MR. TITO: Tribute to the Late Hulk Hogan (RIP) and His Many Contributions to Pro Wrestling
BREAKING NEWS today, as the biggest professional wrestling legend of all time, Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollea), has passed away at the age of 71due to cardiac arrest. My sincerest of condolences to his family and friends. Hogan is known to wrestling fans as easily the biggest icon in pro wrestling history, as he started in 1977 but exploded in popularity after his Rocky 3 appearance and as mainstream television grew in popularity during the 1980s. And then, just when you thought that Hulkamania had expired, Hogan turned heel at WCW’s Bash at the Beach 1996 Pay Per View to establish the New World Order (NWO) with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.
For this column, I’m NOT going to get deep into any of Hogan’s transgressions. While he’s said many dumb things (including slurs on video), sort of stretched the truth on his stories, and had a few failed relationships, the only real illegal thing that he did was take illegal substances that Vince McMahon was alleged (but was acquitted) to be looking the other way when it occurred. Again, the guy who has enriched many lives with his wrestling performances or took care of friends and family who are hurting today just died.
To me, Hulk Hogan easily fit that “larger than life” mold that is needed at the top of a wrestling promotion for main eventers needed. Yes, he was certainly borrowing a ton from “Superstar” Billy Graham, but Hogan was more dependable and reliable than Graham. From 1983 through 1993, Hulk Hogan was a consistent figure that the WWE could present as their spokesperson and was perfect for merchandising and the family-friendly atmosphere that WWE pushed during the 1980s. With Hogan being the perfect character for Vince McMahon’s vision, WWE easily overtook other promotion’s territories to become a national company. With Hogan, WWE grew exponentially during the 1980s and events like Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble became regular staple events as must-see TV or to attend in-person.
Many have tried to argue that anyone else could have fit Hogan’s system… I disagree. Go watch American Wrestling Association (AWA)’s shows during the early 1980s before Hogan jumped ship to the WWE. Hogan was over and fans damn near rioted when finishes were reversed against Hogan during title matches. Hogan had the size, the look, the ability (yes, he could wrestle contrary to what others may say), and he could cut amazing promos.
The wrestling ability criticisms make me laugh… Hogan had the special ability to do MORE WITH LESS… He didn’t need to cram in multiple move, as all he had to do was bodyslam someone and then look at the crowd. That’s it… Rather than taking a pounding from many moves inside the ring, he used babyface psychology and gestures towards the crowd that could engulf parts of the match. Thus, he was able to take less punishment and never endured long times out with injury. Why? Because he did MORE WITH LESS and didn’t allow himself to take unnecessary punishment if he already had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
Look at the epic match-ups that Hogan gave us… Always feuding with Roddy Piper, Mr. Wonderful, Andre the Giant, and Macho Man Randy Savage… Ohhhhhh yeah! Any question about Wrestlemania 3, folks? Packed that dome in Detroit and made everyone want to see Hogan vs. Andre. I always laugh at the criticisms of “Macho vs. Steamboat was a better match”. So? Hogan vs. Andre packed that crowd and drew mainstream attention to Wrestlemania 3! Hell, it was so popular that Hogan vs. Andre drew millions of viewers to NBC’s The Main Event show, was the focal point of early Survivor Series and SummerSlam events, and helped hype Wrestlemania 4. I didn’t see Macho vs. Steamboat creating additional money like that!
What Hulk Hogan did with Macho Man Randy Savage was special. The Mega Powers was completely awesome and made Macho into a massive star as WWE Champion, along with Miss Elizabeth. Yes, Wrestlemania 3 gets all of the popularity, but it is a FACT that Wrestlemania 5 was the #1 sold Pay Per View and its record held until WCW Starrcade 1997 occurred. Why? Because Hulk Hogan and Macho Man headlined that show, brother. And that 1989 feud, alone, made the wrestling business exponential money because Hogan and Macho’s tension carried on for years. WCW reaped the benefit of how massive the Mega Powers exploding was during 1988-1989.
While it is a proven fact that Hulk Hogan had some creative power, nobody can deny what he did for the Ultimate Warrior. Hogan CLEANLY put over Warrior at Wrestlemania 6, period. It’s not Hogan’s fault that WWE fed Warrior weaker heel opponents to work with afterward… Hogan put over Warrior cleanly, and the Hulkster would do great business later putting over Bill Goldberg as well. That match with Sting at WCW Starrcade 1997… Ehhhhh, OK, you’ve got a point, but I’m guessing Hogan didn’t feel like his run, at the top, was over and just personally protected it. I’m not saying he was right, and Eric Bischoff lacking balls should have corrected Hogan, but that’s my guess as to what happened.
Come on, guys… Hulk Hogan single-handedly defeated Iraq at Wrestlemania 7. What more can you say?
