Jimmy Hart has shared new behind-the-scenes details about Hulk Hogan’s heavily discussed appearance on the January 2025 Netflix premiere of WWE Raw, revealing that Hogan was fully aware the crowd reaction could turn hostile before he ever walked through the curtain.
Speaking on the latest episode of What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes, Hart recalled repeatedly warning Hogan that the Los Angeles audience might not respond favorably due to Hogan’s outspoken political support of Donald Trump.
Hogan’s appearance took place during Raw’s Netflix debut on January 6, 2025, at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and also served as a promotional segment for Hogan’s Real American Beer brand. The WWE Hall of Famer was loudly booed throughout the appearance, with the audience reaction quickly becoming one of the night’s biggest talking points.
Hart explained that he felt uneasy about the situation from the moment they arrived in California.
“I said, ‘you know where we’re going? We’re going to California.’ And like I said before, I’m not a Democrat or Republican. I’m jabroni. But here’s the deal. I said, ‘I don’t like this.’ ‘Jimmy, don’t worry about it.’ I went, ‘Okay.’ We get out of the van there, nice town car puts us there. Some fans go ‘Hulk, we loved you, but you love them. We don’t like you anymore.’ You know. I said ‘Hulk, I don’t feel good about this.’ ‘Jimmy, don’t worry about it.’ We go in the back. You know what I’m worrying about it.”
Hart said Hogan even checked in with him shortly before they went out for the segment.
“So we’re in the back and Hulk, he goes ‘Jimmy Hart, what do you think?’ He’d always ask before we do something. And I just said, ‘no, everything’s good, you know, everything’s okay.’ So, we went out and did the little thing with, rehearse where we were going to stand and help coming out, do his little deal. And I’m waving the flag.”
According to Hart, Hogan later admitted backstage that he had expected the possibility of a negative reaction all along.
“So we finish it, then we go in the back. And of course, then Hulk comes up going ‘hey, the radio was good on that segment we did.’ And I said, ‘well, I guess they should be because with all the commotion that happened on it, I guess we should have.’ And I said ‘but you kept telling me, don’t worry about it. Well, I was worried about it.’ And he goes, ‘Jimmy, look, sometimes you got to do what you got to do.’ And he said ‘I’ve made my bed and I’ve got to lie in it. That’s who I wanted to vote for. That’s what I wanted to do.’ He said ‘I knew in my heart going in there might be a catchy thing.’ But he knew it, you know.”
The segment later became the subject of additional discussion after Hogan’s passing in July 2025 at age 71. According to Hart, Vince McMahon privately felt the presentation of Hogan’s WWE legacy during the Netflix debut could have been handled differently given the politically charged crowd response.
Hogan remains one of the most influential figures in professional wrestling history, having been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame individually in 2005 and again in 2020 as a member of the New World Order.
His final WWE television appearance ultimately became the January 2025 Raw Netflix debut segment — a moment Hart now says Hogan entered fully understanding the reaction he might receive.
Hart and Hogan shared a decades-long friendship and on-screen partnership dating back to the early 1990s, including Hart managing Hogan and Brutus Beefcake as The MegaManiacs during Hogan’s 1993 WWE return, before continuing together through Hogan’s legendary WCW run and the Hollywood Hogan era.
