Hulk Hogan White Shirt Actual Ring Gear

In-ring shirt worn by Hulk Hogan, from a match verses Jesse “The Body” Ventura

It always was, and still is, customary for the great Hulk Hogan to tear his t-shirt off before a match and throw it to a lucky fan in the audience. On September 13th, 1985, at a WWF “All Star Wrestling” taping, I was the lucky fan.

To the best of my knowledge, this particular “American Made” Hulk Hogan shirt came into existance (and into the Hulkster’s waredrobe rotation), somewhere in the summer of 1985 through late in 1987.

After almost thirty years and many wrestling shows later, it was difficult to remember exactly what had happened on the night that I caught Hogan’s shirt and details about the particular show, until last night, when I finally stumbled upon the results online.

Did you ever say smell something familiar in a certain setting and you were instantly transported back to an earlier time? …Maybe like smelling burnt toast outside of a diner and recalling something like a camping trip you had as a 10-year-old? After reading a simple list of matches, the full Hulkamania shirt-catching experience all came back to me. Here are the results I read of the wrestling event where I caught Hulk Hogan’s shirt at ringside:

I caught this shirt just before a match where Hulk Hogan took on Jesse The Body Ventura.

WWF “All Star Wrestling” @ Providence, RI – Civic Center – September 13, 1985

1) Corporal Kirchner defeated Mr. X
2) Tony Atlas defeated Steve Lombardi
3) Jim Brunzell defeated Jim Neidhart
4) “WWF Tag Team Champion” Brutus Beefcake defeated Steve Gatorwolf
5) Pedro Morales defeated “WWF Tag Team Champion” Greg Valentine, via disqualification
6) Bret Hart defeated B. Brian Blair
7) The Missing Link defeated Ron Dee
8) Jesse Ventura defeated “WWF World Champion” Hulk Hogan, via disqualification
9) Cousin Junior won a 20-man battle royal

About fifteen years ago, I decided to give the shirt that had followed me since my youth some long-deserved respect, by having it professionally re-framed. However, at the time of the framing, it was difficult for me to remember which of the many ticket stubs I had saved over the years went with the shirt that I had been preserving for so long inside a cheap poster frame.

QUANDARY. There were no real records available yet on the early pages of the internet back then to help me recall the correct date. One of the problems was I had seen The Hulkster a number of times at Civic Center, and I had saved a bunch of my ticket stubs for all the shows. The World Wrestling Federation had ran 13 times alone at that venue, and my father took me to see many of them! (He really was a great dad for a wrestling fan to have!) I had, however, dwindled the ticket stub choice insertion down to two choices and figured the shirt was from either September 13th, 1985, or perhaps maybe the May 3rd, 1986 at The Saturday Night Main Event taping. Therefore, I guessed.

For a number of years, however, I honestly wasn’t sure if I had chosen the correct ticket stub to be framed with the shirt caught that night. Here is the reason why…

This white American Made T-shirt was in Hogan’s waredrobe from 1985-1987.

THE LUCK. Friends and family have always called me the lucky one. Maybe it’s the luck of the Irish, or maybe a guardian angel looks after me, but that Hulk Hogan shirt wasn’t the only one that I caught. I actually caught two. One was a full Hulk Hogan shirt (the shirt in the picture), and a second piece of a an identical shirt, eight months later in a mass fan tug-o-war at ringside. Both shirts were the same WWF White American Made T-shirt seen above, worn by Hogan on and off for about two years.

Having experienced catching two Hogan shirts, owning a shoebox full of ticket stubs, and having no card results in front of me at framing time, all made things a little bit sketchy as to which was the correct stub to insert along with a picture. (I also had purchased for framing, the only glossy autographed picture of Hogan I could find tearing the white shirt off, as a finishing touch.)

ABOUT THE SECOND SHIRT: Incidently, the second “American Made” shirt fragment I had secured was from a tug-o-war that occured in my ringseats with other crazed fans. That particular second shirt was really just a piece of white material; it had no print on it at all. Knowing that I already had en entire shirt in great condition at home, and that the fragment I caught was less than collectible to me, I gave up to a few fans at ringside at the end of the night. In case you are wondering, good karma exists. A few months later, “the luck” kicked in again and I caught Leapin’ Lanny Poffo’s frisbee, which I will post soon in another blog.

Action Figure with same shirt.

The match that I caught an unrecognizable and therefore (pretty much) an uncollectible little piece of an American Made shirt was also televised, but on network TV making it easy to access today. It was Hulk Hogan and The Junkyard Dog managed by The Haiti Kid taking on Dory and Terry Funk managed by “The Mouth of The South” Jimmy Hart. Though I had some confusion on which stub to insert in my framing due having saved many ticket stubs, after reading the records, I am now 100% sure I put the correct stub in with the shirt. After finding the results of the match on the web, it all made sense. After reading the finding, it was like I opened a closed closet in my head for the first time in almost thirty years.

THE CHEAP SEATS ABOVE. I did put the correct ticket stub with the shirt. The shirt was in fact from Hulk Hogan’s match with Jesse Ventura on September 13th, 1985, at The Providence Civic Center in Rhode Island. I am also sure of this because after reading the card results, I immediately remembered hiding my prize under my own shirt, and running up to my CHEAP SEATS to show my dad; something I hadn’t thought about in years. It couldn’t have been the Saturday Night Main Event taping, because that event took place after the Hogan vs Jesse match, and we had ringside seats for that one. There was no running up to the cheap seats with my prize for that show; an excited memory that I remember vividly. Also, I gave up the shirt fragment, knowing I had a better shirt at home.

My dad will attest to this… I predicted where I thought Hulk Hogan would throw the shirt that night, from my research of watching his matches at home. My plan was to run to ringside, down from the cheap seats, and be the winner of this collectible. And I did just that. The way he tells the story is I told him I was going down to catch the shirt. He told me not to be discouraged if it didn’t happen, but I told him it would. He didn’t see me catch it either, but was very surprised to see me return with it.

FUNNY STORY ABOUT THIS SHOW. On a side note, I remember on that card a couple of funny things that night, after looking at this card results again, online. I had brought an American flag which I gave to Tony Atlas, who came out to watch a match incogito out of a sealed off floor entrance way. Later on, my father and I teased an angry Jim The Anvil to no end, who was trying to watch his partner from the same sealed off area. When Bret Hart tok a reverse atomic drop from Brian Blair, our whole section threw gay jokes at the Anvil to the point wear we really thought he was going to attack us. Tony Atlas came out and calmed “The Anvil” down, holding him back from jumping into the audience. This little side show for us in the cheap seats was classic.

Anyhow, I want to thank the power of the internet. By simply providing a list of matches, the internet freed childhood memories surrounding the night that I snagged probably of one of my most prized wrestling collectibles in my collection.