Comedian Theo Von recently shared his experience of attending the funeral service for the late Hulk Hogan, a man he described as one of his childhood heroes. Speaking on his podcast, Von recounted his observations from the service, his personal connection to professional wrestling, and the profound impact that Hogan and the stars of that era had on him as a child.
Attending the Service
Von explained that he attended the service, held at the Indian Rocks Baptist Church in Largo, Florida, with musician Kid Rock. He described the scene inside the church, which was filled with wrestling legends who had come to pay their respects. “You walk in, and there’s a lot of people in there, you know, Hacksaw was in there, Mountie, Brutus The Barber Beefcake, Jimmy Hart was in there. Ric Flair was in there, Dennis Rodman was in there,” he said.
He then shared a specific memory involving Dennis Rodman during the service. “As as they were pushing the casket out, it kind of shook, like, wobbled a little bit, and he Rodman kind of stopped it, which was kind of crazy,” Von recalled. “He was like, you know, like, one last rebound…he kind of just helped tow the line there and just kind of keep the Hulk headed to heaven.”
“Walking Through a Lot of My Childhood”
Von said that being surrounded by so many iconic figures was a powerful and surreal experience for him as a lifelong fan. “It’s kind of crazy because you’re walking, you know, for me, I was walking through a lot of my childhood, just the moments of all these wrestlers,” he stated. “And some of them in wheelchairs, and some of them in, you know, some of them got someone chain mail and s–t, or fake spines… you know, people in there, so many missing parts. It’s just a damn Jim McMahon Build-A-Bear over there.”
A Deep Connection to Wrestling
The experience prompted Von to reflect on what professional wrestling meant to him and his friends growing up. “There was nobody bigger to us than professional wrestlers. Imma say that right out loud. And imma say that our love for professional wrestlers was bottomless, bro, point blank, homie. We just loved them, dude,” he said.
He shared a vivid memory of staying up late to watch Saturday Night’s Main Event with a friend. “We would hold each other’s eyes open. I would hold his open, and he would hold mine open… and we would just wait there until they came on the screen. The wrestlers, Ultimate Warrior, Ravishing Rick Rude,” he recalled.
Hulk Hogan’s Impact
Von explained that wrestling, and specifically Hulk Hogan, provided a sense of hope and inspiration for him as a child. “All that stuff that I felt as a child… all that would go away, man, when that wrestling came on,” he said. “Like when Hulk Hogan came on there, it just gave me something. I literally gave me something to look up to. I would sit there and look up at the screen… it just made you feel kind of like…something’s possible.”
He also shared a touching moment from the service when Hogan’s son, Nick, paid tribute to his father. “He believes that his father’s watching over him, and then he kind of said he kind of did, like, a bit of an impersonation of his dad, and he’s like, ‘Whatcha gonna do when the Hulkster is watching over you?’ And I thought, that was pretty cool,” Von said.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Theo Von with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
