Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Dead At 71
Hulk Hogan, the man who redefined professional wrestling and ushered it into its modern era, has passed away at the age of 71.
Hogan, whose real name was Terry Gene Bollea, was found dead inside his home in Clearwater, Florida, on the morning of July 24th, 2025.
He apparently died of cardiac arrest.
According to TMZ, first responders arrived at Hogan’s home after receiving a call about a cardiac arrest event, and Hogan was seen being wheeled out of the home on a stretcher and into a waiting ambulance.
The news follows several weeks of unverified rumors about Hogan’s declining health.
Hogan was born in Georgia but was forever associated with Florida.
Hogan was born in Augusta, Georgia in 1953, and the family soon moved to Port Tampa, Florida. In his early life, Hogan played various sports and became a fan of professional wrestling – but his early ventures mostly revolved around music.
Later, two notable wrestlers – the brothers Jack and Gerald Brisco – saw Hogan, and impressed with his muscular stature, began training him.
It didn’t take long for Hogan to become a star.
Following stints in various wrestling promotions (along with a short early World Wrestling Federation run), Hogan became a full-time WWF wrestler in 1983.
It was there that he developed his iconic character, complete with bleached-blond hair, red and yellow ring attire, and his fan-favorite “babyface” persona.
Hulkamania fuelled professional wrestling.
Thanks in large part to Hogan’s appeal and charisma, the WWF exploded in popularity in the mid-’80s, putting competing wrestling promotions out of business and reaching a previously unseen level of mainstream appeal.
Hogan parlayed his fame into various movie roles, and by the end of the ’80s, he was one of the most recognizable people on the planet.
The early ’90s brought setbacks.
As the WWF experienced a lull in popularity in the early ’90s, Hogan found himself embroiled in a scandal over performance-enhancing substances.
In an effort to distance himself from the scandal, Hogan stepped away from the WWF and pursued a full-time Hollywood career – a time that yielded mostly box office flops.
He experienced a rebirth with WCW.
In 1994, Hogan signed with WWF’s chief rival, World Championship Wrestling, for a hefty sum. It was there that he changed characters and became a villain for the first time in his career as the leader of the WCW’s New World Order faction.
Hogan – rechristened “Hollywood” Hogan – helped the promotion gain ground and even surpass the WWF for a time in terms of ratings, before the WCW eventually fell apart in the early 2000s.
His wrestling journey continued.
By the 2000s, Hogan was in his 50s and was no longer a full-time wrestler. But after the dissolution of WCW, Hogan returned to the WWF (now known as WWE) in 2002.
He also spent time with promotions in North America and Japan, in appearances that would continue into the 2020s.
His life was marked by scandal.
In 2015, a tape was leaked that not only captured Hogan in a compromising position with a woman, but also contained a racially-motivated tirade.
Once the recordings went public, WWE terminated its contract with Hogan – but they would later welcome him back into the fold.
He was a reality TV star.
Hogan married Linda Claridge in 1983 and the two had two children, Booke and Nick. The family appeared on the 2000s reality show Hogan Knows Best, which became a moderate success.
However, the family drama depicted on the show spilled over into real life, as Linda filed for divorce in 2007, saying she did so after discovering her husband’s infidelity.
In his later years, he experienced health issues.
Like many former pro wrestlers, Hogan was no stranger to physical pain. In 2013, he filed a medical malpractice suit against a medical firm, claiming that they’d caused him unnecessary pain with ineffective procedures to operate on his back.
In May of 2025, he underwent neck surgery, and in the months that followed, unverified rumors suggested that he was in poor health.
His death marks the end of an era.
Hulk Hogan’s wrestling heyday peaked in the ’80s, with another notable spike in the late ’90s, but his popularity persisted well into the 2020s – even despite frequent negative press.
While the wrestling icon leaves behind a mixed legacy, it’s hard to deny his legacy as one of the most charismatic and recognizable celebrities of the 20th century.
