 24, 2015

When asked if it had to do with the rumor that Hogan was caught on tape saying the N-word, Meltzer responded with the following:

@trevor_harlan A rumor going around. — Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) July 24, 2015

Welp!  WrestleZone picked it up and took it one step further by checking out WWE.com. Any wrestling fan knows that if you’re “86’d” from the WWE, and the reason why is really bad, your ass will be scrubbed clean from the site:

Hogan has been pulled from WWE.com completely, he is no longer listed as a judge on Tough Enough, and all of his merchandise links have been removed from WWE’s online shop. The only Hogan related link remaining on WWE’s website is him being advertised for the Australian tour in which he is scheduled to be the General Manager. However, when you click the link it takes you to a page saying “You are not authorized to access this page.”

I checked and it’s true.  Hulk Hogan has been removed from most of everything on the site.  There are a few videos of his past matches that were posted years ago, but they probably didn’t feel like going that far into their archives.  I have a feeling that if it’s as bad as everyone thinks, they’ll probably get around to removing those too.  Who knows?  It’s a damn mess.

The most interesting thing for me is that when I went to the Tough Enough page under the “Shows” tab on WWE.com, I got a 404 error page message:

Is whatever it is that’s going on between Hogan and the WWE so awful, that it warranted the removal of the Tough Enough page? More from Wrestlezone:

Rumors have begun surfacing online that a video or audio tape might have leaked, which features Hogan going on a racial tirade, but that cannot be confirmed at this time, nor can it be confirmed that’s the reason why WWE.com has disassociated itself from Hogan.

I don’t know what to think, but I know that Hogan and his legal team were fighting to keep certain aspects of his sex tape from being shown in court, which would have enabled certain details from the sex tape to come out, and go public.  Last I heard, that was still ongoing, but is it possible that the WWE knows something we don’t, and are anticipating backlash for their association with Hogan?  Or does it have something to do with Tough Enough contestant Patrick Clark being voted off this past Tuesday?

It did seem like Hogan was just nitpicking at Patrick during judging the past two weeks.  It didn’t help that it was so bogus that both Chris Jericho and The Miz stepped in to call bullshit over Hogan’s reasons for busting Patrick’s balls.  And if the rumors are true, why would Patrick turn down an offer from WWE Developmental?  He’s a smark (smart mark).  You can tell he was passionate about becoming a WWE superstar. He says it was about the money, but he would have had to relocate had he won.

I do know this… There are too many questions, and not enough answers, but it’s high time for Fuckery Friday to get started.  Stay tuned for more updates!  We’ll be watching…