ric Bischoff has seen plenty of wild things during his time in pro wrestling, but one Fourth of July trip with Hulk Hogan and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake clearly left a lasting image in his head.
During the new Curtainjerkers show at the AdFree Shows weekend in Atlanta, Bischoff joined JBL, and Casio for a comedy-heavy conversation that somehow turned into a discussion about wrestlers wearing thongs. That is when Bischoff pulled out a story from around 1994, back when he was getting close with Hogan after the Hulkster arrived in WCW.
Bischoff explained that Hogan invited him, his wife, and their kids to Tampa for the Fourth of July. At the time, Bischoff said he was still excited just to be around Hogan because he had grown up watching Hulkamania explode.
“So, I’m thinking it’s about 1994. Hulk and I are getting to be pretty good friends. He said, ‘Eric, bring your wife and your kids down to Tampa. Let’s hang out on the 4th of July. Go out on the boat. Watch the fireworks.’ I just started working with Hulk. Right. I was a fan. I was in Minneapolis when Hulkamania really became a thing. And I’m still kind of a mark. I run the company, but f**ing truth is the truth, right? Hulk Hogan makes me bring me and my family down to his house and spend Fourth of July. Yeah, I’m kind of excited about that.”*
Bischoff said everything started normally enough. Hogan had a big house on the water, a huge boat, and the group was getting ready to head out to watch fireworks. Then Brutus Beefcake arrived, and that is when things got strange fast.
“My son Garrett was maybe six, seven. My daughter was five or six. She’s a year younger. We go down. It’s great. Oh, he’s got this big beautiful place in the ocean, big beautiful. He’s got giant boat and he said, ‘Okay, let’s go out on the water, watch the fireworks.’ And loading up the beer and soft drinks for the kids and whatever. And then Brutus the Barber Beefcake shows up in a f**ing thong.”*
When the panel tried to figure out whether Beefcake arrived wearing the thong or changed into it later, Bischoff said he only knew what he saw once Beefcake appeared.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how he got there. I didn’t watch him arrive. I just saw him show up on a f**ing boat with a banana hammock.”*
Bischoff said his wife immediately noticed what was happening. While she was laughing it off, he said his concern was his young kids being exposed to the scene.
“I’m thinking and I’m looking at my wife and my wife’s going like, ‘What the f**?’ you know, and my wife is laughing at it and I’m not worried about my wife. I’m thinking about my kids. It could scar my children.”*
The situation got even more outrageous when Hogan came out of the house dressed the same way, leaving Bischoff stuck on a boat with both Hogan and Beefcake wearing thongs.
“Here’s how it gets worse. Hogan’s in the house. He comes out. He’s wearing a freaking thong. Now I’m on a boat with Brutus the fing Barber Banana Hammock Beefcake and Hulk Hogan in a thong. And I don’t give a s*. Neither does my wife. But I’m thinking my kids are going to be scarred for f**ing ever. What’s going to happen to them? How are they going to look at life? How is this going to affect them?”
Bischoff joked that his children turned out fine, but the experience left him with his own lasting issue.
“Fortunately, my kids turned out okay. I, on the other hand, have a f**ing problem with banana hammocks.”*
Bischoff also made it clear this was not some private backyard moment. They were out watching fireworks in public, and he joked that everyone involved was lucky this happened long before smartphones were everywhere.
“We’re watching the fing fireworks and drinking Mai Tais and s*… Yes, it was public. Thank God there was no iPhones. The s*** would be everywhere.”*
Bischoff kept the bit going by saying he could still picture Beefcake driving around Clearwater, Florida in the same kind of outfit, just waiting for someone to notice.
“I think Brutus the Barber Beefcake to this f**ing day drives around Clearwater, Florida in a thong, hoping somebody’s going to say, ‘Can I take your picture?’”*
For Bischoff, the story was clearly one of those bizarre wrestling memories that sounds too ridiculous to be real, but also exactly like something that could only happen in the Hulk Hogan orbit during the wild WCW years. The fact that it involved Hogan, Beefcake, Bischoff’s family, fireworks, and public thong exposure makes it one of the stranger stories to come out of the AdFree Shows weekend.
What do you think about Eric Bischoff’s wild Fourth of July story with Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake? Do you think this is one of the funniest WCW-era stories Bischoff has told, or is there another one that tops it? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below.
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