RIP Hulk Hogan

[odessasteps]

I said earlier in  way, it’s surprising Flair outlived Hogan, given all the health issues Flair has had in retirement. 

[Cobra Commander]

it's not really our business one way or another to know but it wouldn't shock me if there was a path from Hogan being in the hospital to a clot/embolism to his fatal heart attack (then again, also wouldn't be a surprise if Hogan's heart health was in bad shape to go along with his spinal/back issues but I don't know how much they check someone's heart/blood pressure/etc before spinal fusion surgery for the sake of figuring out if someone is at risk of dying on the table)

also, Hogan being taller than the average male is a bit of a risk factor for cardiovascular things, along with the health and substances and such

I guess Jake Roberts is almost an obligatory "person who ran up a ton of mileage who is still upright" guy who is a similar height to Hogan but also didn't use steroids to the same degree (by now, who would be the most prominent 80s/90s wrestler who didn't use steroids at least once?)

[Elsalvajeloco]

23 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

I said earlier in  way, it’s surprising Flair outlived Hogan, given all the health issues Flair has had in retirement. 

I mean kinda, but...

1) Once you survive a plane crash, it's all gravy from there.

2) Adding on to the above regarding his physical stature, I don't think anyone would have been surprised if Hogan's heart would have exploded sometime in the last 15-20 years. He survived when a lot of his contemporaries didn't cause their body just wouldn't hold up anymore.

[The Green Meanie]

7 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

I guess Jake Roberts is almost an obligatory "person who ran up a ton of mileage who is still upright"

Is Jake Roberts to the WWF/E as Steve-O is to  the Jackass crew? 

[supremebve]

3 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I mean kinda, but...

1) Once you survive a plane crash, it's all gravy from there.

2) Adding on to the above regarding his physical stature, I don't think anyone would have been surprised if Hogan's heart would have exploded sometime in the last 15-20 years. He survived when a lot of his contemporaries didn't cause their body just wouldn't hold up anymore.

Wasn't Flair also struck by lightning?

[zendragon]

2 hours ago, Lawful Metal said:

So what was Hogan’s best match?

I'd say v Harley Race on SNME, with the title win over Sheiky baby his second best 80's match, Him dropping the title to Luger might be his best 90's match and him v Rock best of the 2000s

[Cobra Commander]

it's possible I'm grading this on a curve but the Desert Storm match from June 1991 was a good 90s Hogan match

[Elsalvajeloco]

19 minutes ago, supremebve said:

Wasn't Flair also struck by lightning?

Yes, I believe it was called his first wife.

[Elsalvajeloco]

16 minutes ago, zendragon said:

I'd say v Harley Race on SNME, with the title win over Sheiky baby his second best 80's match, Him dropping the title to Luger might be his best 90's match and him v Rock best of the 2000s

The Luger match from the Nitro in Auburn Hills is my sentimental favorite just cause I remember watching that live and going absolutely crazy. Randy Anderson's performance as just the referee is five stars.

[zendragon]

1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

Someone said TMZ had a Ric Flair tearful mourning Hogan but also during it somehow decided to make sure everyone knew Ricky Steamboat was better than Hogan

Haven't found the video yet but that seems like a fitting Flair tribute

I read recently (don't remember which book it was) that George Scott wanted Ricky Steamboat to be the face of the WWF National Expansion not Hogan and that's why Vince showed him the door.

Speaking of Vince 

[Technico Support]

6 hours ago, SirSmUgly said:

No, a true bottom of the barrel comment is saying you hate black folks using the hard -er slur or hoping that your family isn't reincarnated as black folks after your son paralyzes a dude in a car crash.

Rest in Piss, Hulkster.

Lost in all the talk about his racism is the truly gross story of Nick’s drunk driving accident that turned his best friend into a vegetable.  I can never unsee the pic of that kid in his hospital bed with a softball sized dent where his forehead used to be.  Hogan, trying to cheer Nick up in jail, told his son it wasn’t his fault and that his vegetative friend must have been a bad person to deserve such a fate.  And @Joe vs the Algorithm this was recorded by the jail and leaked.  It happened.

