Hulk Hogan: Real American (2026) s01e04 Episode Script

[dramatic music playing]
[grunting]
[grunts]
[Werner Herzog] We all live
in manufactured realities.
[Hogan] I look in the mirror,
I go, "Who the hell's that?"
[Herzog] We all follow
some sort of script.
[interviewer] A little spritz?
I gotta look like we were working out
or something, you know?
[Herzog] All of us, in a way,
have a performative life.
As a father, uh, I am performative.
And in your own wedding,
you're performative.
And on and on and on.
And it's part of human nature,
of the human experience.
There's nothing wrong about it.
[Nick Hogan] All right. Three, two…
[growls]
You know something, maniacs?
I'm all pumped up
about Main Event karaoke tonight, brother.
I was walking down to meet you.
Three, two, one.
[Herzog] Well, in case of Hulk Hogan,
it would be interesting
to look into the performer
and into the real Hulk Hogan,
if he still exists.
You know something, Hulkamaniacs?
I was all pumped up
about Hogan's Main Event karaoke tonight,
8:00 p.m. at Hogan's Hangout.
When I was strolling down the beach
in my banana hammock earlier today,
they were posing out in the parking lot.
They were posing on the beach.
Does he live the illusion himself
of being this character?
But let me tell you something, brother.
Hulkamania's still running wild.
Now you know what it's all about, brother.
So, what you gonna do?
When all my locals start singing
and they tear the house down
just for you, brother?
[Nick] Sweet.
[Herzog] We have to know,
"Is there something authentic?"
Something real?
-Something truthful about it?
-Phew!
[Nick] That was harder than the workout.
Okay. We'll see you guys down the road.
I'll call you in just a little while.
How much has he adopted the role
of Hulk Hogan in his own private life?
-[interviewer] Do you know his real name?
-Hulk Hogan?
-[interviewer] Yeah.
-I don't even want to know his real name.
Keep it your secret.
[music fades]
[whooshing]
[man] It's an awesome shirt.
This thing's really smoking.
[doctor] Drop your head back, Terry. Good.
Drop it down. Excellent.
I'll turn up the electricity on this side,
just let me know when.
[Hogan] That…
That hip on that side hurts, doc.
[doctor] At this point in your career,
you've done so much, and here you are.
Just to get out there
you gotta go through this.
-[grunts]
-And yet you keep doing it.
You got to complete the circle, brother.
It's, uh…
The job's not done yet, man.
You gotta… You gotta make sure.
This is an art form that, uh,
if you love it, it's in your blood.
I didn't get a pair of boots
from Santa for Christmas, you know.
[Paul Levesque] Following WrestleMania X8,
Vince was back in love with Hulk Hogan.
It was like we're going to jump
back on the Hulk Hogan train.
And all of us were like, "No."
Like, "This is…" He got a nostalgia bump.
"This thing will be dead in three weeks."
[tense music playing]
[Hogan] I actually should've quit
back about '90.
I could've really ramped up
the movie stuff and the TV stuff.
But instead, I kept going back again, so…
[commentator] We can see Hogan
feeding off the people,
feeding off Hulkamania.
[cheering]
Twenty, you know, thousand people roaring.
[cheering]
There's nothing like that.
You're walking that tightrope.
[commentator]
Hogan feeding off the Hulkamaniacs.
[McMahon] This business
is so tough to leave.
[Hogan] You know,
they know I'm a step slower.
They know I'm on bonus time here,
and I love it.
And they respect that, you know.
I'm the last of a breed, you know.
And, uh, the respect they show me…
If I die, I hope I die out there.
[dramatic music playing]
[cheering]
Everybody says, "if you could do it
over again, would you?"
I would change one thing.
I started dropping the leg
when I was in Japan.
[commentator speaking in Japanese]
[Hogan] My arms used to be huge,
so why would you jump up and drop the leg
and land on your tailbone
every night for 40-plus years,
when you could use the sleeper hold
and not take any bumps?
[Booker T] One thing about this business,
no one leaves unscathed.
Every time Hulk Hogan did that leg drop,
compounding on his back, every time.
[commentator] Here is a leg drop!
[Booker T] Those little small things,
over years, add up.
I kind of, like, kept rolling, you know?
But I wouldn't have been like this now.
I would've been
like a normal 70-year-old guy,
that I could walk around
and wouldn't be limping.
[crowd cheering]
The back surgeries, the knee replacements,
shoulder replacements, hands, everything.
[Hogan] Supposed to get
three epidurals a year.
I was getting three a week.
[Hart] But, of course,
that's the price you pay.
It'd be different.
I'd be a completely different person.
[interviewer] You'd give up
the other stuff?
No.
Mm-hmm.
No.
-[interviewer] Yeah.
-Mm-hmm.
[David Shoemaker] When you look
at Hulk Hogan, he went an extra lap.
Hogan, at this stage in his career,
is incredibly limited.
He's old, uh, he's beat up.
[announcer] Shawn Michaels got the hooks
here on Hulk Hogan.
[Hogan] Shawn Michaels was making fun
of how old I was and how beat-up I was.
"Getting old, brother."
I got news for you.
I'll be 102 years old, brother,
by the time I step into the ring
at SummerSlam.
And then for SummerSlam,
he went and oversold to make it a joke.
-I'll show you.
-[grunts]
[Shoemaker] It's on Shawn
to make the match exciting.
[crowd cheering]
Even if you're a giant Hulk Hogan fan,
you start to wonder
what he's still doing there.
[Hogan] A year later,
I wrestled Randy Orton.
I had no idea that was gonna be
the last match in the WWE.
[sweeping music playing]
One, two, three!
[bell ringing]
[music fades]
[interviewer] You relied on your body
and performance for a long time.
Was that hard
to not be able to lean on that again?
Well, it's still hard, you know?
It's still hard
because you step back into the real world…
[Linda yawning] Hi.
Jeez, what a short night.
What did Santa Claus bring to you, huh?
[Hogan] What's up?
…you know, you have your highs
and your lows, and you have family issues.
And Linda was on her own there
for a long time.
That was his life.
He was out of the house
more than he was home.
I'd been gone so much,
my family,
my marriage was already pretty much
in shambles already, at that point.
[Linda] He'd just sit on the couch.
He liked to watch a lot of movies.
Just kind of quiet. He didn't like
to make a lot of conversation at dinner.
He really wasn't, like,
Mr. Personality at home anymore.
When you're a celebrity,
you belong to the public.
