WWE legend Hulk Hogan. — Reuters/File
Skilled wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, whose actual title is Terry Gene Bollea, has died on the age of 71, in line with a report from TMZ.
Whereas particulars stay scarce, emergency medical providers had been reportedly dispatched to Hogan’s residence in Clearwater, Florida, on Thursday morning following a name associated to a “cardiac arrest”.
Hogan, a towering determine on the earth {of professional} wrestling, was reportedly stretchered into an ambulance.
The World Wrestling Leisure (WWE) additionally confirmed Hogan’s demise in a submit on X, saying: “WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans.”
The WWE gave no reason behind demise for the American sports activities and leisure star who made skilled wrestling a world phenomenon and loudly supported Donald Trump for president.
The bleach-blond, mahogany-tanned behemoth turned the face {of professional} wrestling within the Eighties, serving to remodel the mock fight from a seedy spectacle into family-friendly leisure value billions of {dollars}.
A key second in that evolution got here on the WrestleMania III extravaganza in 1987, when Hogan hoisted fellow wrestler André the Big earlier than a sold-out Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for a thunderous physique slam of the Frenchman.
Hogan parlayed his wrestling fame right into a much less profitable profession in Hollywood, starring in movies like “Rocky III” and “Santa With Muscles,” however stored returning to the ring so long as his physique would permit.
In 2024, he appeared on the Republican Nationwide Conference to endorse the presidential bid of Trump, who within the Eighties had performed host to Hulk-headlined WrestleManias. Hogan stated he determined to help the Republican candidate after seeing his combative, fist-pumping response to an tried assassination on the marketing campaign path.
“Let Trumpamania run wild, brother!” Hogan bellowed to a cheering crowd, ripping off his shirt to disclose a Trump tank prime. “Let Trumpamania rule again!”
Turning into ‘Hulk’
Born in Augusta, Georgia, on August 11, 1953, the longer term Hulk and his household quickly moved to the Tampa, Florida space. After highschool, he performed bass guitar for space rock bands, however felt a pull to the red-hot wrestling scene in Florida within the Seventies.
Lots of the particulars of his profession had been present enterprise exaggerations, consultant of the blurred traces between truth and fiction in wrestling.
His first coach reportedly broke Hogan’s leg to dissuade him from getting into the enterprise, however he stored at wrestling, weight coaching, and – he later admitted – anabolic steroids. He gained notoriety as his biceps was what he dubbed the “24-inch pythons.”
The “Hulk” moniker got here from comparisons to the comic-book hero portrayed on TV on the time. He would find yourself paying royalties to Marvel Comics for years. “Hogan” was the invention of promoter Vincent J McMahon, the proprietor of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), who needed Irish illustration amongst his steady of stars.
His look as wrestler Thunderlips in “Rocky III,” the place he dwarfed main man Sylvester Stallone, rocketed Hogan to the mainstream. Upon a return to the WWF, now managed by McMahon’s son Vincent Okay, he defeated the Iron Sheik in 1984 to assert the world championship, a belt he would maintain for 4 years.
Hogan turned a family title, showing on the quilt of the journal Sports activities Illustrated and performing alongside popular culture stars like Mr T. The WWF got here to dominate wrestling, anchored by its annual WrestleMania pay-per-view occasions.
Dealing with ‘The Rock’
Later, he joined competitor World Championship Wrestling, swapping his trademark yellow tights for black and taking up a persona because the villainous “Hollywood” Hogan, the top of a gang of rulebreakers often called the New World Order. The gimmick reinvigorated his profession.
Hogan ultimately returned to the WWF, now often called WWE, and confronted Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at WrestleMania in 2002.
“I’m in better shape than him,” Hogan informed Reuters on the time, 5 months shy of his fiftieth birthday. “I’ll stand next to The Rock and pose down with him if he wants to.” The Rock finally received the match.
Hogan was inducted twice into the WWE Corridor of Fame and referred to himself because the “Babe Ruth” of wrestling, after the New York Yankees’ famed baseball participant.
However Hogan’s help of Trump in 2024 didn’t go down nicely with all wrestling followers, and he additionally confronted different controversies.
In 2015, he was suspended by the WWE after one other surreptitious recording revealed that Hogan had used a racial slur. He was reinstated in 2018.
He was married 3 times and had two kids, who starred alongside him and his first spouse, Linda, in a 2005-2007 actuality TV present, “Hogan Knows Best.”
