AceShowbiz -

Hulk Hogan took the stand in the three-year-old $100 million lawsuit against Gawker over his leaked sex tape. The WWE Hall of Famer testified that he initially thought his best friend Bubba "the Love Sponge" Clem was joking when saying that his wife Heather wanted to have sex with him.

Hogan said on Monday, March 7 that the conversation did lead into a sexual encounter which was taped and published online by Gawker. Hogan felt like there was something wrong as soon as Bubba handed him a condom. "It was so weird and so crazy, my gut was telling me that this was off, this was wrong," Hogan said. "From the feeling that I had, I said, 'Bubba you're not filming this are you?'...he lashed into me."

After the encounter, TMZ called Hogan about possessing still images of the sex tape. He was told that Bubba might have something to do with leaking it to public. "There was never any question of who he was or what he meant to me. I believed in my heart he was my best friend," Hogan said about his and Bubba's friendship at that time, adding that he couldn't stop shaking upon finding out that Bubba was ruining his life.

The one-minute footage eventually appeared on Gawker and Hogan decided to sue the site, Bubba and Heather. The lawsuit with Bubba was later settled with Bubba even apologizing on air for it. "It's turned my world upside down. The main thing is I was concerned about my children and my new wife, Jennifer," Hogan said Monday. "My family's been through so much.... I didn't know how they would survive. I was worried about how this thing was going to affect everything with my relationship with my children."

Gawker also released a statement earlier that day, saying, "Three-and-a-half years ago, Gawker showed nine seconds of Hulk Hogan having sex with the wife of his best friend, Bubba the Love Sponge - who actually made the 30-minute tape and appears in it himself. Hulk Hogan was more than willing to talk about his sex life - including in two autobiographies, a reality TV series and Howard Stern's radio show - until he didn't like what Gawker had to say. Now he wants $100 million as compensation. Compare that with the $5,000 settlement that Bubba paid Hulk for the actual taping."

"And Bubba also had plenty to say about the tape he made, talking about it on his radio show, on Howard Stern's radio show and in his deposition for this case. But we've just learned that Bubba will plead the 5th during this trial, rather than answer important questions about the facts that could undermine Hulk Hogan's claims."