Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are
unpacking a legacy that is, I mean, without exaggeration,
the definition of larger than life. Oh, absolutely.
And I have to say. Even though we're sitting
here in February 2026, so roughly seven months
after the news broke, it still feels a little
surreal to be talking about him in the past tense.
It really does, because for so long he just felt
invincible. Right. We are looking at the life,
the myth, and the incredibly complicated reality
of Terry Jean Belay. Better known to you. And
the entire world, for better or worse, as Hulk
Hogan. Exactly. And I think for a lot of people,
the reaction to his death back in July 2025 was
this. This strange cocktail of nostalgia and,
I don't know, hesitation. Yeah, that's a good
word for it. Hesitation. Because you have the
yellow bandana, the real American theme song
that we all hummed as kids. But then you have
the massive lawsuits, the scandals, the family
feuds. It's a lot for anyone to process. It is
a lot. And that's really the mission of our deep
dive today. We aren't just reciting a biography
here for you. We want to understand the duality.
There was the Hulk, the character who told you
to eat your vitamins and say your prayers. And
then there's Terry Belay, the man who had to
live with the consequences of being that character
24 -7. Which could have been easy. Not at all.
And honestly, the story of how a bass player
from Florida became the most recognized wrestler
in history and then burned his own image to the
ground to save his career is a fascinating study
in brand management. Even if his personal life
was, well, chaotic. I am so glad you brought
up the bass player thing immediately. Because
I feel like that always gets lost in the shuffle.
Oh, completely. Before the leg drops and the
bow is... Terry Belay wasn't looking to be a
wrestler at all. He was a musician. He was. And
not just a casual strummer in his garage. He
spent a decade playing fretless bass in rock
bands around the Tampa area. A decade? Yeah.
The most famous one was called Ruckus. And by
all accounts, they were pretty popular locally.
He actually dropped out of the University of
South Florida because the music gigs were getting
in the way of his studies. Imagine a timeline
where he sticks with that. We might have known
him as Terry the Bassist. Right. But obviously
you can't hide 24 inch pythons behind a bass
guitar forever. Or a six foot seven, 300 plus
pound frame. Exactly. That's the thing. He physically
stood out in a way that was just impossible to
ignore. Two famous wrestling brothers, Jack and
Gerald Briscoe, saw him playing at a bar one
night. Just playing a gig. Just playing a gig.
They basically looked at him and said, you are
wasting your time with the guitar. You need to
be in the ring. And they sent him to Hiro Mitsuda.
Now, I've read about this training. And it sounds
less like a sports camp and more like a literal
torture chamber. That is a very fair assessment.
You have to understand the context of the wrestling
business back then. This was the 70s. Kayfabe,
the illusion that wrestling is real competition,
was fiercely protected. They didn't want any
outsiders. Exactly. They didn't just let anyone
walk in. Matsuda wanted to test Terry's toughness
to see if he would expose the business or if
he could handle it. So in their very first session,
Matsuda literally broke Hogan's leg. Broke it.
Like, snapped the bone. Intentionally. Yeah.
On purpose. It was a gatekeeping mechanism. It
was brutal. But it was a test of, do you want
this bad enough? Which is insane. Most people
would have sued or quit right there. But Hogan
rehabbed for 10 weeks, healed up, and walked
right back into Mitsuda's gym. Wow. And that
was the exact moment he earned their respect.
That is the kind of grit that gets overlooked,
I think, because of the cartoonish nature of
his later career. So he enters the business,
but the name Hulk didn't come from the wrestling
promoters initially, did it? No, surprisingly
it didn't. He went through names like the Super
Destroyer first. But the Hulk handle actually
came from a talk show appearance he did with
Lou Ferrigno. The original Incredible Hulk from
TV. Right, they were sitting next to each other
on the set, and the host pointed out that Terry
actually dwarfed Ferrigno. He was physically
bigger than the Hulk. That's hilarious. So the
nickname The Hulk started sticking on the independent
wrestling circuit. The Hogan part, however, that
was Vince McMahon Sr. The father of the Vince
we all know. Okay, why Hogan? Well, Vince Sr.
wanted Terry to play an Irish character. Which
makes no sense because looking at him, tan skin,
long blonde hair, he's about as Irish looking
as a surfboard. Vince Sr. actually wanted him
to dye his hair red to sell the gimmick. Terry
refused. He famously quipped to Vince, I'll be
a blonde Irishman, and thus Hulk Hogan was officially
born. So fast forward a bit to 1983. Vince McMahon
Jr. takes over the WWF, which is now WWE. And
he has this massive vision to take this regional
carnival show and make it global. Yes. And he
straps an absolute rocket to Hogan. This is the
birth of Hulkamania. This is the moment professional
wrestling changes forever. Hogan was the catalyst
for all of it. Now, technical purists will tell
you Hogan wasn't the best wrestler in terms of
holds and throws. Sure. But he had a psychological
formula that was completely unmatched. Oh, the
formula. I know it by heart. Everyone knows it.
