WWE Rumors: Hulk Hogan Returning To WWE At ‘WrestleMania 33’? Brooke Hogan Still Won’t Deny It

Rumors of Hulk Hogan returning to WWE’s good graces at WrestleMania 33 had run wild in the past, and while the once-disgraced wrestling legend firmly denied those rumors, there still may be a surprise in store for the biggest event of WWE’s pay-per-view calendar. In a second interview with TMZ, Hulk’s daughter Brooke Hogan, did not outright confirm, but didn’t deny either, that her father would be returning to WWE more than one year after his most recent dismissal from the company.

Early last month, several publications cited comments made by Brooke Hogan to TMZ, suggesting that Hulk Hogan would return to WWE at WrestleMania 33. As the Inquisitr pointed out, such a return would take place close to two years after an audio recording where Hulk allegedly made racist remarks about Brooke’s then-boyfriend had leaked, and about 10 years after the audio was originally recorded. This leak caused WWE to immediately fire the elder Hogan, remove him from his post as Tough Enough judge, and also remove “almost all mentions” of his name from the company website, even from the WWE Hall of Fame listing.

A Rolling Stone report from July of 2015 added that searches for Hulk Hogan’s WWE Superstar bio on the company’s website would yield an error message informing users that they are “not authorized to access this page.” As of now, this message remains, and a search for Hulk Hogan media on the website reveals a different set of results.

Brooke Hogan Responds to Her Father's Denial of Talks With WWE #HulkHogan #BrookeHogan #WWE #WrestleMania33 https://t.co/ex9wfFhv5H pic.twitter.com/gFlgL64l7t

— 411 Wrestling (@411wrestling) December 1, 2016

It was an extreme measure, even when considering WWE’s zero-tolerance policies on racism, but that didn’t stop fans from wanting Hulk Hogan to return to WWE. WrestleMania 33 appearance rumors fired up when Brooke Hogan told TMZ in November that “people have been calling” her father about the event, but the Hulkster was quick to deny those rumors on Eric Bischoff’s podcast.

Complex quoted Hulk’s denial in full, and that seemed to put rest to the rumors for the time being.

“So anyway, Brooke’s running around on TMZ and made the statement about me and wrestling and WrestleMania. For the record, she needs the big boot to the head. I haven’t talked to anybody about WrestleMania. I just need to put that to rest. I asked Brooke, ‘What are you doing?’ She goes, ‘Oh, well, I’m just starting it up.’ I said, ‘Thanks Brooke.’ It was kind of funny. I said, ‘No harm. No foul.’ It was all in good fun.”

TMZ was able to catch up once again with Brooke Hogan when the publication’s reporters saw the singer/actress/former TNA Wrestling personality at the Los Angeles International Airport and asked her about what she claimed early in November. When asked about the rumors of Hulk Hogan’s return to WWE, specifically those WrestleMania 33 claims she made last month, Brooke said that she “got in huge trouble” for making those comments, but as TMZ noted, she wasn’t denying anything either, saying this in reference to the chances of people seeing Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 33.

“He’s capable of anything, let’s just put it that way.”

In addition to neither confirming nor denying the possibility of Hulk Hogan returning to the WWE, Brooke Hogan also talked in brief about the women’s wrestling promotion she is reportedly forming with several wrestlers’ daughters, including Brittany Page (Diamond Dallas Page’s daughter) and Lacey Von Erich (Kerry Von Erich’s daughter and a fellow ex-TNA Knockout). When asked if Hulk was planning to use his Gawker settlement to help fund this new promotion, Brooke said that she is “going to try to do things on (her) own.”

Based on Brooke Hogan’s most recent comments, it seems as if she’s trying to play things as safe as possible and trying to preserve the element of surprise behind a potential Hulk Hogan return. The WWE, as expected, isn’t saying anything yet, but given the fact that Hulk apologized for his leaked remarks and that WWE has mended fences in the past with once-estranged former employees, it may not be a shock if Hulkamania does “run wild” at WrestleMania 33.

[Featured Image by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]