Terry Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan, has passed away. He was a prolific and headlining wrestler during the 1980s and 1990s. Unfortunately, his post-wrestling life wasn't as glamourous. Despite the controversies, the world has come together to mourn his passing.
In Clearwater, Florida, authorities responded to a call on Thursday morning about a cardiac arrest. Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said in a statement on Facebook. "There were no signs of foul play or suspicious activity," Maj. Nate Burnside told reporters.
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.
He 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 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 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 times, including a reign of 1 474 days. Only Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund had the belt for more consecutive days.
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 public interest in a way wrestling had not achieved 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 weren't 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.
Ric Flair and Triple H were among several notable wrestling icons to react to Hogan's death on social media.
Ric Flair wrote on X, "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 I Didn’t Ask For Him To Be. He Was One Of The First To Visit Me When I Was In The Hospital With A 2% Chance Of Living, And He Prayed By My Bedside. Hulk Also Lent Me Money When Reid Was Sick. Hulkster, No One Will Ever Compare To You! Rest In Peace My Friend! 🙏🏻".
Triple H wrote, "WWE would not be where it is today without the larger-than-life characters that compete in the ring … and few, if any, loomed larger than Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea. He was the archetype of what it meant to be a “Superstar” - a global sensation that inspired millions to work hard at whatever it was they wanted to accomplish and a look that made him recognizable to fans around the world."
"Hulk Hogan, clad in red and yellow or nWo black and white, was simply put, iconic. As a Real American or the leader of one of the industry’s biggest factions, he transcended and elevated the entire business to heights never before seen - in every country and on every continent."
"There was no one like The Hulkster and there very well may never be another. My family sends their condolences to his family, friends, and fans."
As the tributes poured in for WWE legend Hulk Hogan, who died on Thursday at the age of 71, it’s worth remembering the racist remarks he made in 2015. In leaked transcripts from a sex tape in 2015, it was revealed that he used the N-word in reference to his daughter’s choice of partner or partners.
Following the expose carried out by the National Enquirer and Radar Online, the WWE terminated his contract and removed him from its Hall of Fame. Hogan would go on to apologise for his remarks, saying it was a low point in his life as he insisted he was not racist.
Three years later, after the controversy died down, Hogan was reinstated in the WWE Hall of Fame. Hogan has also had close ties with U.S. President Donald Trump. Perhaps the most famous quote of Hogan’s on Trump is: "Donald Trump is the toughest of them all… a real American hero,” and “I’m proud to support my hero as the next president."
Hogan was also embroiled in controversy throughout his career. A sex tape scandal and racist remarks clouded his reputation and left him asking fans for forgiveness.
Despite their estrangement, Brooke Hogan had love in her heart for her dad. While Brooke has yet to publicly comment on the WWE star’s 24 July death, her husband, Steven Oleksy and friend, Ashley Kora, shared moving messages on her behalf.
"My dear sweet friend @mizzhogan lost her father today," Ashley wrote over a 24 July Instagram Story featuring black-and-white photo of Brooke and Hulk. “He died knowing what I know, Brooke loved him deeply, was fiercely loyal and only ever want him to be peaceful, happy, and surrounded by people who valued him for who he really was.”
"He chose differently for himself," the message continued. "But we can still remember him as a doting father to a little girl with big dreams and a bigger heart. The world lost a legend, we lost Mr. Bollea, Brooke’s dad."
Sharing his gratitude for the message, Steven wrote over the post, "Thank you for the love and support for my beautiful wife. We are incredibly lucky to have you in our lives—not just during this challenging time, but always."
Despite the family’s strife, Linda—who was married to Hulk for 26 years—shared a throwback picture of her and the WWE legend, four days before his death, writing, "The good old days!"
Although there has been no confirmation of what led to the fatal event, the famed wrestler had allegedly been facing multiple health issues in the months and years before his death.
In an appearance on Logan Paul’s "IMPAULSIVE" podcast in September 2024, Hogan admitted that he’d had 25 surgeries in the last 10 years. This included 10 back surgeries, procedures on both shoulders and knee and hip replacements on both sides.
Hogan called out the difference between today’s fighting rings and the dangerous equipment of the 1970s, which he described as a 22-foot ring with "lumps" and "boards sticking up."
