Legendary WWE interviewer Mean Gene Okerlund passed away on Wednesday, and the entire pro wrestling community has spent the week sharing their memories and tributes. WWE aired their tribute to Gene on Monday’s edition of Raw, and put Hulk Hogan at the center of it.
Hogan showed up “in character” and “wide open” — his words — because that’s how Mean Gene would’ve wanted it, then segued into a Gene tribute video. Nobody does videos like this better than WWE, and this was no exception. You have to love a video of Mean Gene highlights that ends with his Hall of Fame induction speech about how he wants us to bury him face down so all his critics can kiss his ass.
Hogan hung around afterward and got choked up, then quickly launched into a promo about Gene in Heaven setting up a tag team match teaming the Macho Man Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior against Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr. Perfect, with Andre the Giant as special guest referee. It was mostly nice — we probably could’ve gotten out of there before the Mae Young and Fabulous Moolah bit — and also a really sad reminder of how many classic pro wrestlers we’ve lost.
Rest in peace, Gene.
This was Hogan’s first appearance on Raw since 2015 for reasons you can read about at length here, and his first WWE appearance since hosting Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia back in November.
