Hulk Hogan And Eric Bischoff Sign With TNA Wrestling

Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff have signed with TNA Wrestling. The announcement was made at a press conference in New York City earlier today. There were SPIKE TV and TNA banners up at the press conference, and Jimmy Hart was present with Hogan. CNN's Larry King Live had a camera crew there shooting footage for tonight's Hogan appearance.

Until today, the signing was kept a secret to even the inner-most members of the TNA circle. According to a source, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff coming into TNA does not mean that they will take the reigns of the company.

Eric Bischoff introduced Hogan, who talked about TNA and stated he was becoming a "partner" in the company and that he was feeling great and looking forward to being a part of the company. The conference left the impression Hogan may be involved as a personality, but not wrestling for the group.

TNA President Dixie Carter gave a short speech saying she was looking forward to working with Hogan and that while they have great ratings for a Thursday night, Hogan would be the "boost that TNA needed." SpikeTV's Kevin Kay was also in attendance and gave a brief statement about the network working with Hogan.

The Q&A session was said to mostly be fluff fan type questions, although one fan did ask Hogan whether working with Vince Russo would be an issue. Hogan responded that as long as Russo stayed in his place and didn't cross him, there would be no issues. Hogan then said that if he did, Hogan would have to take care of it.

When the topic of Eric Bischoff came up, Hogan did not say Bischoff was working with him in TNA but noted they have other side projects they are working on.

Eric Bischoff will not be involved with the day-to-day creative direction of TNA. His partnership with TNA is via his Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment company. Bischoff played a major role in getting Hulk Hogan to sign with TNA, and will now be working on getting TNA new TV programming.

TNA's deal with SpikeTV allows them to shop new shows around to other networks if Spike passes on them, so Bischoff will be trying to get TNA new shows. TNA has had interest in the past in launching new shows for the Knockouts, the X-Division, and the online Spin Cycle show.

Bischoff may appear on TNA programming in the future, but that isn't a given. The former Vice President of World Championship Wrestling has been quite critical of the organization in recent years as he's questioned their creative direction and labeled them as a minor league operation. Most recently, Bischoff told The Sun in a February 2009 interview that neither him nor Hogan were interested in joining TNA.

"It's a small organization that doesn't have very much vision," Bischoff said.

Bischoff said he didn't want to work with people in the creative process "that couldn't get a job in WWE or shouldn't have had a job in WCW."

Bischoff continued, "There's no vision for that company. They are people who have never been to the dance. They've never been a part, really, of any of the decision-making processes that led to the success of the industry. Some of them happen to have been working there while other people did it, but have never really done it for themselves. They just don't have the feel for it. So that's the reason we wouldn't want to be there."

TNA issues the following announcement on their website after the press conference:

"Hulkamania" is back! The biggest name in professional wrestling history, Hulk Hogan, is joining Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling (TNA), the fastest rising wrestling organization in the world and home to one of cable television's highest rated shows for young men, TNA iMPACT! The announcement was made today by TNA Wrestling in conjunction with Spike TV at a press conference held in New York City.

"Hulk Hogan is one of the world's top pop culture icons and the biggest superstar in the history of professional wrestling. We are truly excited to welcome him into the TNA family," said Dixie Carter, President of TNA Wrestling. "Our goal is to become the world's biggest professional wrestling company. Hulk defines professional wrestling and we look forward to partnering with him in a variety of ways as we continue to grow TNA globally."

"I'm thrilled to be jumping back into the world of professional wrestling," said Hogan. "My fans have been asking me to return to the business for many years on a full time basis, but the timing or the opportunity has never been right until now. TNA Wrestling is a great company with an already excellent fan base, business and broadcast partner. I firmly believe now is the time for some change at TNA as they are positioned to jump to the next level in their development and I'm here to work with Dixie to help make that a reality."

Through Hogan's partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment Television, the deal with TNA was negotiated by longtime Hogan colleague Eric Bischoff. Additionally, BHE TV has inked a first-look deal with TNA and will be working with the organization to develop new programming extensions of the TNA brand.

"Hulk Hogan adds yet another level of star power that positions TNA iMPACT as Spike TV's version of 'Must-See TV' on Thursday nights," said Kevin Kay, president of Spike.

Hogan most recently penned an autobiography with Mark Dagostino, "My Life Outside The Ring" with St. Martin's Press.

TNA also issues a video promo hyping Hogan joining the organization, which you can view below:

Special thanks to Ryan Clark & Sunil