Hogan actually was a bit of a shooter; he was trained by the Brisco brothers and Hiro Matsuda. He's choked out a few guys in real-life confrontations and basically, according to him, ambushed Riki Choshu during a match to take a win over him. Of course, what he claims he did to Choshu isn't really that impressive and I'm sure Choshu, an amateur wrestling champion and a trained submission-grappler would have easily handled him on even footing (assuming Hogan's claim is even true).
I'm not saying he's the second coming of Lou Thesz, but he did have some training that way. Brisco and Matsuda planned on pushing him quick and they felt it necessary that he knew how to defend himself against people who might be jealous.