WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.640 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:06.120 unpacking a legacy that is, I mean, without exaggeration, 00:00:06.139 --> 00:00:08.599 the definition of larger than life. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:12.080 And I have to say. Even though we're sitting 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:15.140 here in February 2026, so roughly seven months 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:18.539 after the news broke, it still feels a little 00:00:18.539 --> 00:00:20.760 surreal to be talking about him in the past tense. 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:23.399 It really does, because for so long he just felt 00:00:23.399 --> 00:00:26.219 invincible. Right. We are looking at the life, 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:29.780 the myth, and the incredibly complicated reality 00:00:29.780 --> 00:00:32.880 of Terry Jean Belay. Better known to you. And 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.619 the entire world, for better or worse, as Hulk 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:37.920 Hogan. Exactly. And I think for a lot of people, 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:41.439 the reaction to his death back in July 2025 was 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:45.060 this. This strange cocktail of nostalgia and, 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:47.119 I don't know, hesitation. Yeah, that's a good 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:48.960 word for it. Hesitation. Because you have the 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:51.039 yellow bandana, the real American theme song 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:52.799 that we all hummed as kids. But then you have 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:54.939 the massive lawsuits, the scandals, the family 00:00:54.939 --> 00:00:57.719 feuds. It's a lot for anyone to process. It is 00:00:57.719 --> 00:00:59.560 a lot. And that's really the mission of our deep 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:01.640 dive today. We aren't just reciting a biography 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:04.420 here for you. We want to understand the duality. 00:01:04.750 --> 00:01:07.629 There was the Hulk, the character who told you 00:01:07.629 --> 00:01:09.849 to eat your vitamins and say your prayers. And 00:01:09.849 --> 00:01:12.109 then there's Terry Belay, the man who had to 00:01:12.109 --> 00:01:14.950 live with the consequences of being that character 00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:17.849 24 -7. Which could have been easy. Not at all. 00:01:18.030 --> 00:01:21.069 And honestly, the story of how a bass player 00:01:21.069 --> 00:01:23.650 from Florida became the most recognized wrestler 00:01:23.650 --> 00:01:26.189 in history and then burned his own image to the 00:01:26.189 --> 00:01:29.049 ground to save his career is a fascinating study 00:01:29.049 --> 00:01:31.930 in brand management. Even if his personal life 00:01:31.930 --> 00:01:34.969 was, well, chaotic. I am so glad you brought 00:01:34.969 --> 00:01:37.209 up the bass player thing immediately. Because 00:01:37.209 --> 00:01:39.129 I feel like that always gets lost in the shuffle. 00:01:39.189 --> 00:01:41.150 Oh, completely. Before the leg drops and the 00:01:41.150 --> 00:01:43.560 bow is... Terry Belay wasn't looking to be a 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:46.099 wrestler at all. He was a musician. He was. And 00:01:46.099 --> 00:01:48.819 not just a casual strummer in his garage. He 00:01:48.819 --> 00:01:51.840 spent a decade playing fretless bass in rock 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.579 bands around the Tampa area. A decade? Yeah. 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:57.719 The most famous one was called Ruckus. And by 00:01:57.719 --> 00:01:59.519 all accounts, they were pretty popular locally. 