There is speculation online about WWE bringing Hulk Hogan back for WrestleMania 32. The belief is that Hogan would bring star power to the event. Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed this on Thursday’s episode of Wrestling Observer Live.
Hogan is in a legal battle with Gawker after the media outlet released a sex tape with Hogan. In July of 2015, audio of Hogan using racist and homophobic language surfaced online and this ultimately led to WWE firing Hogan as their ambassador and removing him from their website and programming.
Melzer said that he wouldn’t rule out Hogan returning the company, but believes that WWE isn’t going to rush bringing him back into the fold due to potential backlash. The likelihood of WWE bringing Hogan back anytime soon is not good as they have big corporate sponsors and that could be an issue if the sponsors have an issue with WWE bringing him back but Triple H has kept the door open.
Back in November, Triple H talked about Hogan’s relationship with WWE during a radio interview with New Hampshire’s Greg and the Morning Buzz show. When asked about Hogan possibly returning to the company, he said, “For me I hope so. It’s about reinvigorating his brand and him as a human being and the confidence within the world as to who he is. But the one thing about people in general, when somebody is on top they love to see him fall and when they fall they love to see him make that comeback. They’re great stories and I think that’s where people are.
Do I think he can be forgiven and make amends with the world and move forward? Yeah absolutely. But at the same point in time for us in that time frame you’re putting up a message to the world of how you’ll tolerate things and how you’ll react to things. We did what we needed to do and he’ll do what he needs to do to get himself back.
To me, at the end of the day for him, how he’s perceived by the world, him as a human being, I’m sure is a lot more important to him than anything else. And re-establishing who he is as a human being I’m sure is of utmost important to him and I’m sure he’s gonna do it and when he does we’ll go from there.”
As of now, Hogan is under the impression that he won’t be at WrestleMania.
@returnhulkhogan I have not talked to anybody since the WWE fired me my brother HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) January 16, 2016
@danchef it looks like I will not be part of any Wrestlemania event now or in the future,but I wish them only the best my brother. HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) January 15, 2016
@TL8throum yo Tom I won't be in Dallas for Wrestlemania but I will be there in spirit brother HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) January 16, 2016