5 hours ago, Joe vs the Algorithm said:

Yeah, it’s gross but not unexpected. lol, it’s early in the day. Check back later. The comments will probably be even more disgusting. I’m not a Hogan fan but I didn’t  know him so I don’t think it’s fair to judge him based on a few stories that are admittedly tough to defend. People change, stories in the press get exaggerated, no one is all bad or all good. etc. Even if I was feeling judgmental, I think most everyone deserves respect when they die. It’s not going to cost me anything to behave with some class and keep my personal dislikes to myself. Apparently, that”s asking too much of this group.

RiP Hogan. You entertained a lot of people and inspired a lot of kids.

 

 

Nobody is forcing you to be here among all us awful people.  

3 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I mean kinda, but...

1) Once you survive a plane crash, it's all gravy from there.

2) Adding on to the above regarding his physical stature, I don't think anyone would have been surprised if Hogan's heart would have exploded sometime in the last 15-20 years. He survived when a lot of his contemporaries didn't cause their body just wouldn't hold up anymore.

Alcohol is a preservative.

Edited July 25, 2025 by Technico Support

[DreamBroken]

I didn't take it that way but I guess it's possible.  The quote from Flair was "We had magic, it wasn't like me and Steamboat, but we had a chemistry that I felt like was equal to me and Steamboat but in a different way"

Both all time great pairings just in different ways.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

I firmly believe that people can change. I've known many people who could be considered "bad" who have reflected and grown and truly feel sorry for their past words, actions and beliefs. I would consider myself one of them. 

Based on Hulk's history,  I don't think he's one of them. So fuck him. And if you support the things he said or don't think they're that bad or exaggerated,  fuck you. 

[Cobra Commander]

yeah, Brooke is talking to TMZ within hours of his death that she hadn't talked to him in almost two years, so there was a certain amount of unresolved business with Hulk

[Contentious C]

There are people here who reflect my feelings and thoughts more or less to the letter.  They know who they are, and if they don't, they could probably figure it out from the tone of this comment.  That is all.

[zendragon]

[Teflon Turtle]

5 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Weirdly - Hogan was one of the first people that getting into tape trading changed my opinion on wrestling wise

I remember being stunned when finally seeing footage of stuff in Japan and the pre-Hulkamania work

Not commenting on the quality but just how different things were when not filtered through Vince's 80s lens

 

4 hours ago, Lawful Metal said:

So what was Hogan’s best match?

Addressing both of these, as each post is relevant to what I want to discuss. So, when I first starting getting into puroresu, my first purchases were Great Muta comps from Highspots (and I think an Ultimo Dragon comp...can't remember, that may have been later). 

Anyway...

Teenage Teflon seeing there was a Hulk Hogan match on one of the VHS tapes Highspots carried: "...What?"

Teenage Teflon getting his VHS tapes, sitting down and actually watching the match: "WHAT?!?"

I was genuinely shocked (and at the time, impressed) that Hogan could have any kind of match other than what I was familiar with in WWF and WCW. Which...yeah, I guess that's a backhanded compliment. But dude really had his working boots on when he went over there, and I enjoyed seeing another side of him in terms of what he could do in the ring. So while I haven't watched enough Hogan in the last 25 years to truly say it's his best match, my favorite match of his is Hogan vs. Great Muta in the Fukuoka Dome from Wrestling Dontaku 1993.

It served as an important lesson in a lot of ways: I learned about how wrestlers will play to their audience, and helped me understand how audiences for different promotions and/or in other countries likewise may value different things in their wrestling. The audiences will not necessarily respond identically or at the same volume. I learned that for better or worse, a wrestler may not always perform up to their in-ring potential due to those factors, combined with the tastes and demands of the booker or promoter. Not to mention the idea that if you can get by and make a ton of money doing less, a wrestler may opt for that despite being capable of more, as maybe they don't care as much about the "artistic" or "performance" side of pro-wrestling in the first place.