00:01:59.579 --> 00:02:01.239 He actually dropped out of the University of 00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:03.340 South Florida because the music gigs were getting 00:02:03.340 --> 00:02:05.700 in the way of his studies. Imagine a timeline 00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:07.680 where he sticks with that. We might have known 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.949 him as Terry the Bassist. Right. But obviously 00:02:09.949 --> 00:02:12.590 you can't hide 24 inch pythons behind a bass 00:02:12.590 --> 00:02:15.110 guitar forever. Or a six foot seven, 300 plus 00:02:15.110 --> 00:02:17.530 pound frame. Exactly. That's the thing. He physically 00:02:17.530 --> 00:02:19.889 stood out in a way that was just impossible to 00:02:19.889 --> 00:02:23.810 ignore. Two famous wrestling brothers, Jack and 00:02:23.810 --> 00:02:26.530 Gerald Briscoe, saw him playing at a bar one 00:02:26.530 --> 00:02:28.569 night. Just playing a gig. Just playing a gig. 00:02:28.629 --> 00:02:30.569 They basically looked at him and said, you are 00:02:30.569 --> 00:02:32.830 wasting your time with the guitar. You need to 00:02:32.830 --> 00:02:35.430 be in the ring. And they sent him to Hiro Mitsuda. 00:02:35.610 --> 00:02:38.849 Now, I've read about this training. And it sounds 00:02:38.849 --> 00:02:41.969 less like a sports camp and more like a literal 00:02:41.969 --> 00:02:44.759 torture chamber. That is a very fair assessment. 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:47.120 You have to understand the context of the wrestling 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:50.199 business back then. This was the 70s. Kayfabe, 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:52.439 the illusion that wrestling is real competition, 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:55.319 was fiercely protected. They didn't want any 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:57.319 outsiders. Exactly. They didn't just let anyone 00:02:57.319 --> 00:03:01.139 walk in. Matsuda wanted to test Terry's toughness 00:03:01.139 --> 00:03:03.379 to see if he would expose the business or if 00:03:03.379 --> 00:03:05.939 he could handle it. So in their very first session, 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:09.900 Matsuda literally broke Hogan's leg. Broke it. 00:03:09.979 --> 00:03:12.479 Like, snapped the bone. Intentionally. Yeah. 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.300 On purpose. It was a gatekeeping mechanism. It 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:18.099 was brutal. But it was a test of, do you want 00:03:18.099 --> 00:03:20.379 this bad enough? Which is insane. Most people 00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:23.259 would have sued or quit right there. But Hogan 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:25.960 rehabbed for 10 weeks, healed up, and walked 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:28.819 right back into Mitsuda's gym. Wow. And that 00:03:28.819 --> 00:03:31.639 was the exact moment he earned their respect. 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:34.240 That is the kind of grit that gets overlooked, 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:37.479 I think, because of the cartoonish nature of 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:39.900 his later career. So he enters the business, 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:42.639 but the name Hulk didn't come from the wrestling 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:45.389 promoters initially, did it? No, surprisingly 00:03:45.389 --> 00:03:48.030 it didn't. He went through names like the Super 00:03:48.030 --> 00:03:50.710 Destroyer first. But the Hulk handle actually 00:03:50.710 --> 00:03:52.830 came from a talk show appearance he did with 00:03:52.830 --> 00:03:55.129 Lou Ferrigno. The original Incredible Hulk from 00:03:55.129 --> 00:03:57.050 TV. Right, they were sitting next to each other 00:03:57.050 --> 00:03:59.189 on the set, and the host pointed out that Terry 00:03:59.189 --> 00:04:02.310 actually dwarfed Ferrigno. He was physically 00:04:02.310 --> 00:04:04.870 bigger than the Hulk. That's hilarious. So the 00:04:04.870 --> 00:04:07.270 nickname The Hulk started sticking on the independent 00:04:07.270 --> 00:04:10.650 wrestling circuit. The Hogan part, however, that 00:04:10.650 --> 00:04:13.159 was Vince McMahon Sr. The father of the Vince 00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:15.539 we all know. Okay, why Hogan? Well, Vince Sr. 00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:17.819 wanted Terry to play an Irish character. Which 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:20.560 makes no sense because looking at him, tan skin, 00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:23.500 long blonde hair, he's about as Irish looking 00:04:23.500 --> 00:04:25.720 as a surfboard. Vince Sr. actually wanted him 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:28.879 to dye his hair red to sell the gimmick. Terry 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:32.220 refused. He