Remember When Hulk Hogan Tried to Make Classic TV Celebrities Into Wrestlers? A Look Back at ‘Celebrity Championship Wrestling’
In 2008, iconic wrester Hulk Hogan — who died on July 24, 2025, at age 71 — was doing what he loved best, outside of the wrestling ring: looking for another way to reinvent himself, while giving others a leg up. His relationship with WWE was tenuous, but he’d just defeated Paul Wight (best known as The Big Show) in a high-profile indie match for Memphis Wrestling. His popular VH1 series Hogan Knows Best ended due to family troubles, but his hosting gig on the extreme amateur athletic competition American Gladiators was going gangbusters. Hogan considered retiring from the ring because he thought sports-entertainment had gone soft, but he thought he could do something about that. Enter Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Wrestling Championship.
The CMT reality show, brainchild of Hogan and his former WCW boss Eric Bischoff, pitted Hulk’s two best pals, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Brian “Nasty Boy” Knobbs, against each other to turn faded celebs into top-tier wrestlers. Despite what serious wrestling fans may have thought about this seemingly kooky offering from a group wrestling business titans, “it raises the bar of wrestling,” Hogan told ReMIND’s sister publication, Channel Guide Magazine, at the time. “Our first shot out of the cannon was to work with celebrities, to go back to the art form of wrestling and not just hire the next John Cena lookalike that might wrestle like a robot. … [to] show them what the real life, the real bumps and bruises of wrestling is all about. It also gives us an open door that, if everybody loved the show, we can bring all different kinds of people into wrestling.”
From Dennis Rodman to Danny Partridge
Even if they weren’t wrestling fans, the show was a treat for fans of classic TV. Among the roster of wrestlers in the making? Bewitched‘s own Tabitha, Erin Murphy; The Partridge Family‘s, Danny Bonaduce; Different Strokes‘ Willis Jackson, Todd Bridges; and the late Dustin Diamond, who played Screech on Saved By the Bell. Joining them in the competition were showboating former NBA star Dennis Rodman, Road Rules star Trishelle Cannatella, ’80s pop princess Tiffany, Sly Stallone’s little brother Frank, DJ Bubba the Love Sponge, pro boxer Eric “Butterbean” Esch, and Nikki Ziering, former Playboy Playmate, Price Is Right model and wife of Beverly Hills 90210 star Ian Ziering.
Hogan considered Celebrity Wrestling Championship a sort of reverse take on the common disparagement that pro-wrestling was mostly acting . Hogan’s pros taught the celebrities to master basic wrestling moves, but they didn’t leave it there: the famous folks also had to embrace the respect, commitment, challenges and setbacks required to become a truly successful professional wrestler.
“Once they got in the ring and they saw that you had to really be coordinated, and that you really had to try hard — that this wasn’t just ‘fake wrasslin’!’ he shared. “Once you got in there, anybody that had any type of respect for themselves seemed to step up in this situation. And by the third and fourth week, the matches I watched were just as good as what I saw on the WWE. … I thought maybe since the celebrities got all their money up front they might take this thing as a joke. But they got hooked.”
Momentum-shifting moves
Hogan and Bischoff hoped the venture might help them break the stranglehold Vince McMahon and his WWE juggernaut had on how the sport of professional wrestling was portrayed on popular television.
“If you’re like a lifelong wrestling fan, you’re kind of addicted to it and you’ve had to take whatever programming is shoved down your throat because there were no other options,” Hogan offered. Whenever Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan get together, the people in the WWE camp go, ‘Oh my gosh! What are they doing? What are they up to?’ Because we’re the only ones who are giving them a run for their money and really understand the business.
“There’s a dual loyalty in the wrestling business,” Hogan continued. “People are loyal to Vince McMahon because it’s the only place in town to work. Because that’s where they can make a living. But they’re also loyal to Hulk Hogan because they know the character ‘Hulk Hogan’ means wrestling. And when I decide to make a move, it usually is like a momentum-shifting move for the wrestling business.”
It’s a sentiment Bischoff echoed of his longtime friend in an interview with Keepin’ It 100 in May.
“I’m proud to be Hulk Hogan’s friend, and I know him, I’ve known him for almost 30 years,Todd Bridges” Bischoff told the outlet. “I’ve been with him in every conceivable situation. I’ve seen him go out of his way to make people, who might otherwise be surprised … if it’s a minority … or the fundraiser you’re participating in, if it’s for underprivileged kids especially of any persuasion or race, I’ve seen him.”
And the winner was …
Celebrity Wrestling Championship wasn’t quite the hit Hogan and Bischoff hoped it would be, and neither was its followup, Micro Championship Wrestling. But both demonstrated the pair’s commitment to making the sport of wrestling appealing to as many TV viewers as possible.
And if you’re wondering who took home the Celebrity Wrestling Championship title, that would be Rodman, followed by Bridges, Butterbean, Diamond, Bonaduce, Canatella, Ziering, Murphy, Stallone (!) and Tiffany. But there were two standouts for Hogan.
“I think the guy that has it in his blood more than anyone is Dustin Diamond,” the Hulkster said, though he named Todd Bridges the best athlete in the bunch. “[Diamond] reminds me of Andy Kaufman (who also famously tried his hand at pro-wrestling) a lot. He’s got the timing down … and he’s got the ‘charasma’!”
Remind