Hulk Hogan 'brawl' at Australian press conference a hoax

Hulk Hogan was supposedly injured by fellow wrestler, Ric Flair, in an all-out brawl at a press conference in Sydney. The Hall of Fame legend was left unable to stand after an incident with a flying table, but reporters later found it was a stunt.

Hogan is in Australia for a promotional “Hulkamania” tour. Flair apparently lost it, with journalists dodging both the table and a belt Flair was using as a weapon. According to the Wentworth Courier staff, Hogan later appeared at another event showing no ill effects of the supposed brawl. Hogan told media about the publicity stunt: "It took me about half an hour to get freshened up before I ran back out, it got a bit crazy." Pro wrestling is sometimes sneered at for its “antics”, but there have been many incidents off stage, too. If you get a few 300lb guys needing to get something off their plates, something will happen. Flair and Hogan have worked together in the business for at least 25 years. They may not be each other’s greatest admirers, but they’ve previously stopped short of actual bodily damage, at least on this scale. Quite a lot of these things are stage managed for effect, but if so, this one may have gone off the rails. Flair, who’s nearly 60, is still an occasionally active wrestler, and not, perhaps, the world’s most apathetic participant in any event. Wrestling is a very strange business. In the UK a few years ago, someone jumped on another wrestler, killing him. Asked to comment on the incident, which was ruled an accident, the wrestler said, “He would have understood”. Hopefully the Hulkamania tour won't be disrupted.