GUNTHER Out Of Action Indefinitely, Bret Hart Reacts To Hulk Hogan’s Death
Hulk Hogan passed away on July 24th at the age of 71.
At WrestleMania 9, Hogan stepped in after Bret Hart lost the WWE Championship to Yokozuna, following interference from Mr. Fuji.
Hogan then quickly defeated Yokozuna to capture the title, a move that has remained a point of contention.
Speaking on a recent edition of “The Masked Man Show,” Bret was asked for his thoughts on Hogan following his passing. He said,
“You can never deny what Hulk Hogan did. His footprint in the wrestling business will always be huge, maybe as big as it is ever going to get. When Hulk Hogan left WWF in 1992 and wasn’t at SummerSlam 92, it was WrestleMania 8 when I fought Roddy Piper, Piper was one of the few guys that reached down and pulled me up to his level. ‘I want to wrestle Bret Hart because I want to make him.’ Roddy Piper made me and contributed to the next generation. There were a lot of wrestlers who didn’t do that. Hulk Hogan never did that for anybody, never pulled anyone else up. Jake Roberts never did anything for anybody else, he only did for Jake Roberts. I look at Jake Roberts and Hulk Hogan, that’s just two guys.
“Hulk Hogan, when I got to WWF in 1984, there was a smorgasbord of bad guys like Piper, (Paul) Orndorff, Bob Orton, Kamala, Killer Khan, (King Kong) Bundy. It was like a candy box. He had such a lineup of guys to work with, the best villains in wrestling that all made Hulk Hogan. Same with Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat and Macho Man. They never lost, they got their hands raised. 1992 comes along and they’re going to give me this big push. There is nobody there and nobody left. I didn’t have anybody to work with when I won the belt, really. Not any monsters, anyway. That’s what I always think. 1992, the elevator was falling to the bottom. Everything was sinking so fast. They were in trouble. Hogan was off and the steroid scandal, though he said he never took them. All of that hurt the business. Hulk’s shtick was getting tiring at that point. I don’t know how I got picked. I never had any say. When I found out I was going to be world champion, I was the first one to find out and it was a shock. I didn’t expect it, but I was grateful for it. I always felt like things were falling so bad and Vince had to figure out something. ‘Stick it on him.’
“I was a safe bet. I wasn’t a guy who was going to get busted for having a couple ounces of coke in my bag like Jake Roberts’ might’ve. I wasn’t a guy who was going to fail my drug test. I was a safe bet. That’s why Vince picked me to be the champion. ‘I need somebody who is not going to drop the ball and have any scandals. I can’t take any more scandals. Stick it on Bret Hart.’ So, they stuck it on me. I wasn’t expecting it, but I stepped up to the plate. I always thought that the day that I won the belt, Hulk Hogan would come up and pat me on the back and tell me how glad he was that I was the guy they picked to pull the sword out of the stone for him. Unfortunately, that’s not how it was. The second I won the belt, I was the enemy. I had what he wanted, and we were never really friends ever again. That had nothing to do with me. I was always honest. Hulk, it was like a little kid in elementary school. Some kids are bulls**tters who tell bulls**t. Classic bulls**tters. Sometimes, you have to kick kids like that. I think Hulk Hogan was a bulls**tter.”
GUNTHER is out of action for the foreseeable future.
During Monday’s episode of WWE RAW, Michael Cole revealed that the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion suffered a septal hematoma and an orbital blowout fracture during his match at SummerSlam 2025 (Night Two). As a result, GUNTHER will be sidelined indefinitely.
WWE hosted its latest round of tryouts over SummerSlam weekend in New Jersey.
Twitter user Alex shared a full list of the athletes who participated in the tryouts as you can see below:
* Vert Vixen (Independent Wrestler)
* Rayne Leverkusen (Independent Wrestler, Named MVP of Tryout)
* Zoe Sager (WWE ID Prospect)
* Anita Vaughan (Independent Wrestler)
* Ariana Milan (Miss Maryland, Track & Field)
* Sydney Langston (Model, Hockey Player)
* Mai McKenna (Swimmer)
* Zoe Hines (Softball)
* Jenna Marie Eagles (Gymnast)
* Taelor Moore (Jiu-Jitsu)
* Meghan Walker (WWE NIL Athlete, Sprinter)
* Eva Eun-Kyung Sandersen (World Taekwondo Champion, Stuntwoman)
* Ellen B Akesson (Powerlifter, Streamer)
* Delia Schweizer (Crossfit)
* Jessica Bogdanov (Model, Rhythmic Gymnast)
* Joao Santos (Independent Wrestler)
* Daga (Independent Wrestler)
* Jha’Quan McNair (Independent Wrestler, Former D1 Wrestler)
* Eli Knight (Independent Wrestler)
* Ahmed Essan (Amateur Wrestler)
* Mike Cunningham (Independent Wrestler)
* LJ Cleary (Independent Wrestler)
* Yayne Harrison (WWE ID Prospect)
* Elijah Blum (Independent Wrestler)
* CBL (Independent Wrestler)
* Ben Bishop (Independent Wrestler)
* Will Kroos (Independent Wrestler)
* Steven Stetson (Independent Wrestler)
* CJ Felder (College Basketball)
* Eduardo Godinho (Marathon Runner)
* Vincent King (Football)
* Aeden Begue (D1 Wrestler)
* Maliq Carr (College Football
* Joey Wachs (Fitness Instructor)
* Tyler Reyna (Track & Field)
* Henry Zimmerman (Track & Field)
* Marcus Jason Brown (Bodybuilder)
* Youssef Mdini (Basketball)
* Van Fillinger (College Football)
* Brandon Myles Sebastain (Football)
* Mustafa Salih (Influencer)
* Onur Alp Cam (Actor)
* Gui Da Silva-Greene (Actor)
* Omari (Independent Wrestler)
