Sylvester Stallone pays homage to 'magician' Hulk Hogan

Sylvester Stallone looked back on his time with the late wrestling icon Hulk Hogan.

For the unversed, Hogan, the professional American wrestler, succumbed to cardiac arrest on Thursday, July 24, at the age of 71.

While conversing with TMZ’s Harvey Levin, the 79-year-old American actor and filmmaker reflected on working alongside the late WWE star in Rocky III and revealed that their first interaction with each other was in the early 1980s during the movie’s rehearsals.

Stallone said, “He just came in, and you knew this guy had a glow about him. He was a force to be reckoned with.”

He added, “He was just at the beginning of his career. He hadn’t quite come into his own yet, so we got him at a point where he was enthusiastic.”

The Expendables star went on to note that Hogan’s “immense” size made people doubt their decision if he was the right fit for the role at first but they later decided to cast him as Thunderlips in the 1982 movie Rocky III.

“He was probably about 315 pounds, but very smart, and he had this deep, calming voice. He was willing to do anything that would make the show better,” he recalled.

“Now, at first no one wanted him because he was too big, but I said that’s the whole point, it’s like David and Goliath. The bigger the better, so he showed up in magnificent shape,” Stallone said.

The Rambo alum was desperate to work with Hogan but he was slightly afraid to do stunts with him as well.

“We started to roll around and he would literally pick me up and drop me to the ground and I thought, 'I’m going to be literally a pulp by the time I land.’ And yet, he would always break the fall. He would do things that you wouldn’t see, like a magician."

“I’ll say, I’ve had a lot of punches thrown at me. No one was more accurate and precise than him. It was extraordinary for a man that size,” he recounted.

Sylvester Stallone admitted Hulk Hogan’s death is a “tragic loss,” noting, “He was great, such a good sport.”