I'm like… [chuckling]
"Don't you have somewhere to be?"
We forgot cookies and milk.
We forgot Dad's present.
[Linda] Well, go get it.
[Nick] Dad got a Segway.
[Brooke laughing]
I woke up one day, and I was an old man.
Didn't even know it happened.
[Linda] I had missed the family unit.
The connection that me and Terry had.
I'd say, "Let's at least do something nice
as a family, with the kids."
Just have fun again.
Let's just do something as a family.
[Nick] Hi.
[Brooke] Look back at me, guys.
Or not.
And then one day, I got a call from VH1
about doing a reality show.
Linduce.
He called me Linduce,
which means "Little Linda."
We were all in the family room, he's like,
"Hey, I got a proposition for you guys."
"Do you guys wanna do a reality TV show?"
Of course the kids are like, "Yes!"
You know, because we saw The Osbournes
and Jessica Simpson,
and Brooke was all, you know, about that.
She's like, "Yeah, that would be cool!"
[Brooke] Oh my God, Mom. I'm going to cry.
[Linda] Uh-oh, she's beginning to tear.
That was a pretty exciting thing.
-[Brooke] Mom, where did you get this?
-It's so awesome.
[Linda] I think it was exciting for Terry.
Yeah!
[Linda] He wanted that platform.
I explained to Linda that my prayer was
that it would bring Linda and I together
on some form or another,
to have something in common,
where we could, you know, be excited
about something and move forward.
[grunts]
[playful music]
We're in business.
Fuck it, all right, I'm down with that.
Yeah, let's do it.
[Brooke] I can't believe my dad said yes.
I'm just praying to God.
Please don't let me wake up.
Please don't let it be a dream.
Brooke always wanted to be a singer.
She wanted to be the next Britney Spears.
[Linda] He was like, "They want
to make it like a stage-dad thing."
-Is that okay?
-That works for me.
Yay!
Hogan Knows Best.
To help Brooke with her singing career,
to help Nick establish himself, you know.
So he wouldn't have to be
called Nick Hogan, or Brooke Hogan.
They could be the Bolleas
and have their own career.
You know, I think Linda…
[Linda] Let's see,
let me work my camera here.
…always wanted to be in front
of the camera instead of behind.
Okay, cut.
[Brooke singing indistinctly]
[Hogan] I said,
"Some of the things that are gonna happen,
you'll be thrown into the celebrity world
if the show does good,
and life as you know it
will cease to exist."
[Linda] It's the calm before the storm.
Like he said, "Make sure you guys fully
are aware of what we're getting into."
And I said, "Hey, I'm down. Let's go."
[propulsive music playing]
[cockatoo] Uh-oh. Terry as Hulk!
[Hogan] Where is everybody?
Hogan Knows Best.
-She is really dangerous.
-Pull it out!
There was two months
of having black all over our windows
and people running through the house.
A big crew, like, 28 people in the crew.
Eventually, we took the kids out of school
because it was just too much time.
Oh ah oh ♪
["Video Killed the Radio Star" playing]
They took the credit
For your second symphony ♪
Rewritten by machine
On new technology… ♪
I realized, "Oh my God, I'm a celebrity."
I'm always used
to getting that with my dad.
[Linda] It's weird for him
to have gone through his whole life
being the icon that he has become.
-[burps]
-[Linda] It's happening for my kids.
People are asking me for my autograph.
We thought it was a really cool thing
for all of us to be a part of
because this was kind of the first thing
for us as a family to participate in.
Terry loved it. We all loved that show.
[grunting]
If Hulkamaniacs knew
I was getting my hair straightened
using a pink brush,
Hulkamania would be over.
…and it seems so long ago ♪
[Hogan] VH1 was very, very excited.
They were just stoked.
The numbers went through the roof.
Your show did phenomenally last season,
and now you're back
for a second season of Hogan…
[audience cheering]
Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star… ♪
[Hogan] I know it was a huge upside
to helping Brooke's music career.
[Linda] She was so close
to really making it.
We thought this would tip the scales
and really get her out there.
It didn't really do anything for Nick
except paint him in the corner
as a Dennis the Menace-type kid.
[Nick] They'd film me
doing these 12-year-old antics
when really I was, like, 16,
and I was going to, you know,
work on a car with my friends
or produce music.
[Hogan] If the day was a little slow,
"Hey, Nick,
go fill some water balloons up
and go throw them at people."
And next thing you know,
the cops grab Nick.
Look, dude, I busted my ass to get it,
so we could be comfortable around here,
and you're spending money like it's water.
-I love you. Thanks for doing good.
-All right. That was really nice of you.
[Hogan] It's tough as a parent
to see your kids grow up.
It seems like it was yesterday
when they were just hanging out
at the beach and pool with us
and drinking chocolate bottles.
I was working so much the last 15 years
I've missed the whole enchilada.
[Linda] They showed the soft side of Hulk.
He just has a good heart,
and I love that about him.
-And he was good with the kids like that.
-[grunting]
[laughs]
Are you listening?
No kissing. This is serious.
The really great stuff was the fact that,
"Oh my gosh, he's a father and a husband.
He's got problems with the wife."
-[Linda] What's up?
-[Hogan] "He's just like us."
I know what boys are thinking about,
and I was one.
And the boys' hormones are going crazy,
and all they can think about is sex.
[chuckles uncomfortably]
The audience changed.
They became a huge female demo
that was attracted to Hulk Hogan
because I was a father and a husband.
Is that a miniskirt?
-[Brooke] Yeah.
-[Hogan] Mm.
Think miniskirts are good
to ride on roller coasters?
-How old's Adam?
-Just turned 22.
22?
They kind of made things lighter than,
"Hey, let me tell you something, brother."
That screaming maniac.
[Linda] The version that you saw
of Terry was, in my opinion, Terry.
It was what I lived with.
It was the guy that was not
in the red and yellow boots,
not putting on a performance
for the people.
They realized that Hulk Hogan was Terry,
and I was a normal dad and normal person.
So there was a lot of good things
that came with that,
but also, you know,
the mistakes and the disagreements
and the drama of trying to live life,
you know, shone through.
To 22.
-Still with you.
-And you.
-That's because I love you.
-Mm. I love you too.
I would marry you again
if you asked me to.
-Would you marry me again?
-Mm-hmm.
-Really?
-Mm-hmm.
-Would you sign a prenup?
-What would you put in?
-I don't know. There's no reason for it.
-See? I know.
If you divorce me, I'll kill you.
It doesn't matter.
[Linda] Wow.
