During Monday’s RAW, WWE began a tease for Hulk Hogan’s in-ring return, pushing the ‘possibility’ of HBK and Hogan against Hassan and Daivari at WWE Backlash. Reports from backstage have indicated that Shawn Michaels had long been interested in working with Hogan, although Hogan’s priorities were on a match with Steve Austin. But, it now appears that Hogan will be working with HBK after all.
Assuming WWE goes through with the match, the interest is almost purely attributed to the WrestleMania aura surrounding Hogan. Even though WWE had expressed desire to run a Hogan vs. Hassan match and opened the door for such an encounter at WrestleMania, there were no plans at the time for Hogan to work Backlash. Thus, WWE and Hogan came to sudden terms to hopefully pop a big buyrate.