Remembering That Time Hulk Hogan Said He Auditioned For Metallica

Previously, the late-wrestler claimed to have been friends with drummer Lars Ulrich, who later denied having ever met.

Hulk Hogan, one of WWE’s most iconic figures, passed away today aged 71.

Many have come out to share their stories of their encounters with Hogan, both good and bad. One that’s been making the rounds is a bizarre story Hogan shared announcing that he had auditioned to replace Cliff Burton in Metallica.

The story follows that in 2017, while sharing a conversation with The Sun, Hogan said: “I used to be a session musician before I was a wrestler. I played bass guitar. I was big pals with Lars Ulrich and he asked me if I wanted to play bass with Metallica in their early days but it didn’t work out.”

The story inevitably blew up, because a world with Hulk Hogan as Metallica’s bass player is too fun not to imagine (‘Brother of Puppets’, anyone?). Months later, radio talk show host Howard Stern would mention this to Ulrich, who would outright say that he had never met Hogan before.

“I don’t know Hulk Hogan, I don’t know enough about him… I’m not a huge wrestling [fan]” Lars admitted. “I certainly have no recollection of doing anything with quote Hulk Hogan endquote. I was scratching my head on that one, too.”

It’s always rough when your supposed ‘best bud’ claims to have never met you.

Later, Hogan retracted the statement in an interview with Noisey, rewriting the narrative a fair bit:

“I heard that Metallica needed a bass player, and brother, I was writing letters, made a tape of myself playing and sent it to their management company. Kept making calls trying to get through. I tried for two weeks and never heard a word back from them either. [..] I was hoping for a call from them but never got one. All the haters were like “You never auditioned for Metallica!” Of course I didn’t — but I tried!”

James Hetfield would also comment in an interview later that year, laughing when the situation was brought up.

“I don’t know [Hogan]’s version of history. I don’t remember him.” Hetfield says with a laugh. “What is it? He was in the band for a minute?”

When the interviewer explains that Hogan said he auditioned for the band, Hetfield responds “Huh? Definitely not. But anyway, it’s a good fit, yeah? [Laughs] He makes us look very small.”

To this day, no one knows why Hogan chose to lie about the encounter, especially when it was so easy to disprove. Metal Injection later claimed they had found Hogan’s audition tape for the band, however seem to have lost it with time. Here’s hoping the tape resurfaces again soon.