famously quipped to Vince, I'll be 00:04:32.220 --> 00:04:35.360 a blonde Irishman, and thus Hulk Hogan was officially 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:40.310 born. So fast forward a bit to 1983. Vince McMahon 00:04:40.310 --> 00:04:44.189 Jr. takes over the WWF, which is now WWE. And 00:04:44.189 --> 00:04:47.389 he has this massive vision to take this regional 00:04:47.389 --> 00:04:50.430 carnival show and make it global. Yes. And he 00:04:50.430 --> 00:04:54.189 straps an absolute rocket to Hogan. This is the 00:04:54.189 --> 00:04:56.810 birth of Hulkamania. This is the moment professional 00:04:56.810 --> 00:04:59.970 wrestling changes forever. Hogan was the catalyst 00:04:59.970 --> 00:05:02.250 for all of it. Now, technical purists will tell 00:05:02.250 --> 00:05:04.449 you Hogan wasn't the best wrestler in terms of 00:05:04.449 --> 00:05:06.769 holds and throws. Sure. But he had a psychological 00:05:06.769 --> 00:05:09.410 formula that was completely unmatched. Oh, the 00:05:09.410 --> 00:05:12.310 formula. I know it by heart. Everyone knows it. 00:05:12.490 --> 00:05:15.050 Every single match followed the exact same script. 00:05:15.250 --> 00:05:17.170 Walk us through it. He takes a massive beating, 00:05:17.290 --> 00:05:19.470 looks like he's totally done for, and then the 00:05:19.470 --> 00:05:22.230 shake. The Hulk up. Yes. He'd start shaking, 00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:24.269 drawing energy from the crowd. Then he'd point 00:05:24.269 --> 00:05:27.139 the finger right at the opponent. You. Then throw 00:05:27.139 --> 00:05:29.300 three punches, the Irish whip into the ropes, 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:32.360 the big boot to the face, and finally the atomic 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:34.920 leg drop. It was pure theater. It was repetitive, 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:37.560 sure, but it was incredibly reliable. The fans 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:40.019 knew the cues, and the roof would blow off the 00:05:40.019 --> 00:05:42.579 arena every single time. And the branding was 00:05:42.579 --> 00:05:45.079 just genius. Yeah. The three demandments. Train, 00:05:45.379 --> 00:05:47.920 say your prayers, eat your vitamins. He later 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.079 added, believe in yourself. But those first three 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:53.680 were the absolute mantra of the 80s. It made 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:55.819 him a role model. He was safe for advertising. 00:05:56.040 --> 00:05:58.899 safe for kids. And the apex of this whole era 00:05:58.899 --> 00:06:03.509 has to be WrestleMania 3, 1987. Hogan versus 00:06:03.509 --> 00:06:05.910 Andre the Giant. Culturally, that was the absolute 00:06:05.910 --> 00:06:09.370 peak. They claim 93 ,000 people packed the Pontiac 00:06:09.370 --> 00:06:12.089 Silverdome for that. And Andre was billed as 00:06:12.089 --> 00:06:14.910 having been undefeated for 15 years. The irresistible 00:06:14.910 --> 00:06:17.110 force meeting the immovable object. Exactly. 00:06:17.110 --> 00:06:19.850 The narrative was perfect. And the visual of 00:06:19.850 --> 00:06:22.810 Hogan scooping up a 500 -pound giant and body 00:06:22.810 --> 00:06:24.730 slamming him in the middle of the ring. It's 00:06:24.730 --> 00:06:27.089 probably the most replayed clip in wrestling 00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:30.250 history. That slammed in just win a match. It 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:33.129 cemented wrestling as a mainstream pop culture 00:06:33.129 --> 00:06:35.870 juggernaut. Hogan was everywhere after that. 00:06:35.949 --> 00:06:38.250 Saturday morning cartoons, lunchboxes. Hosting 00:06:38.250 --> 00:06:40.889 SNL. The whole rock and wrestling connection 00:06:40.889 --> 00:06:44.129 with MTV. He was the bridge between mainstream 00:06:44.129 --> 00:06:46.889 pop culture and wrestling. But nothing lasts 00:06:46.889 --> 00:06:49.610 forever, especially not in pop culture. By the 00:06:49.610 --> 00:06:51.889 early 90s, the whole Eat Your Vitamins Act was 00:06:51.889 --> 00:06:54.350 getting a little stale. Grunge was coming in. 00:06:54.430 --> 00:06:56.850 The world was getting more cynical. The Shiny 00:06:56.850 --> 00:06:59.149 Superhero Act was definitely running on fumes. 