"It was horrible! Just horrible!" - Wrestling legend recalls seeing Hulk Hogan for the first time

Wrestling legend Ken Patera recently recalled his first meeting with Hulk Hogan and the latter's WWE in-ring debut.

The Hulkster is considered by many as one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time. He held multiple titles during his active career and was integral to the pro wrestling business gaining mainstream popularity. However, Hogan's beginnings in the ring weren't the best, per Patera.

During an interview with Wrestling Epicenter, Ken Patera detailed his first meeting with Hogan and recalled the former WWE Champion's debut in-ring outing being "horrible."

“I had seen Hulk Hogan’s first match in the WWF in 1980. I’ll never forget it. Allentown Fairgrounds. He had come up to me and said, “Hi, you’re Ken Patera.” I said, “Yes, I am!” He told me he had wrestled in Florida, and I watched his match. It was horrible! Just horrible! I was like, “God! Where did this f***ing bum come from!” But he was just green. He had only been wrestling for maybe not even a year at that point."

Patera explained how The Hulkster eventually became one of the most popular stars in the business:

"But, after a while, a short while, he started to get it (…) And, he followed the process! Everything you do in life, I don’t care if it is selling cars or being a brain surgeon; there is a process! If you don’t follow the process, you don’t make it! That is what life is all about. You don’t go off doing a bunch of hair-brained stuff, or else you end up being a dumb f***! [laughs] You’ll never amount to shit!" [H/T EWrestlingNews.com]

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Hulk Hogan once demanded to win the world title

Hulk Hogan seemingly had a lot of creative control in WCW. This led to a backstage disagreement before Bash at the Beach 2000. The two-time Hall of Famer agreed to work with Scott Steiner and then-WCW Champion Jeff Jarret. But The Hulkster demanded to leave the show as champion, which wasn't part of the plan.

Vince Russo, the lead writer for WCW at the time, opened up about the incident on Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Outlaws. Russo claimed that Hulk Hogan used his creative control card before the event.

"He wanted to leave that building with the title. We had already agreed, all of us, Booker [T] was leaving that building with the title. So, as far as I was concerned, you can do whatever you want, you're not winning the title. We're not doing that. The part that he agreed to was, like I said, bro, he laid out Jarrett, he laid out Steiner, he was literally King Kong, but he didn't win the belt." [4:51 – 5:21]

In the end, Booker T defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the WCW Championship as planned. So, it looks like Hogan didn't get his way after all.

What do you make about Ken Patera's comments on Hulk Hogan's first match? Sound off in the comments section below.