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You’re asking for a headache if you opt to wrap up your Christmas shopping the day before the holiday rolls around, but Wayne Gretzky apparently decided to do exactly that at one point in time—and his decision to tempt fate led to him meeting up with Hulk Hogan to exchange gifts after he inadvertently ended up behind the wheel of the wrestling legend’s car.
There’s a reason Wayne Gretzky is known as “The Great One,” as he set a number of NHL records that will likely never be broken during what is inarguably the most illustrious career in the history of hockey. He got his start with the Edmonton Oilers but also spent eight seasons with the Kings, and he found himself living outside of Los Angeles after hanging up his skates.
During a recent sitdown with Theo Von on the This Past Weekend podcast, Gretzky recalled the time he was doing some last-minute Christmas shopping at a mall in the city of Thousand Oaks that offered patrons valet parking.
After picking up gifts for his adolescent kids, he headed back home only to soon discover a slight issue courtesy of a phone call from Hulk Hogan:
“I come out and put all my bags in the car and I drive home. I get a call around seven o’clock.
[Hulk Hogan] goes, ‘Wayne?’ and I go, ‘Yeah?’ He says, ‘It’s Terry. We got a problem.’ I go, ‘What’s the problem?’ He goes, ‘We got the same exact car. I’ve got your car and your presents. You got my car and my presents.’
So I go outside and I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, my kids are older. It’s probably not going to work. I’ll meet you halfway.’
So we drove back halfway together, we switched cars out, got the presents, and went home.”
This seems like the foundation for a Jingle All the Way sequel I need to see.