Being together 24 hours a day,
seven days a week,
the reality show Hogan Knows Best
was kind of like a recipe for disaster.
-I'm scared!
-Everybody's got that same attitude.
-I'm tired of it.
-[Brooke] No, I don't.
So where was I?
[Hogan] Right where you started, nowhere.
Having your personal problems
with your family
being aired for public consumption
caused all kinds of turmoil.
Yo, Linda! How many times have I told you
I don't want the maid in my closet?
Whatever. Why don't you put stuff back
when you're done?
[Hogan] I'm so sick of this.
[Nick] It put everyone, as a family,
in a very intense situation.
[vocalizing]
And then when real issues
start to come up,
you don't really have time to address them
the way that you naturally would.
-We could use the money.
-You could always use the money.
No matter how much money I make,
it still isn't enough.
You know, I would,
you know, come home with a check,
a seven-digit check, and hand it to her,
and she'd throw it back in my face,
"Was that all you got?"
It wasn't the old Linda,
the happy one, you know?
It was definitely a different person.
Toward the last season, things were weird.
He wasn't my soulmate.
I want to thank the master of the universe
for agreeing to let me come along.
-[Linda] Welcome.
-After she changed her mind.
And she said didn't want to be around me.
So thank you very much.
I just remember not even being there.
I was just going through so much stress
with my family, and it was just so insane.
I think when you have fame
and go through struggles and hard times,
it's almost like a higher rise
and a harder fall, you know?
[vocalizing]
Toward the end, it was like,
"Uh… No more cameras, I need a break."
It'd take me about two seconds
to pack up my friggin' closet and be gone.
-Again?
-Yeah.
-Again?
-For good.
When we went
into the couples' therapy, you know,
that was all kind of, like, real.
Some of our arguments have been
so intense Linda verbally suggested,
"Maybe we should go our separate ways,
or maybe get a lawyer,
and maybe we should just be divorced."
-So the words were spoken?
-Yeah.
Are you nervous
about your parents getting a divorce?
-[Brooke] No.
-No, and even if it did--
[Brooke] It's not going to happen.
They love hard, fight hard.
-They're too scared.
-I wanna hear what Nick's gotta say.
I'm not… I'm not worried.
I don't think it'll happen.
But even if it did,
I mean, we're so close,
I think
that we'd all stick together anyways.
Are you 100%, in your mind,
out of this marriage?
-[Hogan] Who, me?
-Yeah.
No, I'm not out at all.
[Howard Stern]
When will you be out, if this continues?
I'll probably be dead when it's over.
I always thought that, you know,
it could be fixed for better or worse.
I needed to hang in there.
"I really don't understand at all
how we got here,
why we love so much and still might fail."
"Out of touch, out of love
And out of place"
"Losing you would be like living
Without ever seeing my children's face"
"I stand here before you, and…"
[sniffles]
[Linda] Everything is just ripped, wasted.
It is definitely a mess.
It's just going to take forever
to clean everything up.
I do know that he loved me.
I know that he loved me. I know.
I know that he did,
and he was crazy about me.
"Because being in love with you,
only if for a second,
means I'll never live to regret it."
[poignant music playing]
[Linda] He was hiding something.
He just wasn't acting like himself,
and I knew something was up.
My housekeeper came to me,
and she said, "Is this yours?"
And it was a little gold hoop.
I was like, "No."
And I go, "Where was it? In my bathroom?
Where was it?" She goes, "In your bed."
[newsreader] Hulk Hogan's daughter
might want
to run her father over with a tank
after he reportedly slept, get this,
with one of her close friends.
She was a person I was dating
who was part of the record company,
almost like a chaperone for Brooke.
[newsreader] Brooke Hogan says
her friend started having whoopie
with the huckster in 2006,
while he was still married to her mother.
[Linda] I'm out of here.
[car horns]
[Linda sniffles]
I was with him from the time I was 22
to the time I was 49 years old.
And that's half of your life.
Ugh!
I didn't know, you know,
why he cheated on me.
I'm kind of scared to be out here.
I really shouldn't be.
And I just felt like a complete failure.
But you get to that point where
you're not really sad anymore,
you're just kind of more mad.
You're in self-survival mode now.
I came back from wrestling,
from Germany, one time,
and the house was completely cleaned out.
Safes were ripped out of the wall.
Everything was gone except my clothes.
[poignant music continues]
[Brooke] It's hard to have your skeletons,
you know, pulled out of your closet
and just waved
in front of everybody's face,
and humiliated in the world,
and our family
would go through all this stuff.
[reporter] Coming and going from
the courthouse for their bitter divorce,
the Hogan's rarely shy away from cameras.
That's not the same person I married.
She's… We pray for her every night.
It was terrible.
It was a very, very tough time.
It was to the point where we didn't speak
to each other anymore. At all.
And so everything
had to go through lawyers.
Listen to me, Mr. Bollea.
Mr. Bollea. Mr. Bollea.
Are you going to wrestle with me here?
Are you going to come across the cameras?
You had your time to talk. You're done.
You are the person
that has caused this issue.
It made it incredibly difficult
for the kids.
I tried to call the kids
for two months and couldn't get them.
Nobody'd even answer.
[puffs]
I don't know if I really want
to get into this stuff for this.
I just… I don't know.
[reporter] Hogan's lawyers say
the 40,000 a month
Linda is currently getting in alimony
is too much,
and they want that amount reduced.
They brought a slew of witnesses
to the stand
to try and prove
Linda is blowing all her money on drugs,
fancy clothes,
and her much younger boyfriend.
She was, you know, bouncing around,
flying all over with her boyfriend.
Who actually went to school
with Nick and Brooke.
We were talking.
I asked how old he was. He said he was 25.
I was like, "Oh, okay, fine, great."
He was young, but what the heck, you know?
Let's go have a margarita.
We dated, I don't know,
for like a couple weeks,
and we went somewhere,
and I was like, "Do you want beer?"
And he's like,
"I'm not really 21, and I'm not 25."
I go… Now I really have fallen
for this guy.
I'm like, "Well, how old are you?"
He goes, "I'm 19."
[exhales]
"Are you not lying about that?"
"Because if you're lying about that,
we've got problems, you know?"
[Hogan] The judge wouldn't let me live
in my big house or my little house,
so I had nowhere to go.
I rented an apartment.
It was in the top of this building
where I could see down the beach,
where I could see my beach house.
It was tough because I could hear
my cigarette boat start up in the morning,
and Linda's 18-year-old boyfriend
would back it out.
