This week has without a doubt been one of the most trying in the world of entertainment in recent memory, especially for all of us who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s such as myself.
First, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who we watched grow up before our eyes as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show from 1984-92, passed away after a tragic drowning in the beginning of the week way too soon at just the age of 54.
Before that loss could even be fully processed, one of the original architects and godfathers of heavy metal music itself, the iconic Ozzy Osbourne, succumbed to his battle with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 76.
And now, the unmistakable giant that was Hulk Hogan, who almost single-handily shaped the WWE – and sports entertainment as a whole – as we know it today, passed away yesterday at the age of 71. His presence was seemingly everywhere at the time when the country (and the world itself) was a much more simpler, unified place.
Hulk Hogan was born Terry Bollea in Augusta, GA on August 11, 1953, but grew up mainly in the southwest coast of Florida. It’s there that he began working and bodybuilding at gyms, as well as playing the bass guitar in local bands as a teenager.
After a year of training under Hiro Matsuda, Hogan made his wrestling debut for the CWF promotion against Brian Blair in Ft. Myers, FL on August 10, 1977. He quickly made his way through other promotions such as the CWA and NWA, the latter of which he would win his first championship of his career with on December 1, 1979.
Hogan made his debut with the WWF (now the WWE) around this time as well after Vince McMahon, Sr. saw something special in him. He made his debut with the company on November 17, 1979, and would stay with them until 1981, when he was dropped for the filming of Rocky III, eventually released in 1982.
He kept busy working, initially as a heel for Verne Gagne in the AWA and in the NJPW prior to returning to the WWF at Vince McMahon, Jr.’s insistence. He made his official return on December 27, 1983, and after defeating The Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984, Hulkamania was officially born.
By March 31, 1985, Hogan was headlining the inaugural Wrestlemania alongside Mr. T (who Hogan had also appeared on The A-Team with) where the two defeated Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper. Further Wrestlemanias and championships would continue, as well as rivalries with Piper, Andre the Giant, and The Ultimate Warrior, and alliances with the likes of “Macho Man” Randy Savage. There were even cross-promotions with MTV that propelled them all to further stardom.
It was somewhere among all of this pop culture phenomenon that a kid from New Jersey started becoming a megafan, and I’m told was doing “The Hulk” (a sort of “grr” sound with a combo flex move) at a very young age. I can remember going to sleepovers and even Cub Scout meetings where Hulk Hogan action figures and even Wrestling Buddies (basically pillows shaped like your favorite wrestlers) were everywhere.
I wasn’t there when Hogan hit the big screen with his first starring role in 1989’s No Holds Barred (though I should by all means still have a copy of it on VHS somewhere), but I was there in the theater when he made a cameo in 1990’s Gremlins 2: The New Batch, and for 1991’s Suburban Commando (quite possibly the first movie I went to see after relocating from New Jersey to Florida, to).
In the ’90s, Hogan of course went to the WCW and formed the nWo stable with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, turning heel once again. His fame grew over the course of the decade or so with shows like 1993’s Thunder in Paradise, and the reality series Hogan Knows Best in 2005 (the same year he would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame).
By the time I made it to my first WWE match in 2022 (ironically at the Ocean Center in Daytona where Hogan had turned heel all of those years prior in 1996) and covered both Raw and SmackDown for Rewind It Magazine in Orlando the following year, Hogan was of course far from the mat. But his presence was no doubt felt at each and everyone of these events.
Tributes again poured out far and wide yesterday as they had for the previously-mentioned celebrities, but the ugliness and downright hatred that was present this time around reached new lows. Hogan was far from perfect, and made mistakes over the course of his lifetime (many of which he had since apologized for), but show me someone who hasn’t, or any human being who is absolutely “perfect” for that matter, especially by the standards of these spiteful, degenerate keyboard warriors of the world right now.
But I think the situation was best summed up last evening by a tweet via the Reverend Damien Thaddeus Jones; “Hulk Hogan was not a perfect person and neither are you. Hulk Hogan is a global icon, unlike you. Hulk Hogan surrendered to Christ and will be in Heaven. Many of you are judging him for one mistake. He will be remembered for all of his positive impacts on millions.”
Amen, brother.