WWE announced Sunday that they reinstated Hulk Hogan into the Hall of Fame, and the wrestling icon was present backstage at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view in Pittsburgh, Penn.
On his Instagram page, Hogan revealed that he met with WWE superstars backstage and received overwhelming support from them. This included 2018 Hall of Fame inductee Mark Henry, who had said that Hogan would be welcome back if he apologized to all African-American superstars.
Henry appeared on Busted Open Radio (h/t WrestlingInc.com), and discussed his conversation with Hogan backstage, detailing that though "there's more work to be done," he's confident that the former world champion has learned from his mistakes.
"I was very optimistic after talking to him. He's like, 'Mark I'll do whatever. Because I want people to see my heart not what I said anymore. It's an embarrassing thing," Henry said.
"I go places and I see people giving me a look I'm not used to getting and it's been that way since that time.' He said, 'I can't live with it like that. I gotta fix it.' And I was like, 'great, you're willing to fix it? I'm willing to help.'"
Hogan was fired three years ago after audio tapes were leaked of him using racial slurs against blacks. WWE removed all mentions of Hogan from their website, and took down all of his merchandise.
The Hulkster spent three years working extensively to repair his image, which included well-documented work for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He appeared on television and begged the public for his forgiveness. Though some may never forgive Hogan for his rant, the WWE was simply ready to put the past in the past and give him another chance.
It's been rumored that Hogan could work backstage in an ambassador role for the WWE, but that remains to be seen. The first step was reinstating him into the Hall of Fame, which is now out of the way.