In Hogan's specific example: initially I felt ripped off that he didn't wrestle in the U.S. like he wrestled in Japan. Like, why is this world-famous dude holding out on us when more effort could make him even more popular? As I got a bit older, I started wondering whether 80s American wrestling audiences just would've been more confused or nonplussed at Hogan working how he did in Japan. My guess is the latter is probably closer to the truth. But as I type, I'm nagged by the thought that the guy who was the figurehead for an entire era of the business and had no small hand at influencing how pro-wrestling was done in America...maybe could've used that influence and fame to steer the ship in another direction. But he didn't. 

Without going over the well-trodden ground of his controversies, ego, or personal life: Hulk is going to have a very complicated legacy, but a legacy nonetheless. I think that's as nicely as I can really put it. 

Edited July 24, 2025 by Teflon Turtle

[WebConn89]

 

[The Natural]

5 hours ago, SirSmUgly said:

No, a true bottom of the barrel comment is saying you hate black folks using the hard -er slur or hoping that your family isn't reincarnated as black folks after your son paralyzes a dude in a car crash.

Rest in Piss, Hulkster.

This. Racist in Purgatory. Fk Hulk Hogan. He lived a life to get these kinds of reactions in death.

I'll stop now.

Edited July 24, 2025 by The Natural

[HumanChessgame]

I started watching wrestling as an 11 year old not long after Wrestlemania 8, so Hogan had just gone on hiatus and wasn't a factor in the first year of my fandom. He was a big enough pop culture name (I actually remember him from a few episodes of The A Team where he and BA supposedly served in Vietnam together) that I knew who he was, but I didn't give him much thought then. The Undertaker, Bret Hart, and Mr Perfect were my early favorites and the first time I remember seeing him back was at Wrestlemania 9. Even as a young mark, I thought it wasn't fair to Bret Hart that Hogan basically stepped in out of nowhere and won the world title. I will admit to enjoying some of the NWO's stuff before it wore out its welcome, but I can't recall ever going out of my way to watch something he did in the ring or have extensive memories of his work.

[Bustronaut]

54 minutes ago, zendragon said:

The man cannot stop himself from trying to get people on their knees

[zendragon]

8 minutes ago, HumanChessgame said:

I started watching wrestling as an 11 year old not long after Wrestlemania 8, so Hogan had just gone on hiatus and wasn't a factor in the first year of my fandom. He was a big enough pop culture name (I actually remember him from a few episodes of The A Team where he and BA supposedly served in Vietnam together) that I knew who he was, but I didn't give him much thought then. The Undertaker, Bret Hart, and Mr Perfect were my early favorites and the first time I remember seeing him back was at Wrestlemania 9. Even as a young mark, I thought it wasn't fair to Bret Hart that Hogan basically stepped in out of nowhere and won the world title. I will admit to enjoying some of the NWO's stuff before it wore out its welcome, but I can't recall ever going out of my way to watch something he did in the ring or have extensive memories of his work.

yhea, I was born in 83 so I missed out on pretty much the initial Hulkamania run due to being a babe in arms and my family not having cable until 96, so most of my real time memories are of him in the NWO

[RIPPA]

Regarding best matches

Schneider did a column for Yahoo about that topic 

 

[Stefanie Sassypants]

I have a hard time balancing "bigoted selfish asshole Hulk Hogan" with "endlessly charitable Hulk Hogan visiting hundreds of children's hospitals" in my head, because both existed within the same body. A cynical side of me says "well he did it for the publicity", but sick kids feeling something other than misery about their condition kind of beats out whatever I might have been thinking about the whys of the action.

Bad wrestler? Subjective. Who cares in the end. We'll all become dust someday, what does it matter how well someone can do an armlock?

I wish he had been a better person. I wish a lot of my heroes were better people though, so at least he's not alone in that respect.

I don't know.

[nate]

N/m I see it now 

Edited July 24, 2025 by nate