Hulk Hogan (1953-2025)

 It was reported earlier this morning that wrestler-actor-musician Hulk Hogan (Birth name Terry Bollea) had passed away at the age of 71, just weeks shy of his 72nd birthday.

Hogan made his debut in what is now WWE in 1979 as a rulebreaker (heel in wrestling parlance), under the management of Fred Blassie. This first stint culminated in Hogan's first high profile match vs. Andre The Giant at Shea Stadium in the summer of 1980. Hogan had earlier worked for the National Wrestling Alliance, and appeared as Sterling Golden on Georgia Championship Wrestling, then moving on to Memphis to work for the Jarrett family.

After a successful tour of Japan in 1981, Hogan signed with the American Wrestling Association, and, after a short heel run managed by Johnny Valiant (who'd later return to WWE himself), Hogan became a babyface, a role he'd play for the next 15 years. Hogan returned to WWE in the winter of 1983-4, and unseated the Iron Sheik in January 1984 to win the WWE title for the first time.

During his 2nd run in WWE, and, before that, while with the AWA, Hogan took up acting, making his screen debut in "Rocky III", where he met Mr. T, whose co-star role in the film led directly to The A-Team the following winter. During season 4 of A-Team, Hogan made two appearances as himself on the show. Following is a clip from one of the two episodes.

Everyone knows the rest of Hogan's wrestling story, as he'd revitalize his career in WCW (1994-2000), including co-founding the New World Order. Hogan appeared in the movies as well, in cameo appearances in "Gremlins 2: The New Batch", "Spy Hard", and having a supporting role in "3 Ninjas: High Noon on Ninja Mountain". Vince McMahon managed to land him some lead roles, but "No Holds Barred", designed to segue to a pay-per-view card, was the only one to actually be considered a hit. "Suburban Commando", with Shelley Duvall & Christopher Lloyd, plus an appearance by Mark Calaway (Undertaker) as a different character, and "Mr. Nanny" were less successful.

The darker side of Hogan emerged in recent years. WWE rescinded his initial Hall of Fame induction in 2015 after it'd gotten out he'd made some racist remarks. He'd be reinducted as a member of the NWO a few years later. His support of current president Donald Trump soured fans on Hogan, such that when he returned to WWE one final time in January to mark the promotion's debut on Netflix, he was booed out of the building in Los Angeles.

Hogan would launch Real American Beer, which sponsored Arena Football 1, and WWE, and was set to kick off Real American Freestyle Wrestling, which will have its first show at the end of August, but without Hogan, leaving Eric Bischoff to try to run things by himself.

WWE will likely honor Hogan tomorrow on Smackdown. TNA will also give some time on Impact tonight.

Rest in peace.