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RIP Hulk Hogan
Published:
First Ozzy Osbourne, now the Hulkster:
Rough week to be a male human from the Gen Z or Millennial generations. Hulk Hogan, Terry Bolea, was the face of wrestling in the 80s and 90s.
Where do you even start? There was the Andre the Giant rivalry from the mid 80s, teaming up with the Macho Man Randy Savage, the steel cage match against the Big Bossman, and then Yokozuna at King of the Ring. The famous music and everything. “I am a real American!” He’d walk out and then rip his shirt off with both hands before cupping his ear and playing to all of the Hulkamaniacs in the crowd. The dude was on top of the world back then, basically an icon for all of the kids watching at home.
He moved to WCW in the mid 90s and that’s when the famous NWO happened. Hogan’s big heel turn. He was a face up until that point and then attacked the Macho Man on behalf of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, then he grew a beard and dyed it black and he was a bad guy for the first time ever. Then he split with Nash if I recall correctly and two NWO factions started beefing with each other. Really epic shit back then. You had to be there!
Hogan made a couple of WWE returns over the years, and he got into a lot of muddy stuff outside of the ring. There was the sex tape, Gawker lawsuit, political appearances and MAGA support, racial slurs, all sorts of controversy. I’m sure we’ll hear all about it in the coming days, but whatever you think of Hulk Hogan now, he was a big deal back in the day and one of the country’s top entertainers, a larger-than-life figure for many years.
RIP.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com