SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan has died. The police and fire departments in Clearwater, Florida, said they responded yesterday to a medical call for a cardiac arrest, and Hogan was pronounced dead at a local hospital. He was 71 years old. Hogan had a long career in the sport, and he became the face of pro wrestling as it enjoyed a boom in the 1980s. More recently, he was known as a political figure. At the Republican National Convention in 2024, he ripped off his shirt and said this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HULK HOGAN: Let Trumpamania make America great again.
(CHEERING)
PFEIFFER: NPR's Andrew Limbong has more on the legacy of Hulkamania.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: At that RNC speech, after the rousing and the cheering, Hulk Hogan does something interesting. He drops the character.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HULK HOGAN: I didn't come here as Hulk Hogan, but I just had to give you a little taste.
LIMBONG: In wrestling terms, he breaks kayfabe.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HULK HOGAN: You know, my name is Terry Bollea. And as a entertainer, I try to stay out of politics.
LIMBONG: It's a way of saying, this is earnest. There is no ironic distance here.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HULK HOGAN: I can no longer stay silent.
(CHEERING)
LIMBONG: The crowd at the RNC gave him a huge applause. But after decades in professional wrestling, wrestling fans have a different perception of him.
(BOOING)
LIMBONG: When he showed up to "WWE Raw" earlier this year, the crowd booed him, gave him a thumbs-down. And he couldn't get them back - not when he tried to sell his beer brand, not when he namechecked Macho Man Randy Savage and Andre the Giant, and not when he did the ripping-of-his-shirt bit again to promote the WWE's partnership with Netflix.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HULK HOGAN: So what you going to do when the WWE...
(BOOING)
HULK HOGAN: ...And Netflix runs wild on you maniacs?
(BOOING)
LIMBONG: It wasn't always like this. There was a time when Hulk Hogan was the hero of professional wrestling. Take WrestleMania 1. It's 1985, and the crowd at Madison Square Garden is on fire. And they get even more amped once Hulk Hogan's theme music, "Real American" by Rick Derringer, kicks in.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: This can be none other than you know who, World Wrestling Federation champion - there he is - the incredible Hulk Hogan with bad man himself, Mr. T.
LIMBONG: Hulk Hogan enters the ring with Mr. T, his partner for the match. They, of course, win, and Hogan strikes a pose. The music kicks back on.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: Truly magnificent individual, the greatest representation in the world of professional wrestling - Hulk Hogan.
LIMBONG: Hulk Hogan, or Terry Bollea, started professional wrestling in 1977. But it wasn't until he signed with what was then known as the World Wrestling Federation, now the WWE, that he became one of the most recognizable faces of the sport. And the character of Hulk Hogan was an archetypal good guy. In the promos he cut, the Hulkster was someone ready to fight, so you wouldn't have to.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HULK HOGAN: Let me do the fighting, man. I was deemed the Hulkster, brother, to take care of all you Hulkamaniacs. Let me do the dirty work. After I train, say my prayers and eat my vitamins.
LIMBONG: Hulkamania was a phenomenon that led to his appearance in movies such as "Rocky III" as Thunderlips...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ROCKY III")
HULK HOGAN: (As Thunderlips) The ultimate male versus the ultimate meatball.
(BOOING)
HULK HOGAN: (As Thunderlips, laughing).
LIMBONG: ...To, years later, starting in 2005, his own reality TV show, "Hogan Knows Best," where he was portrayed as a doting, if overprotective father, particularly when it came to his daughter, Brooke.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HOGAN KNOWS BEST")
HULK HOGAN: Don't you think these pantyliners would be better than the pearls?
BROOKE HOGAN: Dad, put them back.
HULK HOGAN: They're unscented, too.
BROOKE HOGAN: No, Dad, you're embarrassing me. Come on. Let's go.
LIMBONG: A less wholesome side of him soon emerged, though. In 2012, the website Gawker published a portion of a sex tape of Hogan. Hogan, with funding from billionaire Peter Thiel, sued the media company, and a jury awarded him $140 million. Gawker ultimately settled with him for $31 million and was forced to file for bankruptcy. Now, during that legal case, there was another leak where Hogan was caught using the N-word on tape while talking about his daughter being in a relationship with a Black man. He apologized in an interview with ABC News in 2015.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HULK HOGAN: I'm not a racist. I never should have said what I said. It was wrong. I'm embarrassed by it. But a lot of people need to realize that you inherit things from your environment.
LIMBONG: It's hard to parse out what exactly led to the boos at "WWE Raw" this year. Certainly, wrestling legends like Kurt Angle and Ric Flair have sung his praises since he died, but he leaves behind a mixed legacy. He was, as his theme music says, a real American.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "REAL AMERICAN")
RICK DERRINGER: (Singing) I am a real American. Fight for what's right. Fight for your life.
LIMBONG: Andrew Limbong, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF RICK DERRINGER SONG, "REAL AMERICAN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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