Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Passes Away At 71
Image Source: Sky Sports
He was the "face" of professional wrestling for decades, and even those who had absolutely no affiliation with this sport knew his name. On July 24, Terrence Gene Bollea, the real man behind the Hulk Hogan persona, died from "cardiac arrest" at the age of 71 in Florida.
Born on August 11, 1953, in Augusta, he began his professional wrestling career in 1977 after playing basketball and bass guitar in various rock bands.
In November 1979, he had his first fight for the World Wrestling Federation under his ring name Hulk Hogan, but was kicked out of the WWF in 1981 after appearing in Rocky III - The Eye of the Tiger alongside Sylvester Stallone.
After that, he joined New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and the American Wrestling Association before returning to the WWF in 1983.
Between 1994 and 2000, he was part of World Championship Wrestling, where he completely transformed his image. After portraying the all-American superhero with bright yellow and red attire, his character evolved into a sneaky and manipulative villain, wearing all black and becoming the leader of the so-called New World Order.
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Hogan switched between the WWF/WWE and NJPW several times and retired in 2013.
In 2005, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Sylvester Stallone.
Aside from his role in Rocky III, he played one of the leads in the 1994 TV show Thunder in Paradise and had his own reality show, Hogan Knows Best, together with his family.
But Bollea was also a controversial figure, who was kicked out of the WWE in 2015 and had his Hall of Fame status temporarily revoked after a video with racist statements against the afro-american boyfriend of his daughter appeared in 2015, and who took aim at Kamala Harris during the 2024 election campaign.
Commenting on his passing, Vince McMahon, co-founder of the WWE, who had a complicated relationship with Hogan, called him "the greatest WWE Superstar of all time" and a "global phenomenon."
Wrestling legend Ric Flair says Hogan's friendship "meant the world to me", adding: "Hulkster, no one will ever compare to you."
Sylvester Stallone commented that the wrestler was "absolutely wonderful, and his amazing skill made Rocky three incredibly special."
Bollea was married twice and has two children: Brook (born 1988) and Nick (born 1990).
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