Hulk Hogan had a blowout of a birthday Monday night.
Hogan turned 61 Monday, and the WWE helped him celebrate his special day in style at the WWE Monday Night Raw event, held this time in Portland, Oregon, The Big Lead reports. The festivities began when Hogan came to the ring to join Jimmy Hart and ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund. Then followed a cavalcade of some of the WWE’s most popular stars in its history. Ric Flair started the memory train, complete with his trademark “WOOOOO!” coming from the back, followed next by “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff in stylish garb, then “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in trademark kilt and combat glare, and completed by Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.
During the celebration, Scott Hall grabbed the microphone to take a poll: Did Hulk look better in his traditional red and yellow or in the black and white worn originally by the New World Order, the group of wrestlers headed by Hall, Nash and Hogan? The crowd seemed to favor the old NWO way, whereupon Hogan, as is his way, tore off the red and yellow and exposed the NWO t-shirt hidden underneath. It seems as if all was right with the world. Then, a lot of potential harm in the form of Brock Lesnar took over.
Philly.com reports Lesnar, with Paul Hayman at his side, has rocked the boat since his return to the WWE. His biggest feat was defeating the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 30, breaking the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania. Now, he had set his sights on Hogan, with prolonged glares to a hostile crowd and to most notably Piper. Lesnar made the rounds and imparted his words to the masses, all of the past members stewing, getting angrier, when John Cena burst into the ring to set order for the evening.
This episode of WWE Monday Night Raw was, of course, the lead-in to this Sunday’s SummerSlam, where Cena and Lesnar are to compete for the World Heavyweight Title. This was also a lead-in to the new deal available to WWE fans. Fans can sign up for the new WWE Network, where they can watch SummerSlam for the one-time price of $9.99. Other match-ups include Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz, Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt, Rusev vs. Jack Swagger, AJ Lee vs. Paige, Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton, and Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella, leading up to the Cena-Lesnar Championship bout.