00:06:59.329 --> 00:07:01.850 Plus, the federal government was investigating 00:07:01.850 --> 00:07:04.670 the WWF for steroid distribution at the time. 00:07:04.730 --> 00:07:07.689 Right, the trial. Hogan had to testify in 1994, 00:07:08.069 --> 00:07:10.790 and he admitted under oath that he'd used steroids 00:07:10.790 --> 00:07:14.120 since 1970. Though he did help clear McMahon 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:16.459 in that trial. Still, that really tarnished the 00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:19.000 halo for the public. He looked like a hypocrite. 00:07:19.060 --> 00:07:22.660 It did. So he left the WWF and jumped ship to 00:07:22.660 --> 00:07:26.199 their rival, WCW, in 1994. They actually had 00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:28.560 a whole ceremony for him at Disney MGM Studios. 00:07:29.060 --> 00:07:31.120 And this is where the business side of things 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:33.379 gets really interesting. Yeah. Because he didn't 00:07:33.379 --> 00:07:36.360 just jump ship for a bigger salary. The contract 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:39.019 structure he got was revolutionary. It changed 00:07:39.019 --> 00:07:41.699 the entire industry. He negotiated for a massive 00:07:41.699 --> 00:07:44.279 guaranteed salary, yes. But more importantly, 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:47.459 he got creative control. Which is huge. Unprecedented. 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:50.220 He could dictate his own storylines. He could 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:53.019 decide who he won or lost against. That gave 00:07:53.019 --> 00:07:55.060 him a level of power that would become a real... 00:07:55.050 --> 00:07:57.610 double -edged sword later on right and initially 00:07:57.610 --> 00:08:01.029 at WCW he tried to do the same old red and yellow 00:08:01.029 --> 00:08:03.509 hero act and the fans actually started booing 00:08:03.509 --> 00:08:05.269 him they were just tired of it they were completely 00:08:05.269 --> 00:08:09.089 over us and that leads us directly to 1996 bash 00:08:09.089 --> 00:08:11.949 at the beach oh man this single most shocking 00:08:11.949 --> 00:08:14.430 moment in the history of the industry you really 00:08:14.430 --> 00:08:16.470 have to understand for over a decade Hulk Hogan 00:08:16.470 --> 00:08:19.430 was the ultimate good guy he was Superman and 00:08:19.430 --> 00:08:22.029 then Superman walks out to the ring seemingly 00:08:22.029 --> 00:08:24.850 to save his friends, and drops the leg on Randy 00:08:24.850 --> 00:08:27.990 Savage instead. The crowd reaction was insane. 00:08:28.310 --> 00:08:30.709 The trash hitting the ring creates this incredible, 00:08:30.889 --> 00:08:34.169 chaotic, visual mess. He grabs the microphone, 00:08:34.409 --> 00:08:36.909 tells the fans they can stick it, and forms the 00:08:36.909 --> 00:08:41.070 New World Order. The N -WO. He completely rebrands. 00:08:41.090 --> 00:08:43.610 Trades the yellow bandana for black stubble and 00:08:43.610 --> 00:08:46.809 spray paint. He becomes Hollywood Hogan. It is 00:08:46.809 --> 00:08:49.230 arguably one of the greatest pivots in entertainment 00:08:49.230 --> 00:08:52.200 history. He took all that accumulated goodwill 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:55.019 and weaponized it to become the biggest villain 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:57.720 in the game. It saved his career, and it saved 00:08:57.720 --> 00:09:00.299 WCW. It sparked the Monday Night Wars, where 00:09:00.299 --> 00:09:03.220 WCW actually beat WWE in the ratings for nearly 00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:05.700 two years straight. Just by making him the bad 00:09:05.700 --> 00:09:07.879 guy. It proved that Terry Boulay understood the 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:09.879 business of wrestling better than anyone else. 00:09:10.019 --> 00:09:12.460 He knew exactly when to destroy his own creation 00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:15.240 to build something new. But as we move into the 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:18.620 2000s and 2010s... The Hollywood persona wasn't 00:09:18.620 --> 00:09:21.179 the only time he courted controversy. We have 00:09:21.179 --> 00:09:23.200 to talk about the reality of his later years. 00:09:23.340 --> 00:09:25.159 Yeah. Because the line between the character 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:28.179 and the man started to get really blurry and 00:09:28.179 --> 00:09:31.159 honestly really dark. This is the difficult part 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:33.980 of the legacy to unpack. The post -wrestling 00:09:33.980 --> 00:09:36.799 life was largely defined by litigation and scandal. 