In the 1980s, WWE tried to cut away from the territorial wrestling industry and, with it, rehash the image of a wrestling promotion. This led to the creation of the little-known thing we call WrestleMania today. Although pay-per-views like this were done before but not on this scale and certainly not with celebrity involvement. In fact, the main event of the first-ever WrestleMania pitted Hulk Hogan and Hollywood actor Mr. T against “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. To promote this blockbuster match and WrestleMania, Hogan and Mr. T did a lot of media appearances, including the one on a talk show called Hot Properties.

Belzer said Hulk Hogan hurt him real bad

WWE was going all in during their promotion for WrestleMania I. In Hulk Hogan, they had one of the biggest stars of wrestling at that time and when they paired him with Mr. T; it looked promising for Vince McMahon. A few days before the first WrestleMania, the pair appeared on the Hot Properties talk show hosted by comedian, Richard Belzer.

Hogan stayed in his in-ring character and things went pretty smooth until Belzer pushed The Hulkster to perform a wrestling move on him. At first, Hogan showed some reluctance, but eventually gave in. The WWE star applied a front chin lock on Belzer and the host passed out in mere seconds. As he passed out, he hit the floor hard and was unconscious for a while. To diffuse the situation and break the eerie silence, Mr. T said that Belzer was taking a nap.

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Hogan then helped Belzer regain consciousness and helped him back to his feet. Belzer went for a commercial, but as he turned back, viewers could see blood dripping at the back of his head. Hogan immediately apologized to the viewers and was genuinely sorry for what had transpired. Afterwards, Belzer was taken to a local medical facility where he received nine stitches to close the wound in his head.

At that time, many fans thought that this was a gig by WWE in order to promote their upcoming event. However, that was not the case. The very next week, Belzer appeared on his show and said that Hogan legitimately hurt him. He even showed the viewers the stitches he received in his head.

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Belzer even sued Hogan and received a $5million settlement from the court. As for Hulk Hogan and WWE, WrestleMania I was a grand success. To some extent, this incident on the talk show generated quite a buzz around the event and helped WWE.