National Diplomat: World Wrestling Entertainment informed that Hulk Hogan has died on Thursday, aged 71. Bollea is reported to be the most famous wrestling superstar.
In the 1980s and 90’s, he not only starred in movies, but he was internationally recognized. His personality, both in the ring and out of the ring, was larger than life, which contributed to his mainstream fame.
The news comes as a shock to the WWE as they released a statement on the said platform, “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 the Hogan family, friends, and global fans.”
Bollea was reported to the police as the individual with a cardiac arrest. Clearwater, Florida, said that he was not responding to initial care and was brought to Morton Plant Hospital. CNN was first to report the news.
Bollea was influential in wrestling during its “golden era” in the 1980s with shout-outs to “24-inch pythons” and the “say your prayers and eat your vitamins” catchphrase. His rivalries with famous wrestlers “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, André the Giant, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and many others earned professional wrestling billions during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Bollea joining the WCW in the mid-1990s created a stir in the wrestling community. 1996 saw the “heel turn” – a wrestling term for when a hero becomes a villain – and the iconic “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan.
This period is one of the most unforgettable chapters of wrestling’s history and helped WCW surpass Bollea’s previous company for 83 weeks in television ratings, marking the last period WWE trailed another company in the traditional measure of popularity.
Though WCW was riding high during Bollea’s reign, he became saddled with a creative rut that saw him participate in the “Finger Poke of Doom” and in turn ruin professional wrestling for so many.
That event – where wrestler Kevin Nash flopped on his back after being poked by Bollea, allowing Hollywood Hogan to regain the WWE Championship – threw the company into crisis and turned off so many fans that by the time WWE purchased its competition, it could do so ‘for a song.’
Bollea returned to WWE in 2003, where he had a celebrated match with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at WrestleMania X8, and became part of WWE’s biography as one of the biggest stars in wrestling history, creating a roaring atmosphere with 17,000 fans at the SkyDome in Toronto.
Hulkster spent a few more years with WWE before moving to its rival, competing with WWE once again by signing with Total Nonstop Action (TNA) wrestling in 2010. His time at TNA was not celebrated, as Bollea and other aging stars were featured too prominently, which left younger talent disillusioned with the promotion and its leadership. He left TNA after 3 years, failing to replicate the success he had in his WCW heyday, battling for dominance against the WWE.
His legacy as a Hall of Famer was forever changed alongside countless fans and wrestlers of WWE when their favorite wrestlers got exposed for using racial slurs in a video that surfaced in 2015. This marked a dark moment in WWE’s history. At that point, WWE had terminated its contract and scrubbed most references to him from their website.
Bollea offered a public apology for using racial slurs against his daughter Brooke’s love interests in an “unauthorized sex tape,” as the Enquirer dubbed it. Since then, he has shown regret for his actions.
“I have come to realize there is no justification for using the reprehensible words I used and disparaging words toward Brooke’s friends. I have, however, extended my hand to his, and declined to cancel his apology.”
In the early 2010s, Gawker, the premier website for gossip and dirt, was torn apart and almost faced complete obliteration due to the sex tape of Bollea. Following the divorce of Hulk and Linda Bollea, Gawker exposed the tape for public view, and as a result, began a lawsuit against Gawker for violating his privacy. Gawker was dealt a crippling $115 million lawsuit and ended up going bankrupt.
Although Bollea is said to have offered an apology to the WWE locker room for employing slurs, many wrestlers personally chose to never forgive him. His reception during later appearances in the company—having returned in an on-air capacity in 2019 and making sporadic appearances until his death—was mixed, and sometimes he was outright booed by the crowds.
Bollea’s death is reported to have occurred about a month and a half ahead of the scheduled date for the first event of his new wrestling company, Real American Freestyle. The company intends to promote traditional wrestling, as opposed to the WWE version, akin to what one would see in the Olympics.
The initial event was scheduled for August 30. As of early Thursday afternoon, the company has yet to respond to a request for comment on Bollea’s death.
