“He Squeezed Me Like an Anaconda”: Hulk Hogan Almost Shattered WWE Hall of Famer During Their First Meeting

Ever since Hulk Hogan started his professional wrestling career, everyone had their eyes on him. Hogan grabbed the attention of the fans for his skills, physicality, and strength. Not only the fans, some WWE legends, including Bret Hart, got to experience how strong Hulk Hogan was.

In Bret “The Hitman” Hart’s autobiography, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, Hart talked about his first meeting with Hulk Hogan. Prior to Hart’s first match against Hogan, Bobby Jaggers had cornered a large rat in the dressing room and stomped it to death.

Bret Hart related his first match against Hogan to this rat stomping incident. He noted in his autobiography, “After the rat stomping, Ole introduced me to Sterling Golden, the territory’s newest big blond heel. He had quite a presence about him, standing a massively muscled six-foot-nine and sporting the biggest arms I’d ever seen.”

The WWE legend then noted how he felt when he crashed into Hulk Hogan for the first time. Bret “The Hitman” Hart noted he felt like he had hit a brick wall. Hart mentioned that the next time he charged right into Hogan’s waiting arms and Hogan then squeezed him.

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Bret Hart noted, “He squeezed me like an anaconda while I screamed uncle and writhed in agony. After almost being disqualified for not releasing me, he dropped me limp to the mat, dead, like Bobby Jaggers’s rat. His real name was Terry Bollea, soon to become Hulk Hogan.”

Both Hogan and Hart are WWE Hall of Famers now. They also enjoyed success during their time in WCW. And they also competed in a singles match once in WCW.

A look at some of the pro wrestling achievements of Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan is one of the most popular and biggest pro wrestlers of all time. And there are several reasons for that. But one reason for that is his incredible record. Hogan proved to be a crowd favorite for a long time. But he also proved himself inside the squared circle against top WWE and WCW stars.

During his WWE and WCW career, he gifted several incredible moments to the audience. For example, picking up and slamming down André the Giant at WrestleMania III, and also becoming the first individual to get out of The Iron Sheik’s camel clutch to win his first WWE Championship. Also not to forget when he turned heel and formed the nWo in WCW along with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

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Apart from these moments, Hogan had won several titles. He is a six-time WCW Champion and a six-time WWE Champion. The Hulkster is also a two-time Royal Rumble winner. Apart from WCW and WWE, he also won titles in NJPW.