Hulk Hogan is headed to Saudi Arabia this week to lead a team of WWE Superstars against Ric Flair at Thursday’s Crown Jewel, but he spent the weekend getting into an altercation with a random guy at a bar about non-alcoholic beverages and marital infidelity. You know, standard 66-year old man stuff.
In a video posted to Instagram by Barstool, Hogan can be seen challenging a man to “step outside,” and threatening him over a Shirley Temple. The drink, not the child star from 100 years ago.
“You know what, brother? I got a right to have a few moments by myself. Let me tell you something, brother, the last time I had a Shirley Temple was when me and your wife got together.”
If you’re wondering why any of this happened, Hogan posted a lengthy explanation for the altercation on his Facebook page on Sunday. In the video, reliable narrator Hulk explains that he only went to the bar in the first place because of Ric Flair, Flair’s the one who escalated the altercation, and that the “Shirley Temple” line was also Flair’s.
“I saw the video, and you guys just don’t understand what happened. Here’s the exact truth of what happened. So Flair, of course, said, ‘Hey, man. After the matches tonight, come down to the bar for one drink.’ And I said, ‘OK brother, I’ll come down for one drink.’ So, I told Jimmy Hart, ‘Oh my god. Baby, baby, baby, we should go to the room! Oh my god! Baby! You know, Jimmy doesn’t want to be in trouble. So anyway, Flair goes, ‘It’s really calm in the bar, and nobody’ll mess with us. So I said, ‘OK.’ So, we hit the front of the hotel. The bar and the lobby was right there. And it was the TV hotel, so it was packed with fans. I go in there and respectfully say hello to Flair, and he goes, ‘Oh, sit down. It’s real calm.’ All of the sudden, everybody’s iPhones getting ready to want pictures, you know, the normal stuff, the good stuff. And Flair goes, ‘No, will you just relax for a minute.’ And he just wanted to have one drink before the chaos started. So, we went to a little booth, and we were sitting back there, and the people kept coming up. And Flair, of course, is a heel in the ring, and he was acting like a heel and running everybody off so he could have at least one drink.”
Regarding Shirley:
“And this one guy came over, and he was drunk on his ass. He was really drunk on his ass. He had about four guys with him. They all looked about 40-45. They were all about six feet tall. You know, just a bunch of rangy looking spoons, you know? So Flair runs him off. Next thing you know, he sends over two Shirley temples for me and Flair, saying we’re a couple pussies. Anyway, Flair gets all lit up. And he dropped the line at the booth, ‘The last time I had a Shirley Temple, I was you-know-whatting your wife.’ So I said, ‘Oh my god. Please Flair, stop. But he said it at the table with me, and it was just funny. So, long story short, Flair takes off. And heads up, I’m regrouping, getting my crutch and all my crap with me, my bags, because we didn’t go to the room. We went straight to the lobby bar. And on the way out, what doesn’t show in the video, what the video doesn’t show, the guy who was drunk on his ass was going, ‘Hey, Hogan! You’re an f’n D-I-C-K! You’re an f’n D!’ You know, he yelled at me. And usually, I keep going, but I stopped dead in my tracks, and I turned around to look at him. And the only thing that I could think to say was the line that Flair dropped because he sent us two Shirley Temples, and we wouldn’t drink ’em. And the only think I could think was to drop the line that Flair dropped.”
Hogan also mentioned that his version of the Shirley Temple line landed a lot better than Flair’s, and that a bunch of NXT guys were at the bar and ready to go to war for him, including Brian Kendrick, of all people.
“And I looked right at him, and I said, ‘Hey brother. The last time I had a Shirley Temple was when I was hanging with your wife.’ And man, that lit him up. And his buddies acted like they were holding him back.’ I said, ‘Well brother, I dare you, I dare you to come outside and say this to my face.’ But what those guys didn’t know is Brian Kendricks and a lot of the WWE guys, a lot of the NXT guys — there’s this crazy bond, there’s this loyalty thing — so, if you get into fight with a wrestler at a bar, you better make sure there are no other wrestlers around. So, I didn’t realize it, but as I’m arguing with the guy, I notice Brian Kendrick circling the wagons, I see all the other guys. It was just ‘in position’ and I said, ‘Oh my God, this could get crazy.’ And then I went up to the room.”
All that over ginger ale and a splash of grenadine, garnished with a maraschino cherry. The lessons learned here include: (1) don’t be an unsolicited asshole to celebrities when you see them in public, (2) don’t taunt guys who’ve had documented problems with drugs and alcohol with non-alcoholic drinks and call them “pussies,” and (3) keep Ric Flair around if you need material.
You can watch the complete explainer here. Transcription h/t to 411.