[Linda] Well, I see something so cute.
It is a gorgeous day.
I thought, he won't know how it feels
until he sees it happen to me.
He'd come by me
and stop where my apartment was.
He'd sit in my boat and smoke a joint.
And I'd go, "That's Terry.
Drive by, go in close, go in close."
You know, I was making all over Charlie,
and, you know, just driving in circles.
I was like, "See? How do you feel
about that? It hurts, right? Ouch."
And I didn't mean to be such a catty…
You know, rub it in.
But I thought,
"A little bit wouldn't hurt."
It was, like, thrown in my face big time.
[TV host] I'd have trouble with a guy
30 years younger than me
because I'm afraid he's going
to yell out, "Mommy," during sex.
[laughing]
-You know?
-Is that so wrong? No, just kidding.
I… I'd had it.
[reporter] It's as bizarre
as it is shocking.
Hulk Hogan in the middle
of a bitter divorce,
telling Rolling Stone
he now understands O.J. Simpson.
The magazine says Hogan is so bitter
he sounded homicidal,
saying, quote, "I could have turned
everything into a crime scene like O.J.,
cutting everybody's throat."
But Hogan says the quote
is taken out of context.
[Hogan] I spent three days
with Rolling Stone, you know?
I thought the guy was my friend.
He warmed up to me,
we became buddies, you know,
and all of a sudden, you know,
we're sitting on my back porch
and drinking beer on the beach
and had a little buzz on,
and he asked me about O.J. Simpson.
I said, "Wow, brother, you know,
I've been that jealous and mad at a girl
that I completely understand
how he flipped out."
Of course, there's that male instinct
that you'd love to get him in the ring.
I could've been like O.J. Simpson,
but I chose not to.
But I would never do that.
I would never go there.
I wish I'd never done the interview
with Rolling Stone.
[reporter] His wife's attorney says Linda
canceled her flight home to Clearwater
and is now in hiding.
And it's terrifying to my client.
-[reporter] You heard what he said?
-Yeah.
[reporter] About how he understands
what O.J. was feeling?
You know, I'm happy
because I'm 5,000 miles away from him.
I went home, and I… I… I started drinking
and, uh, you know, started eating pills.
And I just went down this rabbit hole
for a couple of days,
and the next thing I know
I'm in front of my bathroom
with a gun in my mouth, and, um…
not knowing what I was doing,
you know.
[Eric Bischoff] He was down,
and he was hurting,
and I was probably
not the only person he could talk to,
but one of the ones he felt
most comfortable talking to at that time.
And I told my wife, I said,
"I think I'm going to go to Florida
for a while and just hang out."
She said, "When are you coming back?"
I said, "I don't know."
[female laughter echoing]
[somber music playing]
[Bischoff] He was in the darkest,
most devastating part of his life
up to that point.
Your wife's divorcing you,
and your doctor's giving you
fistfuls of pills that would kill a horse,
and you're chasing it down
with a quart of vodka a day.
[Hogan] I hit rock bottom.
I gave Linda 70% of everything
because I just didn't want
to ever talk to her again, be with her.
I never wanted to see her again.
I gave her everything to get rid of her.
And after the divorce, I… I had no money.
I was broke.
And so TNA saved me.
[crowd] Hogan! Hogan! Hogan!
Hey, maniacs,
I can't hear you guys out there.
[host] There is no single name
that defines an industry
more than Hulk Hogan.
The man, the brand, all you Hulkamaniacs.
[crowd chanting] Hogan! Hogan!
TNA was a deal
that I put together for him.
Hulk was reluctant to go,
but he needed the money.
[crowd chanting] TNA!
[Jeremy Borash] TNA formed
after the death of WCW.
It was maybe a gnat that was
kind of annoying around the face of WWE.
It wasn't competitive
on a financial scale in any way,
but it was a place for guys to work.
[crowd chanting] TNA! TNA! TNA!
What's up, TNA maniacs?
[Bubba Ray Dudley] When he first came in,
he was an attraction, a figurehead.
Immediately, people will want to tune in
just to see what Hulk Hogan is gonna do.
This is TNA's reckoning day, brother.
[Borash] The idea was he'll wrestle
and be an active member of the roster.
But it became very apparent very quickly
he was in no shape to do that.
[somber music playing]
My body just had had enough.
In the emergency room here. [grunts]
About 3:00 in the morning,
my back, uh, went into this major spasm.
There were a couple of hip replacements,
a couple of knee replacements.
As the surgeries started mounting up,
I couldn't sleep in my bed.
I had to sleep in a chair, you know.
And if I just…
If i just twitched my finger like that,
my whole back would spasm and torque.
[doctor] The spine should look like this.
And this is your back.
-So you can't turn right now, you know.
-[woman] Oh my God!
After back surgery number three,
you know, I can't walk.
Surgery number four, I go back in.
Surgery number five, I go back in.
Surgery number six…
Really getting over this crap.
Time to come back and take over.
I talked to E.
He said everything was cool with TNA.
[Bischoff] It was hard to see.
There were times when I felt really shitty
about myself for making him do it.
He wasn't doing basics of pro wrestling.
All he could do was bleed.
[commentator] That is that weapon.
[Shoemaker] There's obviously
a physical limitation to everything,
and he showed us those limits
in the ring in TNA.
[commentator] Oh my God.
Doctors said,
"Oh, you need a spinal cord stimulator."
Okay, what is that?
They said,
"It's a battery we'll put in your back,
and you have a portable,
like a TV clicker in your hand,
and every time there's any pain,
it shoots an electronic signal
to your head, and it blocks the pain."
It gives you a jolt of electricity.
[crowd cheering]
His back was in so much pain,
I would literally have to go to his hotel
and help him get out of bed
to get into the shower
to get ready to go to the shoot.
He was contractually obligated to do it,
and he wanted to do it.
I was taking 80-milligram fentanyls.
Two in the morning,
stuffin' them under my gums here.
I had two 300-milligram patches
of fentanyl on my legs,
and they gave me six 1,500-milligram
fentanyl lollipops to eat.
I went to the pharmacy.
He goes, "You should be dead."
"We have never seen a human being
take this much fentanyl."
[Bischoff] But he was
in so much freaking pain.
[interviewer]
Is it possible for any wrestler
to have a graceful ending to their career?
-Doesn't seem like it, does it? [chuckles]
-Doesn't seem so.
[Borash] We were in a room together,
about to film.
He says,
"Hold on, I gotta take this call."
