Hulk Hogan, who helped turn pro wrestling into billion-dollar spectacle, dies at 71

RNZ News

3 days ago

By
Rocky Swift
, Reuters
US pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan flexes his muscles after speaking at a 2024 Republican National Convention.
Photo:
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP
Hulk Hogan, the American sports and entertainment star who made professional wrestling
a global phenomenon
and loudly
supported Donald Trump for president
, has died at the age of 71, World Wrestling Entertainment has said.
"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 said on X. It gave no cause of death.
The bleach-blonde, mahogany-tanned behemoth became the face of professional wrestling in the 1980s, helping transform the mock combat from a seedy spectacle into family-friendly entertainment worth billions of dollars.
A key moment in that evolution came at the WrestleMania III extravaganza in 1987, when Hogan hoisted fellow wrestler Andr+ the Giant before a sold-out Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for a thunderous body slam of the Frenchman.
Hogan parlayed his wrestling fame into a less successful career in Hollywood, starring in films like "Rocky III" and "Santa With Muscles", but kept returning to the ring as long as his body would allow.
In 2024, he appeared at the Republican National Convention to endorse the presidential bid of Trump, who in the 1980s had played host to Hulk-headlined WrestleManias. Hogan said he made the decision to support the Republican candidate after seeing his combative, fist-pumping reaction to an attempted assassination on the campaign trail.
"Let Trumpamania run wild, brother!" Hogan bellowed to a cheering crowd, ripping off his shirt to reveal a Trump tank top. "Let Trumpamania rule again!"
Born Terry Gene Bollea in Augusta, Georgia, on 11 August, 1953, the future Hulk and his family soon moved to the Tampa, Florida area. After high school, he played bass guitar for area rock bands, but felt a pull to the red-hot wrestling scene in Florida in the 1970s.
Many of the details of his career were showbusiness exaggerations, representative of the blurred lines between fact and fiction in wrestling.
His first trainer reportedly broke Hogan's leg to dissuade him from entering the business, but he kept at wrestling, weight training, and - he later admitted - anabolic steroids. He gained in notoriety as his biceps turned into what he dubbed the "24-inch pythons".
The "Hulk" moniker came from comparisons to the comic-book hero portrayed on TV at the time. He would end up paying royalties to Marvel Comics for years. "Hogan" was the invention of promoter Vincent J McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), who wanted Irish representation among his stable of stars.
His appearance as wrestler Thunderlips in "Rocky III", where he dwarfed leading man Sylvester Stallone, rocketed Hogan to the mainstream. Upon a return to the WWF, now controlled by McMahon's son Vincent K, he defeated the Iron Sheik in 1984 to claim the world championship, a belt he would hold for four years.
Hogan became a household name, appearing on the cover of magazine Sports Illustrated and performing alongside pop culture stars like Mr T. The WWF came to dominate wrestling, anchored by its annual WrestleMania pay-per-view events.
Later, he joined competitor World Championship Wrestling, swapping his trademark yellow tights for black and taking on a persona as the villainous "Hollywood" Hogan, the head of a gang of rulebreakers known as the New World Order. The gimmick reinvigorated his career.
Hogan eventually returned to the WWF, now known as WWE, and faced Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at WrestleMania in 2002.
"I'm in better shape than him," Hogan told Reuters at the time, five months shy of his 50th birthday. "I'll stand next to The Rock and pose down with him if he wants to." The Rock ultimately won the match.
Hogan was inducted twice into the WWE Hall of Fame, and referred to himself as the "Babe Ruth" of wrestling - after the New York Yankees' famed baseball player.
But Hogan's support of Trump in 2024 did not go down well with all wrestling fans, and he also faced other controversies.
Gossip website Gawker was shuttered
after it posted parts of a sex tape between him and a friend's wife and
Hogan sued on privacy grounds
, winning a $140 million judgment.
In 2015, he was suspended by the WWE after another surreptitious recording revealed that Hogan had used a racial slur. He was reinstated in 2018.
He was married three times and had two children, who starred alongside him and first wife Linda in a 2005-2007 reality TV show, "Hogan Knows Best".
- Reuters