The “Rocky” franchise has been going strong for several decades now, but there’s no denying that the series has had its ups and downs. Some of the movies have withstood the test of time such as “Rocky II” whereas “Rocky V” can only ever really be described as “awesomely bad.”
“Rocky III” is another film that people seem to have mixed feelings about. Although the movie was far from the best in the series, it still gave us classic characters such as Mr. T’s Clubber Lang and Hulk Hogan’s Thunderlips. Much like the “Rocky” series itself, Hulk Hogan’s film career has been pretty hit or miss, but Thunderlips “The Ultimate Male” is a character who still gets referenced quite a bit.
Sylvester Stallone recently reflected on what it was like to work with Hulk Hogan while filming “Rocky III” and according to Sly, Hogan didn’t know his own strength.
Stallone had nothing but good things to say about working with Hogan, but he also noted that Hulk caused him a lot of pain, and he also sent three men to the hospital while they were filming the movie.
Sylvester Stallone shared the following in Instagram:
“Another flashback and another reason why it’s not such a great idea to always do your own stunts! I met Terry Bollea aka THUNDERLIPS aka HULK HOGAN In the very early 80s when I was directing Rocky III. AT 6 feet 7 and 295 pounds with 24 inch biceps!He was an amazing athlete! Incredibly powerful. I remember a violent move where he threw me into the corner, charged across the ring like an ENRAGED bull and leaped so amazingly high Above me, that his shinbone actually came down giant tree on my collarbone, and I tumbled to the floor. I was afraid to look at my shoulder for about 10 minutes … I said “don’t roll me over, don’t move me, “because I was sure there was bone protruding through my upper chest! Of course there wasn’t but I have never felt such a mind numbing pain from a massive hit before or since that day! HULK Just didn’t know his own strength. Believe it or not when he jumped into the audience to fight with the stuntmen, three of them had to be treated at the hospital. Great guy, great friend, his presence made the Film very very special. HULK, if you’re reading this, it was a privilege to be mangled by such a gentleman.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRXHtCfDlWl/?taken-by=officialslystallone
Cool. One of the greatest moments in cinematic history imo. Without Hulk we wouldn’t have The Rock and Cena.