And I'm sitting five feet from him.
"Yep. Okay."
Silence. "Okay." Hangs up the phone.
And he looks down at his phone,
and he looks up at me, and he says,
"I just found out there's going to be
a sex tape coming out, and I'm in it."
[reporter] Hulk Hogan has been described
as the most recognized
wrestling star worldwide,
but the international superstar,
born Terry Bollea,
was recently seen by millions
in a different light
after a tape that he claims
was secretly recorded
was shared by the popular
online media company Gawker.
[newsreader] And his legal counsel
demanded repeatedly
that Gawker remove that video
from its website.
Gawker refused to do so.
[exhales]
-Yeah.
-[interviewer] Feel good? Feel comfy?
Hold on one second.
I got to do one thing. Ah!
[exclaiming]
New Zealand. New Zealand. New Zealand.
Mah-mah-mah-mah-mah-mah.
Mah-mah-mah-mah.
-Okay.
-[interviewer] Okay.
All right. Who are you?
My name's Ken Turkel.
I'm a trial attorney in Tampa, Florida,
and I represented Hulk Hogan
in the Gawker lawsuit.
[suspenseful music playing]
Gawker was a media company
that had made its bones,
essentially, violating
people's privacy rights,
following people.
You know,
they had a thing called Gawker Stalker
where they would find celebrities out
and take pictures and post them.
But this was a surreptitious recording
of Terry, of Hulk, in a private act,
in a private bedroom
at his best friend's house.
[reporter] Hogan is suing the website
for posting a tape of him
with the wife of his then-best friend.
[Turkel] And Terry simply asked
for Gawker to take it down.
They refused to take the video down.
Gawker's argument was
that it was protected
by the First Amendment as newsworthy.
[Hogan] When they hit the go button,
there was nowhere to hide.
You know, and now, Terry Bollea, the man,
wasn't allowed my privacy
behind closed doors.
And, you know, that's pretty much it.
[Turkel] There were
a bunch of people in the media
who saw it as like, "Oh, you know,
look at these First Amendment champions,
and how dare we interrupt the discourse
and dialog of America."
We weren't doing that, man.
This was shitty under any, any evaluation,
what they did here.
[reporter] Gawker's attorney suggested
the tape was a publicity stunt,
but the pro wrestler laments
it was devastating
to his personal and professional life.
It was at a really low point in my life,
when I was in the previous marriage,
when things were bottomed out completely,
and I was with some friends,
and I made a wrong choice.
And now, all of a sudden, it surfaces,
you know, over six years later.
He was horrified at the idea
of a little kid googling him
and seeing that.
Genuinely horrified at it.
I was completely humiliated.
The kids can't separate the character
from the real person.
[attorney] Let's start with the person.
Well, the person is sitting here today
under oath as Terry Bollea.
Now, as the character,
I've body-slammed elephants,
you know, I've surfed on tiger sharks.
The only similarities to me are
I wear a bandana on my head as Hulk Hogan,
and sometimes I wear a bandana
as Terry Bollea.
[Shoemaker] I think for the first time
in probably 30 years,
the Gawker trial
actually forced Hulk Hogan
to think about the difference
between Terry Bollea and Hulk Hogan.
The mailman, they don't go, "Hey, Terry."
They go, "Hey, Hulk."
So I have to go, "What's up, brother?"
Give him a little edge.
Happy turkey leg, brother.
It really makes me realize
the only safe place is in the house.
[Turkel] I don't know of anyone
who had less privacy
than Terry Bollea did.
By being a big celebrity, if anything,
in those places
where you deserve your privacy,
it's actually that much more sacred.
That's the entire point of our case.
[reporter] An expert
claiming Gawker made millions of dollars
when it published the tape,
so now a Pinellas County jury says
Gawker should pay Hogan $140 million.
He wanted to send a message back out
that, like, "Look, this was wrong."
And he wanted to get
his integrity back from this.
I think we made history today
because, uh, we protected a lot of people
from maybe going through
what I went through,
so we're very excited and very happy.
[Shoemaker] So during the Gawker trial,
he wins a giant verdict.
But then the transcripts
of the tape came out.
[reporter 1] It's what
we haven't heard on that tape,
a racial slur, that has caused
the Hulkster the most disgrace.
[reporter 2] A very strong man learned
today that his own words can hurt him,
[reporter 3]
Bollea reportedly uses racial slurs.
[Hogan] I'm a person that got very mad
about a personal situation. I used a word.
Yeah, I regret it,
because even under that heavy, crazy fire,
I should have remained still
and kept my mouth shut.
But what I said resonates
and has an echo effect.
It keeps vibrating for years.
[reporter] He released a statement saying,
"It was unacceptable for me
to have used that offensive language."
"There is no excuse for it,
and I apologize for having done it."
[Hogan] I've driven the car.
I keep hitting the wall,
crashing and burning,
saying stupid stuff and messing up.
Whenever I say I have regrets,
it's because
I didn't man up when I said it.
I never should have said what I said.
It was wrong. I'm embarrassed by it.
But a lot of people need to realize
that you inherit things
from your environment.
[tense music playing]
[Levesque] At that point,
there was still a relationship,
business-wise, between Hulk Hogan and WWE.
So when all the stuff came out,
I'm the guy that had to call and say,
"Yeah, we can't move forward here, Terry,
so, you know, we're done."
[reporter] The WWE saying in a statement,
"We are committed
to embracing and celebrating
individuals from all backgrounds."
[host] Your image, your likeness,
your name erased.
[Hogan] Yeah, like I never existed.
My whole career, my whole life
was like it never happened.
[Levesque] Hulk is one of the biggest
legends in the history of this business.
That's undeniable.
But I didn't fire Hulk Hogan.
I fired Terry Bollea.
[music fades]
[Hart] He was at such a low point.
[rain pattering]
But he never told us about it
because he kind of separated himself
away from us too, you know?
Everything in his life was falling apart.
[thunder cracks]
I had been through so many years
of craziness and drama and negativity.
For years, there was so much, "Woe is me."
"Oh, woe is me, the world sucks,
life sucks, and then you die."
And then, uh, right when you think
you're done, the universe goes,
"Here's something to be grateful for,"
that you didn't even expect.
[upbeat music playing]
[Sky Daily Hogan]
I was at a local restaurant.
I looked up,
and a whole queue had formed in the corner
for people who wanted their picture taken.
I was sitting there
with a girlfriend of mine.
She said, "Hulk Hogan's over there.
We should go get a picture."
