Hulk Hogan inspired Keith Urban's 'ridiculous' pre-show workout for residency

It seems Keith Urban has been taking inspiration from the world of wrestling during his Las Vegas residency.

The country music star kicked off a Sin City run this month playing at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, and he’s admitted he turned to WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan to help with his pre-show workouts and get him pumped and ready.

No, Keith didn’t physically train with the Hulkster – but he did credit an ‘absurd’ workout tape the wrestler released in 1985 with making sure he was in the right frame of mind to make a big impression in Vegas.

Speaking to Billboard about his unlikely motivator, he said: ‘I keep loose. The thing is to just stay loose. Matt Chamberlain, a great drummer who plays on a lot of our stuff, I was at his studio the other day and he had a cassette deck.

‘He just bought this old boombox and he wanted to make sure it worked. So he found a tape. The only cassette that he found was a whole Hulk Hogan’s Hulkamania workout from 1985. It’s a riot. So I found a copy of that and we cranked it backstage and we did this ridiculous workout with the band with Hulk.

‘It’s beyond absurd, I mean, in all the right ways. It’s heightened. So I went crazy on that. And then last night, I was cranking up Elvis performing in Vegas, doing a song called “Patch It Up” with the band just going nuts. It was good inspiration.’

Meanwhile, Hulk – whose real name is Terry Bollea – recently shocked fans by ditching his trademark handlebar moustache and growing out a full beard as he teased a possible WWE comeback after his 10th operation on his back two months ago.

Looking absolutely ripped sporting a full beard and a tank top, he tweeted: ‘They said 4 months light weight then 6 months I could train slowly again after back surgery number 10, buuuttt at 7 weeks 4days my MANIACS can see I’m on the grind with my pizump on brother! ‘I mean PLIZEASE Wrestlemania is right around the corner Brother HollyWoodHH4Life (sic)’

It appears as if the former world champion – who returned to the company in 2018 after a three-year exile when he was caught up in a scandal after using racist language in a leaked tape – could be going back to his edgier look, and the change would be very timely after it was confirmed he would once again be joining the Hall of Fame, this time with his nWo teammates Sean Waltman, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.

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