Talk about professional wrestling, and everyone knows who Hulk Hogan is. The retired wrestler’s fame from the 1980s and ’90s (and to today) is unmatched. Yet, according to John “Bradshaw” Layfield (JBL), another wrestler once had the potential to reach Hogan’s level of greatness.
The Hulk Hogan of Mexico
Hogan was extremely popular, especially in the U.S. But outside of the United States, other wrestlers were bigger stars in their home countries.
JBL recently shared the story of one such international superstar: Richard Hodgkinson.
Don’t recognize the name? You may know him by his ring name — Vampiro.
Hodgkinson, a Canadian wrestler, first made a name for himself in Mexico before signing with WCW. While American fans considered Hogan the biggest name in wrestling, Mexican fans had their own icon in Vampiro.
During an episode of the “Something to Wrestle” podcast, JBL talked about his brief time in Mexico and how he unexpectedly found himself wrestling under the name “Vampiro Americano.”
“I go down there, I go to a press conference, no one smartens me up,” he said.
“So, I’m sitting at this press conference, and they ask me. The first question was, ‘Why did you choose the name Vampiro?’ And I had never heard that name before in my life.”
“Well, now, all of a sudden, I’m Vampiro Americano. Vampiro…the Vampiro…was over like a million dollars. That guy was like Hogan down there. He was huge!”
JBL then recalled tension between Vampiro and a local Mexican wrestler, who wanted Vampiro fired. This wrestler even tried to use JBL to push Vampiro into a more extreme situation.
“They want me to take his place — that’s impossible! I’m too green, for one, to be able to take his place. Much less, this guy was over like a freaking million dollars,” he added.
JBL recognized that Vampiro’s fame in Mexico was on another level and said there was no way he could step into those shoes.
