Tiger Mask IV Reveals Hulk Hogan Had Plans To Launch Wrestling Promotion After Leaving WWE In 2003, Hogan Wanted NJPW Talent Involved
The conversation between Hulk Hogan and Tiger Mask took place in 2003.
The late Terry Bollea, a.k.a. Hulk Hogan’s second run in the WWF/E lasted a year. He came back in 2002, and by the summer of 2003, he had cut ties with WWE.
In October of 2003, Bollea returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling and wrestled Masahiro Chono at the Tokyo Dome at the promotion’s Ultimate Crush II event.
One of the talents on the card for that show was Tiger Mask IV. While speaking to NJPW1972.com, he revealed that Bollea had a plan to launch his own wrestling promotion. Tiger Mask remembers conversing with Bollea and Jimmy Hart about it.
The day after (NJPW Ultimate Crush II), there was an all-hands meeting with the boys at the office. At (the) time, (Hulk) Hogan was talking about starting his own company, and he was trying to book the New Japan guys. I was just minding my own business and I got a tap on the shoulder, ‘Can you have a word with Hogan?’ I went in a room with Hogan and Jimmy Hart there and they just went, ‘We want you’, and all of a sudden we’re taking promo photos together, and Hogan goes, ‘Oh, you should come over. You can stay at the house’ and I have images of staying at the Hogan house running through my head,” he laughed. “In the end, the new company talk fell through and nothing happened. But I grew up watching Hogan and (Antonio) Inoki and that whole rivalry, so it’s wild to have those stories.”
Bollea ended up returning to WWE in 2005. In the summer of 2025, at the age of 71, Bollea passed away.