And I said,
"I'm not going to do that." [giggles]
I've lived in Clearwater
for almost my whole life,
so he's been around, I just never met him.
So I knew he was a wrestler,
and I knew that Clearwater loved him.
That's what I knew.
He looked up, and our eyes met,
and it was just like that zing.
And then he asked me on a date.
[Hogan] I was just
through my second divorce,
and, uh, it was… it was a rough one.
I'd speak out loud in my house,
"Why is this happening to me?"
"Why is this still happening?"
I fell asleep in my chair, and I heard,
"I'm putting you through a cleansing."
I looked around,
there's nobody in the house,
and I actually heard those words.
So where they came from, or who said them,
you got me, but I heard them.
[Sky] He said he swore
he'd never date another blonde,
and then he saw me.
He goes, "Oh, no." [laughs]
He was just coming out of a divorce
and healing from, I think,
his tenth back surgery at that time.
[Hogan] You know,
I was still, "Bah, humbug."
You know, the "woe is me" crap.
She goes,
"Are you just going to keep complaining?"
"You're right. I'll shut up."
"Are you going to be grateful
for the fact that we're here together,
and this is such a beautiful day?"
She invited me to go to church with her.
I went to church with her,
and, uh, actually listened
to what was being said.
You know, that He gave
His only begotten son,
that whoever believed in Him
shall have everlasting life,
and I got hooked, baptized,
you know, born anew,
forgiven for all of my sins.
You know, and that was the beginning
of me starting my comeback.
[gentle music playing]
She's so dialed in with what's important
that it rubs off on me.
Attitude is everything,
and everything is attitude.
I should be thanking God
just to be alive every day.
Some of these people have been waiting
40, 45 years to meet me.
They've stuck with me
through thick and thin.
Whether I'm a good guy
or a bad guy in the wrestling business
or a good guy or a bad guy in real life,
they've stuck with me.
Oh my God.
[Hart] Look at all the kids
that stayed out of school today.
[Hogan] You know what, brother?
Do a U-turn.
[crowd] Hogan! Hogan! Hogan!
[Hogan] Wow.
-[woman] Can I get a selfie?
-We're rolling.
[Hogan] I mean, there's two,
two realms that I have to exist in.
There's the spiritual world,
then this human incarnation
you keep one foot in.
Terry Bollea was not
the greatest person all the time,
and the character was impeccable,
even though I wasn't.
I just loved
the greatness of the character.
I was ready to jump on
the Hulk Hogan train once again.
Wow, what a good crew this is.
-[Hart] Time for the Hulkster. Thank you.
-[Hogan] All right, we got it, man.
[Hart] He's doing a lot better now.
[Hogan] I'm just happy to be here.
[reporter] Hulk Hogan has been reinstated
into the WWE Hall of Fame.
[Hogan] They invited me back to the WWE.
I feel like I'm home again.
I feel like I'm still the champ.
Hulkamania running wild.
[Hogan] And the Hulk Hogan brand
is still alive.
[announcer] The immortal Hulk Hogan!
[Hogan] Instead of going, sitting out,
and watching the sunset every night,
and each year being a dog year,
making me seven years older,
I decided, "Let me go back to work
and have some fun."
-I'll get in here with you.
-[man] Thanks, brother!
-[woman] Hulk Hogan!
-[Hogan] All right, what's up?
Brilliant.
Hulk! Hey, Hulk Hogan.
-Ready?
-Hulk Hogan!
[Hogan] Love you too.
-How you doing? What's your name?
-My name's Lucas.
Lucas, I knew I'd meet somebody special.
Terry Bollea wasn't as good
as the character,
but the character helps people.
In whatever way it helps them,
it helps them. That's all I know.
[crowd cheering]
-What's up, guys?
-[man] Hogan!
[Hogan] How you doing?
Without you, there's no wrestling.
[Hogan] I, uh, I got remarried.
My wife has an 18-year-old autistic son.
I fell in love with him.
He can't do nothing but tell the truth.
I love it.
Hulk, um, would you like me
to have a picture with you?
I wish you would take a picture with me
because that'll be history made.
So I want to be that Hulk Hogan for them
that they expected to meet,
whether it's when I was 30 or 90.
-[imitating] Nice to meet you, brother.
-He's got it, man.
You're my hero.
Thank you, brother.
Very kind of you to say that.
I collect the merchandise of you.
You know what?
As you're collecting that merchandise,
I think your brother should pay for it.
-Okay.
-[Hogan] Love you, man.
I really was here for a reason
more than just wrestling.
Something's going on here
that I haven't figured out yet,
but something,
something really big is going to happen.
Yeah. There's a shot in here
of, uh, you and Donald Trump.
Staying out of politics
has always been as a businessman,
because my Hulkamaniacs have always
been Democrats and Republicans.
My arms aren't as big as his,
I'll tell you.
You ever see anything like this?
It's amazing.
[Trump] So he wanted
to stay out of politics,
and when they'd ask him a question,
because everything was about,
you know, politics, frankly,
and he would be
sort of like neutral at best,
and he wanted to be politically correct.
He doesn't want to lose fans and all that.
I understand that.
Listen, baby, you… you do it.
Okay, we'll give it a shot.
You know, I met Donald Trump
back in the day, in the '80s.
He's my friend.
A lot of people would say I'm crazy,
but I know the person.
I know him very well.
I'm not saying
I agree with everything he does,
but at least he's honest about who he is.
[man] All right, just to be clear,
this is going to be a little bit of a zoo.
[Hogan] 2016, I was one
of the cowards that voted for Trump,
but I wouldn't wear the red hat.
It's an honor to be here,
I can tell you that.
2020, I voted for Trump,
I was still the coward.
Well, I was afraid to speak out.
I was really afraid to get into politics.
And, uh, I think he regrets that.
Perfect.
I was gonna vote for him this next time,
and I wanted to keep a low profile.
But they tried to kill Trump.
[gunshots]
[security guard] Get down! Get down!
When they tried to shoot him the other day
that did it for me, man.
That…
And I was done. I was pissed.
I told my wife it might be a deal-breaker,
but it's something I have to do.
Knowing that if I spoke out,
that it could jeopardize everything
from my businesses to my life.
Coming forward for Trump,
as an entertainer,
you divide your audience,
and he was nervous about that.
Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House.
I've been a fan of you my whole life.
Thanks for all the wonderful memories.
-It was a lot of fun.
-Oh, man.
[Trump] The Hulk was always
very controversial, and that's okay.
