Professional wrestler Scott Steiner allegedly really wanted to murder fellow wrestler and would-be presidential candidate Hulk Hogan in an airport terminal.
According to a TMZ report published Tuesday, Steiner approached Hogan’s wife, Jennifer, at an airport in San Jose last month and told her that he planned to “kill Terry”—Hogan was born Terry Gene Bollea—once he landed. Hogan filed a police report with his wife the next day. According to TMZ’s sources, police are investigating Steiner for “felony terrorist threats.” (“Typical Hogan,” Steiner commented to TMZ. “He’s just a punk.”)
To clarify, Steiner is not, to our knowledge, involved in a terrorist plot to neutralize Hulk Hogan. “Terrorist threat” in this case is a deceptively sexy legal term synonymous with a criminal threat to kill or physically harm a person. In 1998, Steiner pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and making terroristic threats to a Georgia Department of Transportation worker He was sentenced to 10 days in jail and seven years’ probation.
A spokesman for the San Jose Police Department told The Daily Beast that he couldn’t discuss the details of the investigation. “I can only confirm a report was filed on 3-27-15 alleging a Criminal Threats incident that occurred on 3-26-15, at 9:45 PM, at Mineta San Jose International Airport,” he said via email.
It wasn’t always like this between Hogan and Steiner. The two used to participate in pro wrestling bits together, including one in which Steiner challenged Hogan to step into the ring, then loudly declared that “me and my freaks [the two busty women standing to his left and right] are gonna go to your house, and I’m gonna prove it to your woman, until she calls me The Big Bad Booty Daddy”:
But in 2012, Steiner lashed out at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling management, including Hogan, in a Twitter rampage that ended up sparking legal action. The two have been feuding ever since.
Hence the alleged desire to see him dead.
“Every time I’ve ever seen him, he’s always been nice to me,” Hogan said of Steiner in 2012. “The last time I saw him, he shook my hand, asked how my back was. He even gave me some phone numbers for different doctors. So…it’s weird to see a guy and shake his hand and then all of a sudden he goes nuts on you.”