Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Dies at Age 71
Professional Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan has died on Thursday at the age of 71, Florida police and the WWE said Thursday. In Clearwater, Florida, authorities responded to a call Thursday morning about a cardiac arrest. Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said in a statement on Facebook. WWE posted a note on X saying it was saddened to learn the WWE Hall of Famer has died. “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,” it said. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, had been struggling with several health issues in recent years, including a problematic, lingering back injury from his wrestling days. Hogan had not wrestled since 2012 but had been in the news recently as a founder of the new Real American Freestyle wrestling promotion and the owner of an upcoming New York City bar opposite Madison Square Garden, the site of many of his big matches. In 1985, Hogan headlined the first-ever WrestleMania, teaming up with 1980s TV star Mr. T to take on Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. WrestleMania I, at MSG, drew an audience of around 1 million on closed-circuit television and is credited with taking professional wrestling, specifically the then-WWF (now WWE), into the national zeitgeist. Hogan’s grudge match with Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III took the wrestling business — and Hogan’s career — to new heights. Around 80,000 people filled the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for the match. The rematch, several months later, on free-to-air NBC, drew 33 million viewers. Hogan was in the main event of seven of the first eight WrestleMania cards. He was the face and hero of the wrestling world, crossing over into the mainstream with tons of appearances on television talk shows, as well as starring roles in movies — including the third Rocky film, where he took on the title character played by Sylvester Stallone — and television, including the syndicated “Thunder in Paradise” in the 1990s. Hogan won the WWF World Heavyweight championship six different times, including a reign of 1,474 days. Only Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund had the belt for longer days consecutively. In 1996, with interest in him as a hero waning, Hogan pulled off the biggest heel turn in wrestling history as a second act. Working for WWE competitor World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Hogan became a bad guy, leading a dastardly group of invaders called the New World Order (NWO). The heel turn, 29 years ago this summer, captured the zeitgeist in a way wrestling had not since WrestleMania I. The NWO, with “Hollywood” Hogan as the vicious frontman wearing black and white rather than his trademark red and yellow, breathed new life into the wrestling industry during the counterculture 1990s when the audience demanded a darker, more adult product. Hogan was up to the challenge, helping WCW beat the WWF in television ratings for 83 straight weeks beginning in 1996. Hogan returned to WWE in 2002 to face The Rock at WrestleMania 18 in Toronto. His character was the NWO bad-guy version, but the more than 68,000 in attendance was not interested in booing Hogan. They cheered him over The Rock, then WWE’s biggest good guy, forcing Hogan to return home to Florida that weekend to pick up his old red-and-yellow shirts and wrestling trunks. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.
