It was 35 years ago today when “Mean” Gene Okerlund conducted his first interview with Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (at a WWF Championship Wrestling television taping in Allentown, Pennsylvania). A video of this is not available on the WWE Network, but a fan managed to find the clip and post it on Twitter.
35 years ago, the first WWF interview with Mean Gene and @HulkHogan for the start of a new era and the rest is history! pic.twitter.com/gO1jcDS2wv
— Richard Land (@maskedwrestlers) January 4, 2019
Reacting to his passing on Wednesday, Hogan called Okerlund the best partner he ever had.
The best partner I ever had. We never rehearsed or did anything scripted from a writer. Gene would ask me “hey big man what do u want to do?” I would always answer “just follow you brother” and it worked from 1980 – 2017. RIP my brother HH pic.twitter.com/OBtn6NxT1E
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) January 3, 2019