In what could be the biggest story of 2009 so far, Hulk Hogan has
announced that he is joining TNA Wrestling during a press conference held
today in conjunction with TNA Wrestling and Spike TV in New York. "Hulk
Hogan is one of the world’s top pop culture icons and the biggest superstar
in the history of professional wrestling. We are truly excited to welcome
him into the TNA family," said Dixie Carter, President of TNA Wrestling.
"Our goal is to become the world’s biggest professional wrestling company.
Hulk defines professional wrestling and we look forward to partnering with
him in a variety of ways as we continue to grow TNA globally." The deal with
TNA was brokered by Bischoff Hervey Entertainment Television’s Eric Bischoff
and BHE TV has inked a first-look deal with TNA and will be working with the
organization to develop new programming extensions of the TNA brand. "I’m
thrilled to be jumping back into the world of professional wrestling," said
Hogan. "My fans have been asking me to return to the business for many years
on a full time basis, but the timing or the opportunity has never been right
until now. TNA Wrestling is a great company with an already excellent fan
base, business and broadcast partner. I firmly believe now is the time for
some change at TNA as they are positioned to jump to the next level in their
development and I’m here to work with Dixie to help make that a reality."
Hulk Hogan will be making his TNA iMPACT! debut this coming Thursday on
Spike TV at 9PM and commercials are already hitting the Internet hyping up
the former WWE and WCW champion’s arrival to the company. This week’s
iMPACT! was taped last week and it seems footage from the Madison Square
Garden press conference or a taped promo from Hogan (or even both) will be
inserted into the show. It is still not yet known how frequently Hogan will
be appearing on the show. This is the second time that Hogan worked with
TNA. Hogan taped an angle with Jeff Jarrett back in 2003 while he was in
Japan but nothing ever came out of that. Hogan was doing a press conference
when Jeff Jarrett stormed through the door and smashed his guitar on Hogan’s
head. He then proceeded to hit Hogan with chair shots busting him up.