The George Foreman Grill was originally going to be the Hulk Hogan Grill. At least, according to the Hulkster.

The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine was a revolutionary concept and the idea was conceived by Michael Boehm, an inventor in Illinois. Boehm envisioned a grill that would cook the food on both sides and in addition to that, it would contain a separate repository to drain away the fat from the meat and keep the ingredients healthy.

RELATED: Hulk Hogan Choking Out Richard Belzer & The Lawsuit That Followed, Explained

Boehm filed a patent for the novel invention and the intellectual property right was later acquired by Salton. In order to market the product, Salton sought out a number of celebrities, and eventually, former heavyweight champion George Foreman was selected.

The product achieved 100 million-plus sales in no time and today, it is simply known as the George Foreman Grill and almost everyone owns one. That being said, this novel invention was almost marketed as the Hulk Hogan grill. Almost. And Hulk Hogan surely regrets the tardiness to this day.

In the mid 1990s, Hogan was enjoying a career resurgence in WCW and while he was not quite the popularity of his prior WWE run, the Hulkster was still well-known as a big personality in the mainstream world. He was one of the celebrities Salton approached Hogan’s agent and expressed an interest in Hogan becoming the face of the marketing campaign. The said agent also worked for George Foreman but initially, the agent first rang up Hogan. At least, according to one story.

Hulk Hogan has offered up two separate stories as to why he missed out on this lucrative deal. The first tale goes something like this. His agent rang him up and presented two sponsors for him to choose: A meat-maker and a revolutionary indoor grilling machine. Of course, Hogan went for the meat-maker and told his agent that he should present the grill sponsor to Foreman as the Hulkster was feeling generous that day. That’s story number one.

In a different account, Hogan was out to pick up his kids from school, and he seldom did that. Due to this reason, Hogan was not able to pick up the call from his agent and he was left a voicemail. Once Hogan got back home and got to know about the grill, it was already too late. George Foreman had already agreed to the deal in regards to the grill. Strangely, in this version, Hogan claimed that the other product was a blender, and not a meat-maker.

RELATED: 10 Biggest Things Hulk Hogan Never Accomplished In His Career Regardless, Hogan missed out on one of the lucrative deals imaginable and Foreman enjoyed a truck-load of cash every month or so. As mentioned before, the sales reached 100 million plus and according to some reports, Foreman was given 40% of the profit on each grill sold. He was raking in about 4.5 million dollars each month and this was back in the 1990s. Overall, he made about 200 million dollars from this venture and Hogan got nothing.

On second thought, he got the blender and marketed it as the Hulk Hogan “Thunder Mixer” and well… There is a reason why you’re hearing about it just now. Enough said. The product bombed, but Hogan was not done just yet. The Hulkster tried emulating the success of the George Foreman Grill and introduced a new product, the Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill which was very similar to Foreman Grill. It cooked both sides and reduced fat but much like the blender, it bombed in the sales.

In addition to that, the product was called back due to a design flaw that led to fire hazards. In summation, Hogan missed out on a massive deal and he is probably still kicking himself for not answering the phone call on time…. Or picking the meat-maker (which was never released) over the grill. Hulk Hogan still made a lot of money but due to various factors, he was, at one point, close to bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, Foreman, the former heavyweight champion of the world, is still comfy and has about half a billion dollars in his bank account. Foreman deserved every last cent and more as his friendly personality was a big factor in the marketing success of the grill. Foreman took part in some of the most successful boxing events ever but he never made the kind of money you’d expect a top-level boxer would earn. The grill changed all that.

Waleed is a freelance writer and a graduate from the University of London who finds just enough time on his hands to write about his favorite form of entertainment.