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:39.500 The biggest one, of course, being the Gawker 00:09:39.500 --> 00:09:43.279 lawsuit in 2012. A sex tape. Right. A tape was 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:46.360 leaked of Hogan with Heather Clem, who was the 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:48.879 wife of his best friend at the time, the radio 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:51.700 shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge. Gawker Media 00:09:51.700 --> 00:09:54.379 published a clip of it. They did. And Hogan sued 00:09:54.379 --> 00:09:56.960 Gawker for invasion of privacy. But this wasn't 00:09:56.960 --> 00:09:59.850 just a celebrity suing a tabloid. There was a 00:09:59.850 --> 00:10:02.769 massive hidden force behind this lawsuit. Exactly. 00:10:02.909 --> 00:10:05.509 It turned out the lawsuit was secretly financed 00:10:05.509 --> 00:10:08.210 by Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire. 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:12.120 Gawker had outed Thiel years prior, and he held 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:14.720 a serious grudge. So he used Hogan's case as 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.539 a proxy war. To completely destroy Gawker. And 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:20.200 it worked. It worked flawlessly for them. The 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:24.480 jury awarded Hogan $115 million in 2016, which 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:27.379 they later settled for $31 million. It completely 00:10:27.379 --> 00:10:30.419 bankrupted Gawker. It was a huge landmark case 00:10:30.419 --> 00:10:32.820 regarding privacy versus freedom of the press. 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:36.600 It was. However, the lawsuit also opened a Pandora's 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:39.580 box for Hogan. Because during the discovery phase 00:10:39.580 --> 00:10:42.740 of that trial, other capes came out. And these 00:10:42.740 --> 00:10:44.799 contained something much worse for his public 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:47.950 image. This was the racism scandal. There was 00:10:47.950 --> 00:10:51.110 leaked audio of Hogan using the N -word repeatedly, 00:10:51.690 --> 00:10:54.330 specifically complaining about his daughter Brooke's 00:10:54.330 --> 00:10:57.269 dating life. He even admitted on the tape to 00:10:57.269 --> 00:11:00.049 being a racist to a point. The fallout from that 00:11:00.049 --> 00:11:03.490 was swift. I remember WWE reacting almost instantly 00:11:03.490 --> 00:11:05.350 when that leaked. They really had no choice. 00:11:05.389 --> 00:11:08.289 They fired him in 2015. They scrubbed him completely 00:11:08.289 --> 00:11:10.710 from their website and the Hall of Fame, removed 00:11:10.710 --> 00:11:13.289 all his merchandise. They basically tried to 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:15.500 erase him from their history overnight. A massive 00:11:15.500 --> 00:11:18.080 fall from grace for a guy who was once the face 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:20.320 of the entire company. Without a doubt. Now, 00:11:20.379 --> 00:11:22.279 he did eventually get reinstated to the Hall 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:25.820 of Fame in 2018, but the reception felt uneasy. 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:28.919 It was very mixed. He made a public apology, 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:31.940 blaming his upbringing in South Tampa for the 00:11:31.940 --> 00:11:34.039 language, but a lot of black wrestlers weren't 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:36.539 buying it. You had guys like Mark Henry in the 00:11:36.539 --> 00:11:39.080 New Day publicly saying the apology felt like 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:41.220 he was just sorry he got caught. On the other 00:11:41.220 --> 00:11:43.279 hand, you had wrestlers like Dennis Rodman and 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:46.399 Booker T supporting him. But that stain never 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:49.600 really washed off his legacy. You know, amidst 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:52.659 all the heavy, dark stuff, there is a weirdly 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:56.720 humorous side to Hogan's relationship with the 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.860 truth. The guy was a master of the tall tale. 