I'd like to be the John Wayne of the '90s. Not in terms of being the macho guy, but as a solid male leading character. Making an action-adventure comedy that kids can see with their families is a natural extension of what I did in wrestling.

There's a lot of gimmick infringement out there, but that's cool. It's a compliment. But it all started right when I first came into the Garden. I came down to Eye of the Tiger and when I hit the ring with the Sheik, I just put my hand up to my ear by accident, and the crowd got louder. I was like "Oh, that works."

If anybody dared say wrestling was fake, you'd punch 'em. And you never used the word show. If you used the word show it was an insult.

In the ring, it's fun to be the bad guy, but 24 hours a day, when you have to talk to kids, and you see Make-A-Wish kids that love you, the bad guy stuff is not fun. I'd rather be a good guy 24 hours a day than a bad guy just for a few minutes in the ring.

To all my little Hulkamaniacs, say your prayers, take your vitamins and you will never go wrong.

The fans know what's happened to me over the past couple of years. I lost my family. I pretty much got devastated financially and the fans know that I've had some hard times - and that's the nature of loyal fans. They want to see the people that they love and believe in get back on their feet.

When the script for 'The Wrestler' kept coming to me I said, This movie is so good if you put me in the film as a wrestler people are going to say, 'No credibility, Hulk Hogan isn't a good actor,' whatever Hollywood thinks of me.