With Hulk Hogan set to appear in an upcoming episode of "The Goldbergs," show creator Adam F. Goldberg revealed details that led to the episode happening.
In an interview with WWE, Goldberg said he had wanted to do a WrestleMania-themed episode but always thought pitching such an idea would result in rejection. Goldberg decided to just go for it as the show is in the midst of its seventh season. The episode, titled "Wrestlemania," will air on November 6 on ABC.
"Well, it’s funny. It’s one I’ve wanted to do for the first six years of the show but never really took a stab because I thought we’d just get a no. It’s really hard to sell anyone that’s not Sony who’s producing the show, that we want to take your IP and recreate it from the ’80s and do it for free. I always assumed if we approached WWE to recreate WrestleMania, we’d get a no. This year I said let’s just take a shot, and we were met with incredible enthusiasm. Maybe that’s because the show’s been on now for so long," Goldberg said.
Although Goldberg stated that his first choice for another pro wrestler to be on the show would have been the late Ultimate Warrior, bringing in Hogan for a wrestling episode on a show set in the 1980s was the obvious choice. Goldberg said Hogan had known about the show and was very excited to be a part of the show.
"For me, it would have been Ultimate Warrior because he was my favorite growing up. I was Ultimate Warrior; Barry was Hulk. We each had our character. But obviously Ultimate Warrior passed away, so it was just kind of a no-brainer. If you want an ’80s wrestling superstar, you go to Hulk. The real issue was money, flying him out, putting him up. I essentially just moved heaven and earth to just pay him to come out. Luckily, he knew about the show and was really excited to recreate ’80s, old-school wrestling. He was receptive, but as always when you’re in a production, when you’re already creating WrestleMania, it’s so expensive. It was just a matter of convincing Sony to get him out here. They were really good partners on that episode," Goldberg said.
This isn't the only time a WWE Hall of Famer appeared on the show. Bill Goldberg, has done guest spots on the show in the past, playing the role Nick Mellor, the brother of Coach Rick Mellor, played by Bryan Callen.
The full interview between WWE and Goldberg can be seen at this link.
