Disclaimer: I own nothing here, it belongs to WWE.
Note: This story has been stirring since Hogan was fired a few weeks ago.
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His stomach clenched when the phone rang, he'd been expecting the call for awhile, ever since Brooke had called and said that his words from a few years ago had come back to haunt him.
"Hello?"
"Terry? It's Vince." Those words said everything. Vince never called him Terry if he was asking him to come to RAW or a Pay Per View. Those words told him what was coming.
"Yeah, Vince." He didn't ask what this was about, they knew each other too well.
"Terry…I got word about what you said in that interview a few years ago," Vince said, sadness in his voice. "You-you know what this means."
He nodded, "Yeah, I do." He'd known the minute Brooke had called with the news what would happen.
"Terry, I don't want to do this, but with the way things are now, I can't just let this go. I'm sorry."
"I know you are." Thirty years ago, hell, ten years ago, no one would've said anything. It would've been written off as an unfortunate byproduct of someone born in a different time or the stupidity of an old man trying to be relevant. Not now. Not in a world where the media is forever looking to tear down public figures, or people who were once public figures, just for the sake of getting clicks onto their websites, not caring who got hurt in the process if it meant making money or finding a way to bash pro-wrestling.
"Maybe in a year or so, let the fuss die down, we can revisit this and reinstate you. But right now…"
He nodded, "Yeah, I get it." Maybe Vince will be able to reinstate him, maybe he won't, but he appreciates the sentiment.
There was a long sigh, "Well, I've got to go and get some stuff ready with SummerSlam coming up. Steph and Paul have some really great ideas we need to iron out. Goodbye, Terry."
"Goodbye, Vince." With that, Terry Bollea, no longer Hulk Hogan, hung up the phone on a thirty year friendship and wept, and generations of Hulkamaniacs wept with him.