Hulk Hogan

Hogan "remained in the spotlight" to the end

(Image credit: WWE / WWE via Getty Images)

Hulk Hogan brought the over-the-top theatricality of pro wrestling into mainstream American culture. A comic book character come to life, the 6-foot-7, 320-pound mustachioed colossus would enter the arena to the song "Real American," cup his hand to his ear to encourage the crowd's roars, flex the bulging biceps he called "24-inch pythons," and rip off his shirt before facing his opponent. As the face of Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation, he was everywhere in the 1980s and 90s—appearing in commercials, sitcoms, and even his own animated series. His Main Event bout against Andre the Giant was watched by more than 33 million people. His advice to "Hulkamaniacs" was always simple: "Train, say your prayers, eat your vitamins, be true to yourself, and true to your country."

Born weighing "a formidable 10 pounds, 7 ounces," said the Los Angeles Times, Terry Gene Bollea got his bulk from his construction-worker father and his showmanship from his dance-teacher mother. Growing up in Tampa, he was a star pitcher in Little League and then a bass player in local bands, but he longed to break into wrestling. Approached by wrestling scouts in 1976, he went pro the following year and joined the WWF in 1983. His charisma and McMahon's promotional talents proved "a formula for success." Hogan headlined eight Wrestlemania events, starred in three movies, and had a recurring stint on The A-Team, all while hawking endless merchandise and doing plenty of charity work. The Make-a-Wish Foundation named him its most requested celebrity in 1992, "and he reportedly visited as many as 20 sick children a week."

Yet "weightlifting alone" wasn't responsible for Hogan's beefy physique, said The Times (U.K.). McMahon was tried for drug trafficking in 1994, and Hogan admitted to steroid use. He jumped to World Championship Wrestling for a few years, playing a heel, or wrestling villain, before returning to his home league and persona. Decades later he was embroiled in a "completely different, but no less sensational" scandal, said Rolling Stone. In 2012, gossipy news site Gawker ran a clip of a sex tape featuring a 2006 encounter between Hogan and Heather Clem, who was married to Florida shock jock "Bubba the Love Sponge." With the financial help of tech billionaire Peter Thiel, Hogan sued and won $31 million in 2016, which bankrupted Gawker. During the appeals process, "another tape leaked," which showed Hogan, ranting about his daughter's Black ex-boyfriend, making "liberal use of the N-word." The WWE (by this time renamed from WWF) promptly terminated his contract and wiped him from its Hall of Fame. But "the punishment didn't last long," and he was reinstated in 2018.