Hulk Hogan was initially left devastated by the crowd's negative reaction to his surprise appearance at WWE's Monday Night Raw Netflix debut in Los Angeles.
The wrestling icon, who has a love-hate relationship with WWE fans after a series of controversial moments outside the ring, was a special guest as the company presented the first show of its $ 5 billion deal with Netflix.
When he entered the Intuit Dome in California he was roundly booed by the crowd, much to the surprise of fans watching on at home, and DailyMail.com can now reveal the Hulkster himself was also stunned by the reaction.
A source exclusively told us: 'Did Hulk think he was going to be cheered? Especially bringing out Jimmy Hart, who everyone likes, and who was also waving an American flag at the time... that is a resounding yes!
'So, when he came out, got booed, and then went to the back after his promo, he was instantly disappointed that the fans turned on him. But he wasn't p*ssed!
'Had it not been for him being there to promote his beer, he would have leaned into it a little more, but he just had to get through the promotion of it all. But after thinking about it, a few good things came out of it.
'The fact that he was booed, everyone talked about it, and he's been in the wrestling business long enough to know, that even a bad reaction goes a long way, because if they aren't cheering for you or aren't booing you then they don't care at all.
'This has actually been a great promotion for his beer and as quickly as he was disappointed, he thought about it a little more and is excited by how it turned out. Hulk is a businessman, and he is going to take advantage of the fans' reaction to the bank.'
When he entered the arena on Monday Night Raw, Hulk - now 71 - tried to tell the WWE audience they were the best tag team partner he ever had. Their response was to boo him out of the building.
Hogan was chucked out of the WWE in 2015 after a tape surfaced of him making racist remarks, including the use of the n-word.
In a video made public by The National Enquirer, Hogan said: 'I guess we're all a little racist' and used the n-word while referring to his daughter's love life, and includes him repeating the phrase several times.
He is undoubtedly one of the most popular and successful babyfaces of all time and the catalyst to what made WrestleMania so successful, main eventing eight of the first nine events.
More recently, Hogan became a celebrity endorser for Donald Trump's presidential campaign in the United States, which he went on to win.
But he is adamant that he will not bring politics to the WWE, with a source telling DailyMail.com: 'He's open to almost anything but one story that won't be used is anything that deals with Trump.
'Both the WWE and Hogan don't want to go that road and make things political. Hogan supports Trump, but he's not going to mix that support with anything he is doing in the WWE.'
The wrestling icon, who has a love-hate relationship with WWE fans after a series of controversial moments outside the ring, was a special guest as the company presented the first show of its $ 5 billion deal with Netflix.
When he entered the Intuit Dome in California he was roundly booed by the crowd, much to the surprise of fans watching on at home, and DailyMail.com can now reveal the Hulkster himself was also stunned by the reaction.
A source exclusively told us: 'Did Hulk think he was going to be cheered? Especially bringing out Jimmy Hart, who everyone likes, and who was also waving an American flag at the time... that is a resounding yes!
'So, when he came out, got booed, and then went to the back after his promo, he was instantly disappointed that the fans turned on him. But he wasn't p*ssed!
'Had it not been for him being there to promote his beer, he would have leaned into it a little more, but he just had to get through the promotion of it all. But after thinking about it, a few good things came out of it.
'The fact that he was booed, everyone talked about it, and he's been in the wrestling business long enough to know, that even a bad reaction goes a long way, because if they aren't cheering for you or aren't booing you then they don't care at all.
'This has actually been a great promotion for his beer and as quickly as he was disappointed, he thought about it a little more and is excited by how it turned out. Hulk is a businessman, and he is going to take advantage of the fans' reaction to the bank.'
When he entered the arena on Monday Night Raw, Hulk - now 71 - tried to tell the WWE audience they were the best tag team partner he ever had. Their response was to boo him out of the building.
Hogan was chucked out of the WWE in 2015 after a tape surfaced of him making racist remarks, including the use of the n-word.
In a video made public by The National Enquirer, Hogan said: 'I guess we're all a little racist' and used the n-word while referring to his daughter's love life, and includes him repeating the phrase several times.
He is undoubtedly one of the most popular and successful babyfaces of all time and the catalyst to what made WrestleMania so successful, main eventing eight of the first nine events.
More recently, Hogan became a celebrity endorser for Donald Trump's presidential campaign in the United States, which he went on to win.
But he is adamant that he will not bring politics to the WWE, with a source telling DailyMail.com: 'He's open to almost anything but one story that won't be used is anything that deals with Trump.
'Both the WWE and Hogan don't want to go that road and make things political. Hogan supports Trump, but he's not going to mix that support with anything he is doing in the WWE.'
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