Terry Gene Bollea, better known to the world as the mustard mustached pro wrestler Hulk Hogan, died in his home of cardiac arrest at the age of 71, TMZ reports.
The WWE star helped turn the sport into a TV goldmine during the 80s and 90s, and served as a mascot for wrestling’s longstanding forays into gaming, including in arcades and home consoles like the NES with WWF WrestleMania. He was unable to quit wrestling, or at least it was unable to quit him, and he returned to the WWE after leaving five separate times.
Hogan’s name was briefly scrubbed from the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015 after his past use of the n-word. “I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs,” he said at the time after resigning amid the scandal.
He and his title were brought back to WWE in 2018, however, and he’d been lumbering around the ring ever since, including a January 6 Raw appearance where he was repeatedly booed by the crowd.
Outside the ring he was best known for appearing in Rocky III, the reality TV show Hogan Knows Best, and making a sex tape whose publication would later become the grounds for an extended legal battle funded by Peter Thiel that began in 2013 and concluded in 2016 with the bankruptcy of Kotaku’s original parent company Gawker.
Most recently, Hulk Hogan returned to the limelight to campaign for Donald Trump’s reelection, even receiving a primetime speaking slot at the 2024 Republican Convention in which he awkwardly struggled to rip his shirt off as he railed against out of control crime and border crossings, and called for America to start “winning again.”
One person who won’t be winning any more is the Hulkster himself. RIP brother.
Correction 7/25/2025 9:25 a.m. ET: Bollea did not appear in Rocky 2.
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