Hulk Hogan dead at 71
Wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan, whose larger-than-life persona, shirt-ripping theatrics, and catchphrases made him the face of the 1980s wrestling boom, has died at 71.
The Clearwater Police Department confirmed his death early Thursday afternoon.
"Clearwater Fire Department and Clearwater Police Department personnel responded to a medical call at 9:51 a.m. today in the 1000 block of Eldorado Avenue on Clearwater Beach, the department wrote on Facebook. "The nature of the call was for a cardiac arrest. A 71-year-old resident, Terry Bollea, also known as Hulk Hogan, was treated by Clearwater Fire & Rescue crews before being taken by Sunstar to Morton Plant Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased."
Hogan was one of wrestling's first superstars. In 1979, Hogan began wrestling for the American Wrestling Association in Minnesota. At the time, he printed his own shirts at a Minneapolis bar, the beginning of what would later become Hulkmania.
In 1984, the then-unknown Vince McMahon lured Hogan away to join his wrestling venture. Together, the pair would take a once-regional entertainment sport into a nationwide spectacle.
Hogan was so popular that he branched out into movies and later even had his own animated TV show.
Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was born in Augusta, Georgia, on August 11, 1953. His family moved to Florida, where he would later wait after matches at a local Western bar, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sport's biggest stars, who would later become his colleagues.
"It was Dusty Rhodes who was the one who got me hooked on wrestling," Hogan told Sports Illustrated in 2023. "If Dusty Rhodes was not on TV on Saturday or Sunday morning here in Tampa, we were pissed off."
This is a developing story.
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