FLORIDA, July 25 — Hulk Hogan, the American sports and entertainment star who made professional wrestling a global phenomenon, has died at the age of 71, World Wrestling Entertainment said on Thursday.
"WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture's most recognisable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s," WWE said in a statement.
Police in Clearwater, Florida, said authorities had responded to a medical call for a cardiac arrest at Hogan's residence on Thursday morning. Hogan was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, they said.
The bleach-blond, mahogany-tanned behemoth became the face of professional wrestling in the 1980s, helping transform the mock combat from a seedy spectacle into family-friendly entertainment worth billions of dollars.
A key moment in that evolution came at the WrestleMania III extravaganza in 1987, when Hogan, hoisted fellow wrestler André the Giant before a sold-out Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for a thunderous body slam of the Frenchman.
Hogan parlayed his wrestling fame into a less successful career in Hollywood, starring in films like Rocky III and Santa With Muscles, but kept returning to the ring as long as his body would allow.
In 2024, he appeared at the Republican National Convention to endorse the presidential bid of Donald Trump, who in the 1980s had played host to Hulk-headlined WrestleManias.
Hogan said he made the decision to support the Republican candidate after seeing his combative, fist-pumping reaction to an attempted assassination on the campaign trail.
Becoming 'Hulk'
Born Terry Gene Bollea in Augusta, Georgia, on August 11, 1953, the future Hulk and his family soon moved to the Tampa, Florida area. After high school, he played bass guitar for area rock bands, but felt a pull to the red-hot wrestling scene in Florida in the 1970s.
Many of the details of his career were showbusiness exaggerations, representative of the blurred lines between fact and fiction in wrestling.
His first trainer reportedly broke Hogan's leg to dissuade him from entering the business, but he kept at wrestling, weight training, and — he later admitted — anabolic steroids. He gained in notoriety as his biceps turned into what he dubbed the "24-inch pythons".
The "Hulk" moniker came from comparisons to the comic-book hero portrayed on TV at the time. He would end up paying royalties to Marvel Comics for years. "Hogan" was the invention of promoter Vincent J. McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), who wanted Irish representation among his stable of stars.
His appearance as wrestler Thunderlips in Rocky III, where he dwarfed leading man Sylvester Stallone, rocketed Hogan to the mainstream. Upon a return to the WWF, now controlled by McMahon's son Vincent K., he defeated the Iron Sheik in 1984 to claim the world championship, a belt he would hold for four years.
Hogan became a household name, appearing on the cover of magazine Sports Illustrated and performing alongside pop culture stars like Mr. T. The WWF came to dominate wrestling, anchored by its annual WrestleMania pay-per-view events.
"He drew more people to professional wrestling over the course of a career than anyone," said Dave Meltzer, a wrestling journalist and historian. "He paid the price in health for all of that stuff, being so big."
WWE Hall of Famer
Later, he joined competitor World Championship Wrestling, swapping his trademark yellow tights for black and taking on a persona as the villainous "Hollywood" Hogan, the head of a gang of rule-breakers known as the New World Order. The gimmick reinvigorated his career.
Hogan eventually returned to the WWF, now known as WWE, and faced Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at WrestleMania in 2002.
Hogan was inducted twice into the WWE Hall of Fame.
But Hogan's support of Trump in 2024 did not go down well with all wrestling fans, and he also faced other controversies.
He was married three times and had two children, who starred alongside him and first wife Linda in a 2005-2007 reality TV show, "Hogan Knows Best".
Condolences for the Hulkster poured in across social media, including from Vince K. McMahon, his partner in the 1980s wrestling boom and the former executive chairman of TKO Group that absorbed WWE in 2023.
"He was a trailblazer," McMahon wrote in a post on X. "He leaves us with one of his favourite expressions, 'Train, take your vitamins and say your prayers'."
"Today, we pray for him."
— Reuters