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:03.379 And I don't mean in the ring. I mean in verifiable 00:12:03.379 --> 00:12:06.019 reality. Oh, he was a self -mythologizer of the 00:12:06.019 --> 00:12:08.360 highest order. He lived the gimmick full time. 00:12:08.580 --> 00:12:10.820 My favorite is the Metallica story. Where he 00:12:10.820 --> 00:12:12.899 claimed Metallica asked him to play bass for 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:15.419 them. Yes. And the Rolling Stones. He claimed 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:17.759 multiple times in interviews that he almost joined 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:21.559 Metallica. And both James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:23.500 have gone on record saying, we have no idea what 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:25.299 he's talking about. Just totally fabricated. 00:12:25.419 --> 00:12:27.799 He also claimed Elvis Presley was a huge fan 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:29.799 and came to watch him wrestle. Which is impossible. 00:12:30.220 --> 00:12:33.840 The problem is Elvis died in 1977. Hogan was 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:36.580 an absolute nobody wrestling in local armories 00:12:36.580 --> 00:12:39.879 in 77. He also said he was offered the lead role 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:42.659 in the movie The Wrestler. The one Mickey Rourke 00:12:42.659 --> 00:12:45.179 eventually did and got nominated for an Oscar 00:12:45.179 --> 00:12:47.919 for. Right. And the director, Darren Aronofsky, 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:50.360 flat out said Hogan was never even considered 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:54.419 for the part. But that was Hogan. He blurred 00:12:54.419 --> 00:12:56.620 reality so much he might have actually believed 00:12:56.620 --> 00:12:58.679 some of these things himself. And we can't forget 00:12:58.679 --> 00:13:01.279 his business ventures. Before he got into politics 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:04.919 and endorsed Trump in 2024, he endorsed pasta. 00:13:05.379 --> 00:13:10.529 Pasta mania. Mall of America, 1995. It lasted 00:13:10.529 --> 00:13:13.210 less than a single year. They had dishes called 00:13:13.210 --> 00:13:16.029 Hulk Hughes and Hulkaroos. And the Thunder Mixer. 00:13:16.090 --> 00:13:17.990 And let's not forget the Hulk Hogan Ultimate 00:13:17.990 --> 00:13:20.529 Grill. He famously claimed he missed a phone 00:13:20.529 --> 00:13:22.710 call for what became the George Foreman Grill 00:13:22.710 --> 00:13:25.289 and got stuck with his own version instead. Which 00:13:25.289 --> 00:13:27.149 was eventually recalled because it was a fire 00:13:27.149 --> 00:13:30.250 hazard. It's funny, but it also paints a picture 00:13:30.250 --> 00:13:32.820 of a guy who was always hustling. Always trying 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:35.340 to catch the next wave. He had shifting political 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:39.019 endorsements, too, right? Obama in 2008, Romney 00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:41.860 in 2012. And then he actually spoke at the RNC 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:44.379 for Trump in 2024, shortly before his death. 00:13:44.539 --> 00:13:46.700 Always looking for the spotlight. But by 2024, 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:49.779 the hustle was slowing down. The physical toll 00:13:49.779 --> 00:13:52.639 of his career was finally catching up. We joked 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:54.360 about the atomic leg drop earlier, but think 00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:56.899 about the actual physics of that move. A 300 00:13:56.899 --> 00:14:00.419 -pound man jumping up and landing directly on 00:14:00.419 --> 00:14:02.600 his tailbone on a mat that is essentially just 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:05.120 a thin layer of padding over plywood and steel. