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Hulk Hogan is returning to the pro wrestling ring for Total Nonstop Action, WWE rival

BY Elliot Olshansky
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

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He's back, brother.

Wrestling legend turned reality TV star Hulk Hogan is getting back in the business that made him a star, returning to pro wrestling as a part of the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) promotion.

The ring icon announced his return on Tuesday, the same day that his new book, "My Life Outside the Ring," went on sale.

"I'm going to check out the Hulk Hogan sea legs," Hogan said Tuesday night on CNN's "Larry King Live," mentioning a commitment to wrestle in Australia next month. "It's been a great career, and the fans have stuck behind me through thick and thin and they have been loyal and I just decided, you know, I had to get busy living or get busy dying. And I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do, but I'm going to contribute as much as I can. I'm going to try to take this business to a whole other level."

The contract with TNA was negotiated by Hogan's longtime associate, former WCW executive Eric Bischoff, whose nonwrestling projects include VH1 reality show "Scott Baio Is 45…and Single," which he created with actor Jason Hervey ("The Wonder Years"). As part of the deal, Bischoff will also work for TNA, which has emerged as the primary rival to World Wrestling Entertainment since its founding in 2002.

Hogan's last major wrestling appearance was in 2006, while the Hogan family's reality TV show, "Hogan Knows Best," was on the air. As part of a World Wrestling Entertainment storyline, Hogan feuded with Randy Orton, leading up to a match between the two, won by Hogan, at the company's "Summerslam" pay-per-view.

Since then, Hogan has gone through a painful divorce from his wife, Linda, and has seen his son, Nick, sentenced to eight months in prison following a car accident. "Hogan Knows Best" has also been canceled, but the wrestling star appears on his daughter's spinoff series, "Brooke Knows Best."

Hogan also writes in "My Life Outside the Ring" that he came close to suicide until receiving a timely phone call from "American Gladiators" co-host Laila Ali, but said Tuesday that he's moved past his recent personal difficulties and is ready to entertain his fans again.

"Everything I've said before," Hogan told King, "the training, the prayers, the vitamins, the believing in yourself, that stuff really works. My life now is going in a direction that's so positive, and there's so many good people around me, and life is how it's supposed to be. We're moving forward in a great way."

2009 marks 25 years since Hogan first became World Wrestling Federation champion, ushering in pro wrestling's golden age in the '80s.