A few months ago, wrestler Hulk Hogan claimed that he and Lars Ulrich from Metallica were friends back in the day, and Ulrich offered the Hulkster the opportunity to play bass for Metallica.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, played bass in several bands in his younger days, including Ruckus, who developed a strong following in Tampa, Florida in the mid '70s. He said Ulrich wanted him to play bass in the early days of Metallica, but things didn't work out.

Ulrich was diplomatic in his rebuttal of the story. In an interview Howard Stern's radio show this week, Ulrich explained that he has nearly a photographic memory, does not know Hulk Hogan, and has no recollection of inviting him to join the band. Hogan's story has changed since he talked about it in 2009. He said then that he had his people call Metallica's people, but never heard back. In the Stern interview, Ulrich said that story seems much more plausible.

“You know what?! I’m blessed or cursed, depending on how you look at it, with having more or less a photographic memory for pretty much anything that I’ve been a part of,” Lars told Howard Stern. “That one, when that showed up two or three months ago, I was scratching my head over that one. Unless he went by… I don’t know Hulk Hogan, I don’t know enough about him … I’m not a huge wrestling [fan] … Unless he went by, like, his Christian name or something, and I don’t know if anybody knows what his Christian name was — Dave Smith or something — if there was a whole thing that we had with him under a different name, but I certainly have no recollection of doing anything with quote Hulk Hogan endquote. That one, I was scratching my head on that one, too.”

Metallica's current bassist Rob Trujillo looks like he could hold his own in the ring, and maybe he and Hogan could stage a steel cage match.

Metallica are gearing up for the Orion Music + More Festival on June 23 and 24 in Atlantic City, N.J. It features a diverse lineup including non-metal bands such as Arctic Monkeys and Eric Church alongside metal icons like Sepultura. The band is also developing a 3D movie that will be shot beginning in August with a projected 2013 release.

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