Every single match followed the exact same script.
Walk us through it. He takes a massive beating,
looks like he's totally done for, and then the
shake. The Hulk up. Yes. He'd start shaking,
drawing energy from the crowd. Then he'd point
the finger right at the opponent. You. Then throw
three punches, the Irish whip into the ropes,
the big boot to the face, and finally the atomic
leg drop. It was pure theater. It was repetitive,
sure, but it was incredibly reliable. The fans
knew the cues, and the roof would blow off the
arena every single time. And the branding was
just genius. Yeah. The three demandments. Train,
say your prayers, eat your vitamins. He later
added, believe in yourself. But those first three
were the absolute mantra of the 80s. It made
him a role model. He was safe for advertising.
safe for kids. And the apex of this whole era
has to be WrestleMania 3, 1987. Hogan versus
Andre the Giant. Culturally, that was the absolute
peak. They claim 93 ,000 people packed the Pontiac
Silverdome for that. And Andre was billed as
having been undefeated for 15 years. The irresistible
force meeting the immovable object. Exactly.
The narrative was perfect. And the visual of
Hogan scooping up a 500 -pound giant and body
slamming him in the middle of the ring. It's
probably the most replayed clip in wrestling
history. That slammed in just win a match. It
cemented wrestling as a mainstream pop culture
juggernaut. Hogan was everywhere after that.
Saturday morning cartoons, lunchboxes. Hosting
SNL. The whole rock and wrestling connection
with MTV. He was the bridge between mainstream
pop culture and wrestling. But nothing lasts
forever, especially not in pop culture. By the
early 90s, the whole Eat Your Vitamins Act was
getting a little stale. Grunge was coming in.
The world was getting more cynical. The Shiny
Superhero Act was definitely running on fumes.
Plus, the federal government was investigating
the WWF for steroid distribution at the time.
Right, the trial. Hogan had to testify in 1994,
and he admitted under oath that he'd used steroids
since 1970. Though he did help clear McMahon
in that trial. Still, that really tarnished the
halo for the public. He looked like a hypocrite.
It did. So he left the WWF and jumped ship to
their rival, WCW, in 1994. They actually had
a whole ceremony for him at Disney MGM Studios.
And this is where the business side of things
gets really interesting. Yeah. Because he didn't
just jump ship for a bigger salary. The contract
structure he got was revolutionary. It changed
the entire industry. He negotiated for a massive
guaranteed salary, yes. But more importantly,
he got creative control. Which is huge. Unprecedented.
He could dictate his own storylines. He could
decide who he won or lost against. That gave
him a level of power that would become a real...
double -edged sword later on right and initially
at WCW he tried to do the same old red and yellow
hero act and the fans actually started booing
him they were just tired of it they were completely
over us and that leads us directly to 1996 bash
at the beach oh man this single most shocking
moment in the history of the industry you really
have to understand for over a decade Hulk Hogan
was the ultimate good guy he was Superman and
then Superman walks out to the ring seemingly
to save his friends, and drops the leg on Randy
Savage instead. The crowd reaction was insane.
The trash hitting the ring creates this incredible,
chaotic, visual mess. He grabs the microphone,
tells the fans they can stick it, and forms the
New World Order. The N -WO. He completely rebrands.
Trades the yellow bandana for black stubble and
spray paint. He becomes Hollywood Hogan. It is
arguably one of the greatest pivots in entertainment
history. He took all that accumulated goodwill
and weaponized it to become the biggest villain
in the game. It saved his career, and it saved
WCW. It sparked the Monday Night Wars, where
WCW actually beat WWE in the ratings for nearly
two years straight. Just by making him the bad
guy. It proved that Terry Boulay understood the
business of wrestling better than anyone else.
