Hulk Hogan was a known stretcher of the truth, and his claim to have beaten up PRIDE fighters in the 1970s is another example of this.
For every incredible feat of strength and legendary WrestleMania moment he had, it was accompanied by a vast overexaggeration.
His famous slam of Andre the Giant was later embellished with false details about Andre’s health and Hulk Hogan’s own injuries.
Why he lied so much is something many have tried to answer, but few have succeeded.
We will explore that question as we reveal the truth behind Hulk Hogan’s claim about fighting PRIDE fighters early on his career.
Further reading: His own account of his career can be found in the book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, where he shares stories that mix fact and fiction.
The Claim: Hulk Hogan says he beat up PRIDE fighters in the 1970s
One of Hogan’s strangest claims is that he was a real tough guy. Despite his accomplished in-ring career, he never really trained in actual fighting.
That is why it baffled people when he claimed to be so tough that he beat up PRIDE fighters in the 1970s.
For context, PRIDE was the precursor for the UFC. It was a Japanese mixed-martial-arts promotion that became the biggest in the world, selling out stadiums and forcing NJPW into changing their product (in what became known as Inoki-ism).
Some of the most dangerous fighters in the world, like Rampage Jackson, Mirko Crocop and Wanderlei Silva all competed in Pride, making it one of the most exciting MMA companies of all time.
Hogan claimed he fought some of the top PRIDE fighters back in the 1970s , specifically in 1977. While his exact words from the WFAN in New York interview are lost, ProWrestling.net reported that Hogan talked about his experience in the octagon.
The WWE Hall of Famer claimed he faced numerous Pride fighters when he started in Japan in 1977, although he didn’t know they were “shooters” (legitimate fighters in wrestling speak) until they faced off.
A fairly innocuous statement. Hogan never claimed he beat them. He never claimed any level of accomplishment on his part, just that he faced these Pride fighters in the ring.
Could this claim be true?
Check out: Hulk Hogan COULD have wrestled 400 days in one year, using physics.
The Evidence: The timeline of PRIDE vs. Hulk Hogan’s claim
There are a couple of issues with this claim, the chief one being about the timeline of PRIDE against when these fighters supposedly came up against Hogan.
He began training to become a wrestler in 1977, when Hiro Matsuda famously broke his leg to dissuade him from joining the business.
Hogan persisted and became arguably the most popular wrestler of all time, although he claims he didn’t know wrestling was fake until he first stepped into the ring.
Matsuda was a legend of wrestling and a shoot fighter himself, but he never fought in PRIDE. Likewise, the wrestlers he trained with, which included Pat Patterson and Jack and Jerry Briscoe, never fought for the MMA promotion.
For readers who want to read more about Hulk Hogan’s early career, Hollywood Hulk Hogan offers an in-depth look at the truth behind the Immortal One’s entry into professional wrestling.
That is mainly due to the fact that PRIDE Fighting Championships was founded 20 years after Hogan began wrestling, in 1997. It was founded by Dream Stage Entertainment, running for 10 years before being bought by the UFC.
So, the idea Hogan fought PRIDE fighters in 1977 is nonsense. There weren’t any at all until 1977. And in my research, I’ve found eight matches that he wrestled that year. All of which were in Florida and none were against future MMA stars.
However, if we give him some benefit of the doubt, maybe he wrestled against some pro wrestlers who transitioned into MMA, as many did in Japan in the 1990s when PRIDE started up.
There are a few candidates of some dual-sport stars who could have battled Hogan in the ring. The most likely candidates are Don Frye and former WWE star Ken Shamrock.
While Hogan and fighters like Frye or Shamrock were active in Japan or WWE at different times, there’s no evidence they ever shared a ring — or even a locker room.
Other names considered include Josh Barnett, Yoshihiro Takayama and Kazuyuki Fujita, all of whom had stellar wrestling and MMA careers, including in the UFC and PRIDE.
Sadly, I can find zero evidence of Hulk Hogan wrestling any of these men. He had chances to do it, either in WWE or during his various tours of Japan from the 1980s to the 2000s, but the opportunity never materialised.
The Verdict: FALSE
Examining all possible interpretations of the claim that Hulk Hogan faced PRIDE Fighters in 1977, PW Verify concludes that this is FALSE.
Additionally, Hogan never wrestled any PRIDE fighters in his career at all.
Did Hulk Hogan even make the claim that he fought PRIDE Fighters?
So, the claim that Hogan fought PRIDE fighters, whether in 1977 or later, was false. But did he even make that claim?
One main issue with analysing this supposed truth is that we don’t have the clips or the transcript of Hogan making these claims.
That fact calls into question whether Hogan made the claim that he fought PRIDE fighters in the 1970s at all.
All reports that he said this come from wrestling news site, most of which aren’t fame for their reliability.
The synopsis for his 2011 appearance on Boomer & Carton on CBSNews.com does not mention this claim at all, and the link to download the podcast that is said to reference it is now broken.
While it is easy to talk down the late-Hogan for the lies he told in his career, this one is one we can’t quite throw shade at him for, as we have zero evidence that he made the claim in the first place.
If anyone can find an archived version of the interview, whether it be the audio recording or transcription, please send us a message on our contact page.