I'm fairly controversial.
I think I've become less controversial
over the years,
but I'm fairly controversial too.
But I don't think Hulk cares about that,
and I don't care about that either.
[man] We're walking, here we go.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd] USA, USA, USA, USA, USA!
Well, let me tell you something, brother.
[crowd cheering]
You know something?
When I came here tonight,
there was so much energy in this room,
I felt maybe
I was in Madison Square Garden
getting ready to win another world title.
[announcer] Hulk Hogan!
[gentle music playing]
[cheering]
But what I found out was
I was in a room
full of real Americans, brother.
[cheering]
And when they took a shot at my hero…
[cheering]
…and they tried to kill
the next President of the United States,
enough was enough!
And I said,
let Trumpamania run wild, brother!
[crowd] USA! USA! USA! USA!
He did the shirt ripping,
he did the whole thing,
and the place went crazy.
[Hogan] I heard 20,000 people
just explode.
[gentle music continues]
[Hogan] Yeah. It felt good, man.
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA! USA!
Hulk! Hulk! Hulk! Hulk! Hulk! Hulk!
Hulk! Hulk! Hulk!
He tore his shirt off,
just like it was 1985 all over again,
and I'm sure having that crowd go wild
probably felt like old times.
What you gonna do when Donald Trump
and all the Trumpamaniacs
run wild on you, brother?
[crowd cheering]
[Trump] Hulk, it's your
all-time favorite president,
and I just want to tell you,
you were unbelievable at the convention,
uh, like, the talk of the town.
And we had, by the way,
I don't know if you heard,
the biggest ratings they ever had
for any of these things by far.
Fox had the biggest ratings
they've ever had,
and you were the star.
Nobody could do
what you did and entertain.
And, uh, we love having you on our side.
You're a winner, man.
You're a champ and a winner.
And I think it was
really good for you too.
I have to tell you,
everyone was really impressed.
Take care of yourself. Thanks. Bye.
[Hogan] Yes, sir. America's back.
We got our country back.
How you guys doing?
[man] How you doing, sir?
Okay, man.
[Shoemaker] For wrestling fans like me,
it was like, Hulk Hogan should be
bigger than politics, right?
I mean, like,
Superman is bigger than politics, right?
Because now he's just politics.
[Hogan] Uh-oh. There you go, big man.
Hulkster,
I could not appreciate you enough
for what you did for Trump too. Thank you.
-[Hogan] We got him in, didn't we?
-Got him in, brother.
In this new chapter of his life,
he wanted to be as authentic
and true to himself,
not just the Hulk Hogan character.
And, you know,
it wasn't without some backlash.
We did get death-threat letters,
but, you know, for the overall, uh,
pro-America brand, it was… It was great.
-[crowd cheering]
-[Hogan] Oh!
I cannot believe, after 45 years,
all you Hulkamaniacs are still with me.
[crowd cheering]
And I hate to go there,
but we got our country back. Thank God.
[cheering]
[crowd chanting] USA! USA! USA!
So if anybody here
wants one free, real American beer,
give me a Hacksaw Jim Duggan hello!
[crowd] Hello!
[Hogan] They said,
"You can't put your picture on the can."
"Nobody does that."
"George Clooney doesn't do it."
I said, "BS. Watch me."
[crowd laughs]
-[man] Love you.
-[Hogan] Love you too. Thanks for coming.
Great speech at the RNC… I cried.
Thank God he won, or I'd be in prison.
-Ah, me too.
-[laughs]
[woman] We love Hogan!
[Bruce Prichard]
No matter what side you're on,
50% of the population
is on the other side.
I… I don't believe
in discussing politics and religion.
You keep
your political beliefs to yourself,
or you alienate 50% of your audience
right off the bat.
[Hogan] Let's see this place.
-So here's the entrance, here.
-Yeah.
So, as you look behind you, all people.
Brother, how you doing? Good, good, good.
[Levesque] Netflix was sort
of a coming-out party for us.
We had just signed a monumental deal
to be on that platform,
so we wanted to blend past,
present, and future of WWE.
Wow.
[Levesque] It was important
to see people like Hogan there.
Welcome to Monday Night Raw!
[epic music playing]
-[The Rock] Go to sleep, CM Punk!
-[bell rings]
Well, The Rock has come back
to Los Angeles!
[crowd cheering]
[The Rock] It's a special night.
[Cody Rhodes] Monday Night Raw in LA,
Netflix premiere.
I was very stoked to see Hulk Hogan,
and he gave me a giant duffel bag
of the beer.
It stung a little to… to feel
that he wasn't as well-received
as, uh, previously.
["Real American"
by Rick Derringer playing]
When it comes crashing down
And it hurts inside… ♪
[crowd booing]
[crowd whistling]
[booing continues]
Well, let me tell you something, brother.
[booing intensifies]
I was backstage,
like, "Holy shit, Hogan's getting booed
out of the building."
Did I think he was going to get booed
out of the building?
Probably. Especially in LA.
Right? There's a different vibe there
and a different mentality there.
[crowd booing]
You know something, maniacs?
I've been in this business
for over 40 years.
I said, "Jimmy Hart, did you hear?"
"No, they didn't boo you."
I said, "Jimmy."
The people booed me like crazy.
I could have LA hate me if I went
on Jesse Watters three times a week.
Get your Trump pump on, everybody.
Great to see you, Hulk.
We'll see you at the ball.
This is politics.
Don't hate the player, hate the game.
[Hart] We're going to a damn blue state.
I went, [whistles] "Okay,
I'll let it ride, 'cause he's Hulk Hogan."
[Neidhart] People were saying,
"Because of his affiliation with Trump."
But I don't know, I felt like I knew why.
He's made a lot of mistakes.
For some people,
he hasn't necessarily
always atoned for those mistakes,
or even the apologies were seen as hollow.
So many people couldn't look past that,
and he's just got a polarizing presence.
Those people were waiting
on Hulk Hogan to come out
and make any kind of statement,
just so they could let him know
how they really feel about him.
That night, too much
of the artist has been exposed
for them to perhaps cheer.
Who knows what the truth really is?
Here's all I know.
You know, I knew it bothered him.
[crowd booing]
[Hart] Do you want to go out being cheered
or being booed? Be cheered, of course.
[interviewer] You had to feel
a little sad about that, right?
-No, brother.
-[interviewer] No?
No, man. When I saw how intense
they were coming at me,
if they had a knife,
they would've stuck me in the neck.
So am I upset by that? Are you kidding me?