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:08.080 Yeah. And he did that almost every single night 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:11.600 for 30 years. It just wrecked his body. Completely 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:14.399 wrecked him. He had over 25 surgeries in his 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.500 later years. Knees, hips, back. His spine had 00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:19.919 to be fused. He paid a horrific physical price 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:24.080 for that fame. And then in May 2025, just a couple 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:25.379 of months before he died, there was that neck 00:14:25.379 --> 00:14:28.110 surgery. That really was the tipping point. He 00:14:28.110 --> 00:14:30.190 had another fusion procedure and something went 00:14:30.190 --> 00:14:33.009 wrong during the surgery. The phrenic nerve was 00:14:33.009 --> 00:14:34.970 severed. And that's the nerve that controls the 00:14:34.970 --> 00:14:37.850 diaphragm. Right. So it severely impacted his 00:14:37.850 --> 00:14:41.159 ability to breathe. Friends of his, like Jimmy 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:43.899 Hart and Eric Bischoff, noted that he started 00:14:43.899 --> 00:14:46.200 isolating himself after that to prevent infection. 00:14:46.539 --> 00:14:48.539 And probably out of pride too. He was embarrassed. 00:14:48.779 --> 00:14:51.379 He went from being this global symbol of physical 00:14:51.379 --> 00:14:54.279 perfection and strength to being very frail, 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:57.600 needing a cane, struggling just for air. He really 00:14:57.600 --> 00:14:59.500 didn't want the fans to see him that way. And 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:03.200 then came July 24th. 2025. He was at his home 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.860 in Clearwater doing physical therapy, and he 00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:08.240 just collapsed. Right. The cause of death was 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:10.720 a heart attack and acute myocardial infarction. 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:13.500 But his medical records showed he was also dealing 00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:16.220 with chronic leukemia and atrial fibrillation 00:15:16.220 --> 00:15:18.419 at the time. The engine just gave out. He was 00:15:18.419 --> 00:15:22.000 71. The funeral was held in August, and it was 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:24.639 a who's who of wrestling. Vince McMahon, Ric 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:27.919 Flair, Kid Rock was there. But we have to talk 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:29.820 about who wasn't there. His daughter, Brooke. 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:33.559 That family dynamic. It played out on reality 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:36.480 TV for the world to see, with Hogan Knows Best, 00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:39.860 but the reality at the end was so much sadder 00:15:39.860 --> 00:15:42.519 than the show. It was incredibly tragic. His 00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:45.279 personal life was very messy. He had a very public 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.879 divorce from his first wife, Linda, in 2009, 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:50.659 where their assets were split. Then a second 00:15:50.659 --> 00:15:53.320 marriage to Jennifer McDaniel, which ended in 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:56.460 divorce in 2021. And then he married Sky Daly 00:15:56.460 --> 00:15:59.539 in 2023. Right. And this is where the estrangement 00:15:59.539 --> 00:16:01.759 with Brooke really solidified. Because reports 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:04.919 say Sky Daly's family were Scientologists. That's 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:07.860 what was widely reported. Brooke publicly distanced 00:16:07.860 --> 00:16:09.799 herself from her father, citing the influence 00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:11.480 of the church and her fear of their litigious 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:14.320 nature. She was completely estranged from him 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.299 for the last two years of his life. And the most 00:16:16.299 --> 00:16:18.120 heartbreaking detail came out after he passed 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:21.259 away. The grandchildren. Brooke had twins in 00:16:21.259 --> 00:16:25.500 January of 2025. So Hulk Hogan, the man who built 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:27.779 his empire on telling kids to say their prayers 00:16:27.779 --> 00:16:29.820 and eat their vitamins, who was a hero to millions 00:16:29.820 --> 00:16:32.360 of children, never actually met his own grandchildren. 