Former WWE Referee Reveals Hulk Hogan vs Randy Orton Backstage Discussion Of Who Was ‘Going Over’

Former WWE referee Marty Elias published a new blog over at The Floor Seat, and the piece covers the 2006 WWE SummerSlam match featuring Hulk Hogan vs Randy Orton. Below is a blog excerpt:

I went and met with Randy Orton and let him know I was the referee for the match and Randy told me he was waiting for Hulk to lay out the match. We waited about an hour when Micheal P.S. Hayes came in and got both me and Randy Orton. Hulk was in his dressing room and wanted to discuss the match. As Hayes lead us to Hulk’s dressing room, I was walking in a haze of “OMG”!

As we entered the dressing room, there sat Hulk Hogan, Jimmy “Mouth Of The South” Hart, and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. As we discussed the match, the issue of who was “going over” came up and it went back and forth for a bit. Vince McMahon finally came into the dressing room to chat with Hulk and the issue of who was “over” was settled right there.

Vince told everyone that Hulk was “up” and we would discuss things further later.  As the match was put together, there was a spot Hulk wanted to “get the crowd” and it involved me! If you go back and look at the “spot”, it was when I counted “3” without realizing Hulk’s foot was on the bottom rope.

Hulk was very specific in what he wanted from me, he told me, “‘Brother’, you really need to sell the moment and sympathize with what just happened!” He told me how to react and to use my facials to really get the spot OVER!