He knew exactly when to destroy his own creation
to build something new. But as we move into the
2000s and 2010s... The Hollywood persona wasn't
the only time he courted controversy. We have
to talk about the reality of his later years.
Yeah. Because the line between the character
and the man started to get really blurry and
honestly really dark. This is the difficult part
of the legacy to unpack. The post -wrestling
life was largely defined by litigation and scandal.
The biggest one, of course, being the Gawker
lawsuit in 2012. A sex tape. Right. A tape was
leaked of Hogan with Heather Clem, who was the
wife of his best friend at the time, the radio
shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge. Gawker Media
published a clip of it. They did. And Hogan sued
Gawker for invasion of privacy. But this wasn't
just a celebrity suing a tabloid. There was a
massive hidden force behind this lawsuit. Exactly.
It turned out the lawsuit was secretly financed
by Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire.
Gawker had outed Thiel years prior, and he held
a serious grudge. So he used Hogan's case as
a proxy war. To completely destroy Gawker. And
it worked. It worked flawlessly for them. The
jury awarded Hogan $115 million in 2016, which
they later settled for $31 million. It completely
bankrupted Gawker. It was a huge landmark case
regarding privacy versus freedom of the press.
It was. However, the lawsuit also opened a Pandora's
box for Hogan. Because during the discovery phase
of that trial, other capes came out. And these
contained something much worse for his public
image. This was the racism scandal. There was
leaked audio of Hogan using the N -word repeatedly,
specifically complaining about his daughter Brooke's
dating life. He even admitted on the tape to
being a racist to a point. The fallout from that
was swift. I remember WWE reacting almost instantly
when that leaked. They really had no choice.
They fired him in 2015. They scrubbed him completely
from their website and the Hall of Fame, removed
all his merchandise. They basically tried to
erase him from their history overnight. A massive
fall from grace for a guy who was once the face
of the entire company. Without a doubt. Now,
he did eventually get reinstated to the Hall
of Fame in 2018, but the reception felt uneasy.
It was very mixed. He made a public apology,
blaming his upbringing in South Tampa for the
language, but a lot of black wrestlers weren't
buying it. You had guys like Mark Henry in the
New Day publicly saying the apology felt like
he was just sorry he got caught. On the other
hand, you had wrestlers like Dennis Rodman and
Booker T supporting him. But that stain never
really washed off his legacy. You know, amidst
all the heavy, dark stuff, there is a weirdly
humorous side to Hogan's relationship with the
truth. The guy was a master of the tall tale.
And I don't mean in the ring. I mean in verifiable
reality. Oh, he was a self -mythologizer of the
highest order. He lived the gimmick full time.
My favorite is the Metallica story. Where he
claimed Metallica asked him to play bass for
them. Yes. And the Rolling Stones. He claimed
multiple times in interviews that he almost joined
Metallica. And both James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich
have gone on record saying, we have no idea what
he's talking about. Just totally fabricated.
He also claimed Elvis Presley was a huge fan
and came to watch him wrestle. Which is impossible.
The problem is Elvis died in 1977. Hogan was
an absolute nobody wrestling in local armories
in 77. He also said he was offered the lead role
in the movie The Wrestler. The one Mickey Rourke
eventually did and got nominated for an Oscar
for. Right. And the director, Darren Aronofsky,
flat out said Hogan was never even considered
for the part. But that was Hogan. He blurred
reality so much he might have actually believed
some of these things himself. And we can't forget
his business ventures. Before he got into politics
and endorsed Trump in 2024, he endorsed pasta.
Pasta mania. Mall of America, 1995. It lasted
less than a single year. They had dishes called
Hulk Hughes and Hulkaroos. And the Thunder Mixer.
And let's not forget the Hulk Hogan Ultimate
Grill. He famously claimed he missed a phone
call for what became the George Foreman Grill
and got stuck with his own version instead. Which
was eventually recalled because it was a fire
hazard. It's funny, but it also paints a picture
of a guy who was always hustling. Always trying
to catch the next wave. He had shifting political
endorsements, too, right? Obama in 2008, Romney
in 2012. And then he actually spoke at the RNC
for Trump in 2024, shortly before his death.
Always looking for the spotlight. But by 2024,
the hustle was slowing down. The physical toll
of his career was finally catching up. We joked
about the atomic leg drop earlier, but think
about the actual physics of that move. A 300
-pound man jumping up and landing directly on
his tailbone on a mat that is essentially just
a thin layer of padding over plywood and steel.