00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:36.210 That is just gut wrenching. And his will. really 00:16:36.210 --> 00:16:38.970 didn't help matters or offer any closure. No, 00:16:39.070 --> 00:16:40.950 it didn't. Despite Skye being his wife at the 00:16:40.950 --> 00:16:43.289 time of his death, his son, Nick Hogan, was named 00:16:43.289 --> 00:16:46.429 the sole beneficiary of his entire estate. It 00:16:46.429 --> 00:16:48.950 really highlights just how deeply fractured those 00:16:48.950 --> 00:16:51.309 family relationships had become by the very end. 00:16:51.529 --> 00:16:54.970 So here we are. It's 2026. The dust has settled 00:16:54.970 --> 00:16:57.830 a bit since his passing. How do we sum up the 00:16:57.830 --> 00:17:00.549 legacy of Hulk Hogan? It's the ultimate yes, 00:17:00.610 --> 00:17:03.549 but legacy. Did he sell more tickets than anyone 00:17:03.549 --> 00:17:07.170 else in history? Yes. Did he define the 1980s 00:17:07.170 --> 00:17:10.210 wrestling boom? Yes. Did he reinvent the industry 00:17:10.210 --> 00:17:12.809 all over again in the 90s with the NWO? Yes. 00:17:13.109 --> 00:17:15.869 But you can't erase the racism scandal. You can't 00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:18.329 erase the backstage politics where he constantly 00:17:18.329 --> 00:17:20.509 refused to lose to younger talent to protect 00:17:20.509 --> 00:17:23.069 his own top spot. You can't erase the endless 00:17:23.069 --> 00:17:25.289 lies and tall tales. It feels like you just can't 00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:26.869 separate the artist from the art because the 00:17:26.869 --> 00:17:29.549 art was him. Exactly. He was the most important 00:17:29.549 --> 00:17:31.309 figure in the history of professional wrestling. 00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:33.619 full stop. But he was also a deeply flawed human 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:36.359 being who perhaps got totally lost in his own 00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:39.099 reflection. You know, there's one detail that 00:17:39.099 --> 00:17:41.500 I think perfectly captures that confusion between 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:43.400 the man and the myth. It's actually from that 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:45.240 Gawker trial we mentioned earlier. Oh, I know 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:46.740 exactly what you're going to say. It is the most 00:17:46.740 --> 00:17:49.819 surreal moment in legal history. He was on the 00:17:49.819 --> 00:17:53.539 stand under oath having to discuss, let's say, 00:17:53.619 --> 00:17:56.539 intimate physical dimensions because of the tape. 00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:59.720 Right. And he actually argued to the judge. that 00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:02.720 Hulk Hogan, the character, had a large appendage. 00:18:02.940 --> 00:18:05.440 But Terry Bully, the man sitting on the stand, 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:08.539 did not. That is the perfect encapsulation of 00:18:08.539 --> 00:18:11.599 his entire life. In a court of law under oath, 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:13.660 he tried to argue that his character's anatomy 00:18:13.660 --> 00:18:16.460 was legally distinct from his own physical body. 00:18:16.579 --> 00:18:19.140 It's unbelievable. He lived his entire life blurring 00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:22.160 the line between reality and kayfabe. And in 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:24.460 the end, I'm not sure even he knew where Terry 00:18:24.460 --> 00:18:27.099 ended and the Hulk began. That is definitely 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:29.160 a provocative thought for you to chew on as we 00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:32.220 wrap this up. A man so completely consumed by 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:35.559 his own creation that the lines just banished. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:38.000 Thanks for joining us on this deep dive into 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:40.059 the incredibly complicated life of the Hulkster. 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:41.759 Always a pleasure to be here. We'll catch you 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:42.220 all next time.