Hulk Hogan lived long enough to become the villain

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Heel American

For professional wrestlers, 71 is old.

Any history of this carny pseudo-sport doubles as a logbook of people who died unexpectedly at extremely young ages. Macho Man Randy Savage died before he was 60. Andre the Giant never made it to 50. Only one of the five wrestling Von Erich brothers celebrated a birthday past 33. On that curve, Hulk Hogan lived a long, long life.

The man born Terry Bollea started wrestling at 24 and passed away on Thursday, old enough to collect a full Social Security benefit for five years. A career that long was more than kayfabe could bear. Hulkamania couldn’t hold out against the increasing amount of information fans knew about the real man behind Hogan. That’s how the wrestler who spent much of the ‘80s standing out as a real-life superhero and perennial world champion went to his grave reviled by the majority of wrestling fans.

Hogan was the face of the ascendant World Wrestling Federation and the right-hand man of its owner, the similarly disgraced Vince McMahon. He rode to superstardom on a gimmick that put forth a particularly American brand of inevitability. He was unable to be harmed because he was so beloved. He used that ability to pummel cartoonish villains from the USSR and the Middle East on his way to a heap of championship belts.

His in-ring schtick faltered first, with fans tiring of his predictable matches and limited technical abilities. Long before “Cena wins LOL” became a byword of dissatisfied wrestling audiences, Hogan’s rush to get to a running leg drop and end the match was leaving fans feeling ripped off.

Hogan’s tendency to side with management lost him the support of his coworkers in the WWE. Former Minnesota Gov. Jessie “The Body” Ventura claimed that Hogan sabotaged his attempts to unionize the notoriously underpaid gig workers who make up the ranks of sports entertainment. His theme song said he “fought for the rights of every man,” but to his fellow wrestlers, it looked like the only fight the Hulkster really cared about was muscling in for a larger cut of the gate.

It wasn’t until he’d been out of the ring for several years that the non-wrestling world turned on Hogan. That came after Hogan was caught on camera using racial slurs to describe his daughter’s then-partner. A leaked sex tape and subsequent lawsuit set the standard for burying adversarial media in the courts, souring the opinion of working journalists and internet news audiences alike. Hogan was removed from the WWE’s Hall of Fame. (Nothing is permanent in wrestling. He was later reinstated.)

Hogan didn’t have very far to fall in most fans’ esteem when he began supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump. The few remaining Hulkamaniacs buried their heads as Hogan tore his shirt onstage at the Republican National Convention. In his final appearance on a WWE program in January, Hogan was booed mercilessly.

Expecting Hogan to live up to a manufactured clean-cut image and his own “demandments” was a fool’s errand. As kids on the elementary school playgrounds across the country were quick to point out, wrestling isn’t real. Hulk Hogan isn’t real. The canonically well-endowed man flexing his “24-inch pythons” is a fiction.

Terry Bollea, unfortunately, was all too real. And he truly spoiled a great story.

What do you think? Will Hulk Hogan’s star only rise now that he’s not around to disappoint fans? Do you still hold Hogan in high regard despite his recent actions? Sound off in the comments, brother. 

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