From there, Hogan’s WWE career winded down… He did everything and won multiple WWE Titles. WWE tried to recapture that magic at Wrestlemania 9, but it was too late. Plus, Hogan looked very thin during 1993, as WWE was being investigated for allegedly distributing performance enhancers to its wrestlers.
Between leaving WWE and joining WCW, Hogan tried to get more into acting gigs… In my opinion, he was too typecast based on his look. Every character he did looked like Hulk Hogan with no differentiable features. Hence, why he didn’t mind returning to wrestling 1994 with World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
WCW ran the red & yellow character into the ground until diminishing returns set in… But then, Eric Bischoff had a stroke of genius through 1996. In addition to padding WCW’s roster from talent raids of Mexico, Japan, and ECW, he signed Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to WCW contracts after big years as Razor and Diesel in WWE. Not only that, Bischoff wanted to push “reality based” storylines that could give the impression that they weren’t scripted and he admired an invasion angle conducted in New Japan. Thus, Hall and Nash appeared nameless in WCW and were portrayed as if they were “invading” WCW with Hall’s famous quote of “you know who I am but you don’t know why I am here”.
The tease of the third-man for the NWO was done perfectly… So much speculation and with Hulk Hogan taking time off after the Uncensored 1996 PPV match debacle, nobody really suspected that it could have been him. Hogan reportedly waffled at the idea at first, but then he saw how much heat Hall and Nash were getting. Hulk wisely agreed to join him and I’m glad, as Sting wouldn’t have been effective as the mystery man. Hogan was PERFECT because he was an ex-WWE guy tagging along with two wrestlers who just jumped from WWE.
Hogan renamed himself as “Hollywood” Hogan, grew a black beard to surround his trademark mustache, wore black & white, and began coming out to Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix. A complete 180 change for Hogan, along with cutting vicious heel promos on wrestlers and fans along with working like a heel. WCW grew exponentially with the NWO angle and Hogan on top again, and thus proved Hogan to be the “Babe Ruth of Wrestling” because he now made lightning strike twice.
So yeah, Starrcade 1997… That’s the peak of the NWO angle and the NWO ran on fumes after that… BUT, as I mentioned, Hogan deserves his due for putting over Bill Goldberg. The rest of Hogan’s WCW run from 1999 to 2000 isn’t worth mentioning and in hindsight, especially that Bash at the Beach 2000 debacle involving Vince Russo.
After a bad ending to his WCW run, I really thought Hulk Hogan redeemed himself with his 2002 return to the WWE. The NWO debuted in WWE, but many longtime fans wanted red & gold to return. Go watch Wrestlemania 18 and how the Toronto fans literally turned him babyface during his match with the Rock. Kudos to the Rock, by the way, for recognizing this and playing up to that crowd. Hogan leaves the NWO and we get red & yellow babyface Hogan once again and pretty match had that for the rest of Hogan’s WWE career. The massive response to his Wrestlemania 18 match with the Rock proves how massive Hogan was to the business.
I could get into other things with Hogan for the rest of his 2000s WWE career. Many will laugh at the SummerSlam 2005 stuff with Shawn Michaels, but I always say that “revenge is a dish best served cold” as Shawn Michaels’s 1990s version of himself could be difficult to work with. I LOVED his match with Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 19. Not technically the best match in the world, but that match defined what “sports entertainment” is always about. In my opinion, Hogan should have put over Randy Orton at SummerSlam 2006, but I give credit to Hogan putting over Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle cleanly during this decade along with the Rock twice.
For the rest of Hogan’s life, he had some major changes in his personal life, fought through some challenges caused by the leaked sex tape, and many are upset with his political affiliations (hence the boos at him during the very first Netflix RAW during 2025). But again, and I keep stressing this, he did nothing illegal during his life other than taking illegal substances to increase the size of his 24 inch pythons. You could argue the merits of immorality, but we’ve never seen him behind bars is all that I’m saying and many family members and friends liked him. Hence, be considerate of that, especially since he just passed away.
As a wrestling fan, I actually rooted against him as a kid… I thought that Macho Man Randy Savage, along with the very beautiful Miss Elizabeth, and the Ultimate Warrior were cooler than Hogan. Even with that, Hogan made me interested in the WWE product for someone to root against. I more appreciated Hogan’s talent when he was the third man in the New World Order and was such a great heel. I speak fondly about WCW during 1996-1997 often, in case you didn’t notice, and Hulk Hogan’s heel run was a massive part of that.
I’m terribly sorry that he passed away, speaking as a wrestling fan who has followed his antics inside the ring for almost 40 years now.
We lost the biggest pro wrestling star, EVER, today, and that’s a damn shame. THANK YOU, Hulk Hogan, for the many, many great years of entertainment. Also a special THANK YOU to his family for lending his services to us, as the pro wrestling business consumes so much time for each performer to be away from their family.
RIP Hulk Hogan.
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