"It was horrible," he said. "The equipment and jumping up and dropping the damn leg for 40 years, when I had the largest arms in the world — I should’ve been using 'The Sleeper'." He added, "I probably should’ve quit earlier, but I just loved doing it — and the money was just crazy." Regardless of the physical consequences of his years in the ring, Hogan stated that he has "no regrets."
Daily revealed in her post that Hogan had been recovering from a "major four-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusin (ACDF), which is an intense surgery with a long and layered healing process."
She wrote in a post, "If you look it up, you’ll see what the last six weeks have involved … not just for his spine, but also for his vocal cords, and the eating/breathing tubes that are clamped over during surgery. We’ve been in and out of the hospital to support that recovery."
In an op-ed this week for Fox News Digital, Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, shared that while Hogan won't be remembered for his health struggles and surgeries, they certainly were present.
Those included everything from "his admitted steroid use in the 1990s, to multiple knee and hip replacement surgeries, to shoulder and multiple back surgeries, and finally a neck fusion operation which, by many accounts, was followed by a downhill slide in his health, culminating in a fatal cardiac arrest," Siegel wrote.
"And those numbers increased the older the wrestler was," Siegel added. "Many of these men didn’t even make it to their 70s."
He added, "Keep in mind the physical strain of having a large, bulky frame being repeatedly slammed, combined with frequent travel and the emotional stresses of being both an athlete and an entertainer."
In 1994, Hogan reportedly admitted under oath — during the trial of then-WWF Chairman Vince McMahon, who’d been charged with steroid distribution — that he had used steroids "for over a decade" before he stopped.
"Hulk Hogan lived in pain for decades, but it didn’t keep him from being a continuing role model for many, including in his later years," Siegel said. "He came to embody physical and spiritual vitality, and that is what he will really be remembered for."
Hulk Hogan's wife is set to inherit nearly a third of his vast fortune at least in the wake of his death, possibly creating a major rift with his ex-wives and estranged daughter.
Hogan and his third wife, Sky Daily, 49, have only been married for two years, but Florida law guarantees her 30% of his estate, whether or not he updated his will or trust before his sudden death on Thursday at 71.
In addition to investments and cash accounts, Hogan owned an $11.5 million mansion in Clearwater, Florida and multiple businesses and he set up a revocable trust and a personal trust before he died, The U.S. Sun has learned.
Florida estate expert and paralegal, June Frederiksen, at the Schofner Law Firm, explained that the WWE wrestler, movie star and local business owner likely had, "very in-depth estate planning." "You set up a trust to protect your assets, so you run everything through the trust," the expert explained.
The trust is meant to avoid his estate ending up in court, having to figure out where assets need to go and if creditors can collect from it.
Whether or not his new wife, Sky, was included in his trusts, she still stands to inherit a large portion of his wealth. "He married Sky two years ago, so he probably updated the trust so she would get a spousal elective share," Fredricksen said.
"Even if Sky was left out of his estate and he didn't update his trust since they married, she would still get a spousal elective share, which she is entitled to 30% in Florida." June said someone in the trusts will be named the trustee and they will do whatever the trusts direct for the distribution of Hulk's assets.
Things can get dicey, however, if his trusts weren't fully up to date. For example, if there were assets that were not rolled into his trusts, or importantly, if someone contests what is directed in the trusts, there may not be a way to avoid estate court.
What's more, Fredricksen said, if his estate battle does end up in court, then the assets become "susceptible to creditors, and I'm sure he had some creditors." Hulk had notoriously fallen out with his daughter Brooke Hogan.
The two have been estranged for several years, and the WWE star never met his twin grandchildren, Oliver and Molly Gene, who were born in January of this year. "If Brooke is left out of the will, she can contest it and the battle would wind up in probate court," the legal expert explained.
Hulk's estimated net worth is $25 million, according to Celebrity Networth. As The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed, Hulk owns a massive Clearwater property worth about $11.5 million.
He owned several businesses in Florida, with Hogan's Beach Shop in 2013 which is still going strong, as well as the restaurant Hogan's Hangout, which is also still open, in Clearwater Beach. The wrestler also owned Real American Beer, which launched last year.
Hulk Hogan wrestled way before my time. As such, I have no real memories of him performing. However, I am fully aware of the kind of impact that he had. Despite the troubles faced, I know that only the good parts will be remembered.
A true has passed away.
"Watcha gonna do when the hulkster runs wild on YOU?"
- Hulk Hogan