Yeah. And he did that almost every single night
for 30 years. It just wrecked his body. Completely
wrecked him. He had over 25 surgeries in his
later years. Knees, hips, back. His spine had
to be fused. He paid a horrific physical price
for that fame. And then in May 2025, just a couple
of months before he died, there was that neck
surgery. That really was the tipping point. He
had another fusion procedure and something went
wrong during the surgery. The phrenic nerve was
severed. And that's the nerve that controls the
diaphragm. Right. So it severely impacted his
ability to breathe. Friends of his, like Jimmy
Hart and Eric Bischoff, noted that he started
isolating himself after that to prevent infection.
And probably out of pride too. He was embarrassed.
He went from being this global symbol of physical
perfection and strength to being very frail,
needing a cane, struggling just for air. He really
didn't want the fans to see him that way. And
then came July 24th. 2025. He was at his home
in Clearwater doing physical therapy, and he
just collapsed. Right. The cause of death was
a heart attack and acute myocardial infarction.
But his medical records showed he was also dealing
with chronic leukemia and atrial fibrillation
at the time. The engine just gave out. He was
71. The funeral was held in August, and it was
a who's who of wrestling. Vince McMahon, Ric
Flair, Kid Rock was there. But we have to talk
about who wasn't there. His daughter, Brooke.
That family dynamic. It played out on reality
TV for the world to see, with Hogan Knows Best,
but the reality at the end was so much sadder
than the show. It was incredibly tragic. His
personal life was very messy. He had a very public
divorce from his first wife, Linda, in 2009,
where their assets were split. Then a second
marriage to Jennifer McDaniel, which ended in
divorce in 2021. And then he married Sky Daly
in 2023. Right. And this is where the estrangement
with Brooke really solidified. Because reports
say Sky Daly's family were Scientologists. That's
what was widely reported. Brooke publicly distanced
herself from her father, citing the influence
of the church and her fear of their litigious
nature. She was completely estranged from him
for the last two years of his life. And the most
heartbreaking detail came out after he passed
away. The grandchildren. Brooke had twins in
January of 2025. So Hulk Hogan, the man who built
his empire on telling kids to say their prayers
and eat their vitamins, who was a hero to millions
of children, never actually met his own grandchildren.
That is just gut wrenching. And his will. really
didn't help matters or offer any closure. No,
it didn't. Despite Skye being his wife at the
time of his death, his son, Nick Hogan, was named
the sole beneficiary of his entire estate. It
really highlights just how deeply fractured those
family relationships had become by the very end.
So here we are. It's 2026. The dust has settled
a bit since his passing. How do we sum up the
legacy of Hulk Hogan? It's the ultimate yes,
but legacy. Did he sell more tickets than anyone
else in history? Yes. Did he define the 1980s
wrestling boom? Yes. Did he reinvent the industry
all over again in the 90s with the NWO? Yes.
But you can't erase the racism scandal. You can't
erase the backstage politics where he constantly
refused to lose to younger talent to protect
his own top spot. You can't erase the endless
lies and tall tales. It feels like you just can't
separate the artist from the art because the
art was him. Exactly. He was the most important
figure in the history of professional wrestling.
full stop. But he was also a deeply flawed human
being who perhaps got totally lost in his own
reflection. You know, there's one detail that
I think perfectly captures that confusion between
the man and the myth. It's actually from that
Gawker trial we mentioned earlier. Oh, I know
exactly what you're going to say. It is the most
surreal moment in legal history. He was on the
stand under oath having to discuss, let's say,
intimate physical dimensions because of the tape.
Right. And he actually argued to the judge. that
Hulk Hogan, the character, had a large appendage.
But Terry Bully, the man sitting on the stand,
did not. That is the perfect encapsulation of
his entire life. In a court of law under oath,
he tried to argue that his character's anatomy
was legally distinct from his own physical body.
It's unbelievable. He lived his entire life blurring
the line between reality and kayfabe. And in
the end, I'm not sure even he knew where Terry
ended and the Hulk began. That is definitely
a provocative thought for you to chew on as we
wrap this up. A man so completely consumed by
his own creation that the lines just banished.
Thanks for joining us on this deep dive into
the incredibly complicated life of the Hulkster.
Always a pleasure to be here. We'll catch you
all next time.