By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

Hulk Hogan claims to be back in wrestling shape after training in the gym for the past few months to where he feels "dialed in" and available to wrestle again wherever he sees fit. That probably won't be WWE anytime soon, though.

Hogan says the negativity coming from WWE, specifically Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis, against his Celebrity Championship Wrestling show probably means he won't be part of WrestleMania 25 even though he'd like to take part.

"If you're a betting man, I wouldn't bet that you would see me there," Hogan said on the Monday Night Mayhem radio show. "I haven't talked to McMahon in seven, eight, nine months. I seriously doubt I'll be at WrestleMania 25, brother."

If he were to appear at WrestleMania, Hogan says he'd like to have a match against Steve Austin (he momentarily forgot his name during the interview) or John Cena because he views Cena as the next star to "carry on the tradition" in pro wrestling.

Regarding the recent threats from WWE toward Hogan's CCW show, Hogan took the "aw, shucks" route and said they just wanted to provide some family entertainment highlighting the art form of pro wrestling.

"We're taking the art form to another level," Hogan said. "Then we get rained down upon by the big bad wolf. I just can't believe how upset Vince McMahon and everybody got when Eric and I got back together."

He says the worst was McMahon targeting Jimmy Hart, who asked for permission to do the show, then WWE changed its mind after watching the show. Meanwhile, WWE hadn't used the Brutus Beefcake trademark for 15 years while Ed Leslie kept the gimmick alive working around the country and overseas, he says.

Hogan said it's an example that McMahon will "ride the horse, shoot it, and eat it." He complemented McMahon on keeping the business alive all these years, but said, "What you throw out there is going to come back to you. It's bottom-feeding stuff."

On whether CCW will do any touring around the country, Hogan said it's merely rumors, but their production team is focused on developing season two and working with CMT to "raise the bar even higher; building our fanbase and really just concentrating on season two."

While perched up in a beach house with a faulty remote, Hogan says he'll catch TNA Impact from time to time and he sees Sting and the rest of the Main Event Mafia as replica of the dying days of the NWO.

"I watched Sting in the business suit without his make-up and it's kind of like the NWO not when the NWO was hot, but when the NWO started losing steam when these guys didn't want to wrestle anymore and all they wanted to do was talk," Hogan said.

Hogan says he watched Samoa Joe and thinks he's a "hell of a worker" and the Main Event Mafia just doing a lot of talking without much action.

Coming up this weekend, Hogan will be appearing at the "Ric Flair" independent show in Charlotte on Saturday and he says he jumped on the bandwagon late after listening to Brian Knobs talk and talk about it while they were training in the gym.

Hogan says he finally decided he wanted to take part as special referee because he hadn't been out of the house in a while. He claimed to be doing it for free just to hang out with the old wrestlers and maybe have a few beers at the Marriott after the show.

"Ric Flair is the greatest wrestler alive in my opinion," Hogan said. "I just want to hang out with the guys that really love the business."

Links: Audio of interview and Monday Night Mayhem website.

Caldwell's Analysis: Total babyface promo from Hogan, who made an effort to paint a picture of his CCW show as "the little ol' engine that could" against McMahon's "big brother" company trying to rain on their parade. Hogan is usually one step ahead of everyone else, and he even hinted this feud against McMahon could turn into McMahon-Hogan II at WrestleMania 25, so stay tuned on when Hogan moves his next piece on the chess board.

RELATED STORY at PWTorch.com: Hogan's CCW picks up new int'l distribution deal.

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