Hulk Hogan
has a store on I-Drive, so it’s only natural that he would be at the attractions expo IAAPA, looking for ideas to wrestle his site into something more special.
Hulk Hogan is looking for a new tag-team partner, and he’s looking in Orlando.
The superstar ex-wrestler roamed the floor of the IAAPA Attractions Expo being held at the Orange County Convention Center on Wednesday, looking over technology and entertainment companies that could help expand his empire.
Earlier this year, Hogan opened a retail store on International Drive. Now he’s looking to make more of a splash and more of an attraction, he said.
“I need something bigger, something sharper, smarter, faster, something to attract and keep the fans and make it an experience for them,” he said.
Hogan joined Orlando-based International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions on the advice of Mango’s entrepreneur Joshua Wallack, he said.
“When I found out about IAAPA, I said this will be a great place to learn, engage and then give me the wind under the wings to make my little retail store an attraction,” Hogan said.
He has ideas, including grand entrances by customers.
“I don’t know exactly what I want yet. I’m hoping the technology here will kind of show me what I can do,” Hogan said. “All my thought process is — the bell, the smoke, the mist hitting you in the face — it’s all pretty barbaric.”
His goals extend beyond Orlando. He’s looking at 15 key locations around the world to make Hulk-centric attractions, probably about 4,000 square feet in size.
“We’re taking baby steps. I have to get Orlando down to a science first. This is imperative that I figure out how to make this an attraction,” Hogan said. “I’m not desperate, but I’m telling you that’s why I’m here.”
His Orlando store is slotted to move to a new location in the garage under construction near Mango’s. There is no firm timetable for that now, he said.
He’s learned that he needs to stand out on I-Drive, he said.
“If you miss the entrance to the store, you have about a 50-50 chance of getting the people to do a U-turn at the end of the street, coming back to the intersection and making another huge U-turn at the intersection of Sand Lake and I-Drive and then come into the store,” Hogan said.
The former wrestler sent out a small scouting team to IAAPA to narrow the options Tuesday. They are steering him toward some virtual reality offerings and perhaps a way to showcase his career, spanning the decades. Hogan planned to take it all in Wednesday, choosing not to roam the Expo, which spans two giant concourses. He points to two knee replacements, two hip replacements and nine back surgeries.
“I just cannot go up and down every aisle,” he said. “I’d never make it.”
But now is the time to move, as his popularity has surged in recent years, he said.
“It’s a logical extension of where I need to go with this character. It’s gotten some crazy momentum in the last couple of years,” Hogan said. “It seems to be really on track, especially with middle America, soccer mom, NASCAR demo here at home.”