Veteran World Wrestling giant, Terry Bollea, known worldwide as Hulk Hogan, has passed away .
The wrestling legend passed away early Thursday morning after medics were dispatched to his home in Florida.
Hulk Hogan had fatal cardiac arrest at his home in Clearwater, Florida. He was 71.
His demise was announced on the late wrestler’s facebook page by his people, who Hulk Hogan died “surrounded by his loved ones.”
“It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness that we confirm we have lost a legend.
Our beloved Terry Bollea, known worldwide as Hulk Hogan, passed away today surrounded by his loved ones.
“At this time of grief, we ask that everyone please respect the privacy of his family and friends.
“May we all take solace in the wonderful memories he left behind for the millions of fans worldwide whose lives he touched for more than four decades.
“He will be missed, but never forgotten,” the announcement read.
Hogan, a symbol of American patriotism and machismo who succeeded in everything from wrestling to Hollywood to reality television.
He won six WWE championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 by Sylvester Stallone. Stallone recalled in an Instagram post meeting “this brilliant personality and showman when he was 26 years old,” adding that his “heart breaks” to think that he’s gone.
Hogan was able to transcend his “Hulkamania” fan base to become a celebrity outside the wrestling world, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, including a reality show about his life on VH1, “Hogan Knows Best.”
Wrestling legend Ric Flair paid tribute to his “close friend” Hogan, writing in a post on X he is “absolutely shocked” to hear about his death.
I Am Absolutely Shocked To Hear About The Passing Of My Close Friend @HulkHogan! Hulk Has Been By My Side Since We Started In The Wrestling Business. An Incredible Athlete, Talent, Friend, And Father! Our Friendship Has Meant The World To Me. He Was Always There For Me Even When…
In a statement, World Wrestling Entertainment said it’s “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 post on X read.
Hogan first became champion in what was then the World Wrestling Federation in 1984, and pro wrestling took off from there. His popularity helped lead to the creation of the annual WrestleMania event in 1985, when he teamed up with Mr. T to beat “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff in the main event.
He slammed and beat Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III in 1987, and the WWF gained momentum. His feud with the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage – perhaps his greatest rival — carried pro wrestling even further.
Hogan was a central figure in what is known as the Monday Night Wars. The WWE and World Championship Wrestling were battling for ratings supremacy in 1996. Hogan tilted things in WCW’s favor with the birth of the Hollywood Hogan character and the formation of the New World Order, a villainous stable that put WCW ahead in the ratings.
He returned to the WWE in 2002 and became a champion again. His match with The Rock at WrestleMania X8, a loss during which fans cheered for his “bad guy” character, was seen as a passing of the torch.
He was perhaps as known for his larger-than-life personality as he was his in-ring exploits. He was beloved for his “promos,” hype sessions he used to draw fans into matches. He often would play off his interviewer, “Mean” Gene Okerlund, starting his interviews off with, “Well, lemme tell ya something, Mean Gene!”
He crossed over into movies and television as well. He was Thunderlips in the movie “Rocky III” in 1982.
Despite his accomplishments in wrestling and role into taking the sport mainstream, Hogan’s career in the last two decades was tarnished with controversies.
In 2013, he filed a $100 million lawsuit against the website Gawker for posting part of the sex tape of him with Heather Cole, the ex-wife of Hogan’s one-time friend and radio show host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. The trial was salacious and exposed lurid details of his private life. A jury awarded him $140 million in the invasion of privacy lawsuit and he eventually settled with the company for $31 million. The years-long legal wrangling led to the media company’s bankruptcy and the shutdown of Gawker.com.
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. severed ties with Hogan in July 2015 on the heels of an audio release that contained him using repeated racial slurs to describe a man his daughter was dating at the time. He was scrubbed from the WWE website and removed from the Hall of Fame.
At the time, Hogan apologized for using “offensive language” and called the scandal the hardest thing he’s ever been through. In 2018, he was reinstated into the organization after “numerous public apologies and volunteering to work with young people, where he is helping them learn from his mistake.”
Hogan is survived by his two children, 37-year-old Brooke Hogan and 34-year-old Nick Hogan, with whom he shared with his first wife Linda Bollea. Hogan married his second wife, Jennifer McDaniel, in 2010 and divorced 11 years later in October 2021. In 2023, he married his third wife, Sky Daily.
Last month, Hogan underwent neck surgery amid chronic neck and back issues caused by years of brawling in the ring. He opened up about his over two dozen surgeries during an interview on Jake Paul’s podcast last year.
“I’ve had like 25 surgeries in the last ten years. Ten of them were back surgeries,” he told Paul on the “IMPAULSIVE” podcast. “I’ve had 10 back surgeries, both knees and both hips replaced, shoulders — everything.”
In recent years, Hogan added his celebrity to politics. At the 2024 Republican National Convention, he merged classic WWE maneuvers with then-candidate Donald Trump’s rhetoric to passionately endorse him for president.
Trump paid tribute to his “great friend” Hogan in a post on his Truth Social platform, calling his RNC speech “one of the highlights of the week.”
“He entertained fans from all over the World, and the cultural impact he had was massive. To his wife, Sky, and family, we give our warmest best wishes and love. Hulk Hogan will be greatly missed!” Trump added.
Additional report: The Associated Press
