Wrestling is a work. Sure, it still takes incredible physicality to do what wrestlers do, and performers can suffer life-changing injuries at even a moment's notice, but Hulk Hogan didn't hold the WWF Championship for 1,474 days from 1984 to 1988 because he was better than Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, his old pal The Iron Sheik, and every other member of the roster, but instead because Vince McMahon booked it to be that way.

And yet, if you ask the Hulkamaniac, wrestling might be a bit more of a shoot than one might think, as babyfaces sell more merch than heels, and the higher-paid performer often goes over their lesser-paid foils, as he detailed on the Full Send Podcast.

“I worked for Vince Sr. first, from 78 to about 80, I worked for Vince Sr. So I was kind of his guy for a while, and I was kind of wild in the streets. I didn’t listen very well. I would disappear, make some money, pull no-shows. I was 27 or 28 years old, I was nuts. So I was running hard back then. I wasn’t married, so I pretty much was doing whatever I wanted to do. I kind of got involved with Vince, and everybody says, ‘Oh, this business is a work.’ Okay,” Hogan said via Fightful.

“Well, if I’m making twice as much money as you and you’re wrestling me, is that a work? It’s a f**king shoot brother, and that’s how I looked at it. This business was a shoot. It was the man who made the most money. So when I worked for Vince and Bob Backlund was the champion, I wrestled Backlund. Backlund always got paid more than me. Oh really? So this isn’t a work? So it does matter if you win or lose? It does matter if you’re the champion or not? Everybody goes, ‘Oh, it’s a work.’ Well, it’s really not a work. It’s about the money and the mileage. For me, if you’re a good guy, usually, until the nWo came along, back in the day, if you were a good guy, your merchandise sold two to one over the bad guys’ stuff. That’s not a work to me. That’s a shoot, brother. If I make more money than you and I’m wrestling you, my t-shirt’s selling twice as much as yours, maybe it’s a work to you, but not to me, if my check’s double yours. So I always looked at it that way.”

You know, when you put it that way, it really does make sense that wrestling booking isn't as simple as a bunch of evenly-paid performers acting out the scenes laid out by a director. Top guys like Hogan, “The Rock,” and John Cena make far more than your plucky underdogs like Mustafa Ali, and it only makes sense that they would get booked over them more often than not as a result. Fortunately, in this modern era of smart marks, fans hopefully won't have to see another near-1,500-day reign with one man as champion, especially now that Paul “Triple H” Levesque has added a new World Heavyweight Championship to offset Roman Reigns' time with the strap.

Jim Ross details a Premium Live Event in the life of Hulk Hogan.

Though the duo worked together through some of the most important moments in WWE history, Jim Ross never had a hands-on experience with Hulk Hogan at a Premium Live Event – then known as Pay-Per-Views – until King of the Ring 1993, when he was tasked with calling a pivotal WWF Title match that also featured Yokozuna. Needless to say, the experience was fascinating.

“It was an interesting experience because he had to be tended to,” Ross said via Wrestling Inc. “He had needs, and that happens when you're a big star. He spent a lot of time with Vince [McMahon] during that time, to work out a finish [for his match], which I didn't understand, and why it took so long. Nonetheless, I guess it's part of the routine — I don't know. Maybe, it made Hulk feel better. If it did, cool. It was an interesting day to see how business was transacted behind the scenes,”

Now, for fans out of the know, King of the Ring 1993 was the show where Hogan dropped the strap back to Yokozuna despite Bret Hart feeling he was the right man to recapture the title. While that decision will be debated for years to come, what won't be is the fact that Hogan took full advantage of being the top star in WWE and used that status to pretty much get whatever he wanted from management, from pampering during the day of a show to turning down “The Hitman” as his successor.