Brother, it's completely opposite
of what you think.
Bro, I could come back as a bad guy in LA
and sell out that building with anybody.
And as crippled as I am,
they'd love to see
my crippled ass get in that ring
and get strapped and beaten and punched,
and cut my head off
and bleed like a pig for them.
That red will turn to green instantly.
And they would love it.
[Bischoff] If you're getting booed
'cause that's your job,
and that's your role as an antagonist,
please, boo me more.
But if your job
is to go out there as the good guy,
and you're not getting the reaction,
that's a different story, of course.
I used to go to LA,
and they'd cheer me out of the building.
[Nick] Let's go, brother.
[Hogan] Man, how's everybody doing?
Holy smokes.
-How's it feel to see the Garden?
-[Hogan] hold on, hold on, hold on, whoa.
But then I go to New York,
and people just cheer me everywhere I go.
[man] Hulkamania!
-Running wild, brother.
-[man] Let's go!
Not everyone in your life
is going to love you.
You'll have people that don't like you.
You know, there's no winning.
[interviewer] Was there a difference
when you get cheered versus the booing?
Yeah, of course, of course.
[woman in crown] Come on, Hulk!
[Hogan] In all my glory,
when Hulkamania was running wild,
the crowd was magic,
the energy would just drag you up
out of any hole.
I saw Bruno Sammartino.
I've seen Elvis Presley in there.
Nobody bigger than you, Hulk.
[Hogan] As soon as I hit that ring,
it was just the end-all, be-all, you know?
Where nothing else in the world matters
except that present moment
that you're in the ring.
[epic music playing]
When I went in that ring, I was not Terry.
When I went in that ring, brother,
I was Hulk Hogan. I believed it.
It's just magic.
[commentator] The Hulk
seems to get stronger.
[Hogan] That's why
I fell in love with wrestling.
[commentator] Can't understand this.
How is this man still standing
and fighting back?
[Hogan] Once you plug in,
you're in that moment
where there's a flow.
The flow gets stronger and stronger,
and there's just like this crazy tsunami.
[music intensifies]
It's just this crazy flow
of just being there,
catching the right wave,
and just staying in the pipeline
and never coming out of it,
and just living and dying there.
There's nothing else like it.
I don't know how else to say it,
it's like you're coming all the time.
[epic music continues]
I always believed wrestling
was the most important thing there is.
It's immortality.
But I found out later that that's not
the gateway to eternal happiness.
[interviewer] Do you remember the time
when you were the happiest?
Yeah.
-Okay, here we are. You're holding him.
-Yeah.
-[Linda] The Hulkster board.
-[Hogan] Yeah.
[Linda] For a ride you'll never forget.
It's my baby.
Terry bought me my new minivan.
The hottest ride in town.
[Hogan] I mean,
I get really weird flashbacks, you know,
during the day.
[seagulls calling]
[Linda] Dad just got back
from his world tour, 1990, 11,000 miles.
-Torn out.
-[Linda chuckles]
And I'll be in the car by myself,
and I'll think of something, you know.
I'll catch myself smiling,
like the village idiot,
by myself, you know?
Because I'll think of something
real personal, and it'll make me smile.
[Linda] You're like a big girl now.
[young Brooke]
Mommy, I spilled beer on my…
[Linda] We love you very much,
Brooke, Nick, and Terry.
As far as this human incarnation goes,
when I had both my kids,
they were very young.
-Two babies.
-[Linda chuckles]
-Two humongous babies. [kisses]
-[Hogan] Two babies.
The young kids were really healthy.
Mama! [cries]
[Linda] Here.
[Hogan] When Linda
was being the best mom I've ever seen.
And just being a great wife
and was steady as she goes.
Being the perfect mom
and the perfect friend…
-[Linda chuckling] What a total ham bone.
-Ah!
…and the perfect soul mate
across the board,
that was probably, um,
the most happiest I've ever been.
[Linda] Oh. Come out here. Come out here.
Look up in the sky.
-[young Nick] Daddy!
-I just…
-[Linda] We just saw Santa!
-[young Brooke] Dad!
I just saw…I saw him banging at the back.
He took off back over the ocean.
Oh my God, look, he was here!
-And he was fat. And he had a big…
-[Hogan] Did you see him?
[Brooke] Pixie dust on this.
That's not pixie dust. It's reindeer dust.
When's Santa gonna bring my hair?
[nostalgic music playing]
[music fades]
[Hogan] So we're done here?
[interviewer]
I think we're good for today.
Maybe in a couple months,
we do this one more time.
Okay.
[interviewer]
Two or three months down the road
and we pick up little things we missed.
Okay.
[interviewer]
But I think we got tons to start.
[Hogan] Oof.
Man, it's hard to get up.
[gentle music playing]
[anchor] We have
some breaking news right now.
Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan died today
after suffering cardiac arrest
at his home in Clearwater, Florida.
Now to the death
of wrestling icon Hulk Hogan.
A man known the world over,
who defined the face of wrestling.
[reporter 1] Hogan, whose real name
was Terry Bollea…
[reporter 2] Terry Bollea
is widely recognized
as the biggest wrestling star of all time.
-[reporter 3] Greatest.
-[reporter 4] Tributes are pouring in.
[reporter 5] So many grew up
knowing and watching him,
and then fans have been coming in
a steady stream all day taking pictures.
[reporter 6] One of pop culture's
most recognizable figures.
[reporter 7] A larger-than-life figure.
[reporter 8] Gone in what seems
like such a sudden way.
[reporter 9] He died at the age of 71.
-[reporter 10] He was 71 years old.
-[reporter 11] Hogan was 71 years old.
[Prichard] I talked to Eric Bischoff.
Eric called me this morning at 11:30
and said, "Hey, man, uh…"
"I just heard Hulk may have a heart issue
and that he's gone to the hospital."
I hung up with him. I called Paul.
While on the phone with Paul,
Paul said, uh, "Hang on."
He says, "Oh my God…" Uh…
[music turns somber]
"They're reporting that Hulk died."
And it's just surreal.
[sobbing softly]
Hulkster. Where…
[voice breaks] Where'd that come from?
Where the hell did that come from?
It signified the end of my era.
That it was now… The book was closed.
It… it… Hulk dying
made you feel real mortal.
[Nick grunting]
[Nick] It's strange because there was
never a time where I was in his gym
working out without him.
But it's comforting in a way
to be around his weight equipment
and his gym.
[grunting]
[Linda] And Nicholas
just wants nothing but his dad.
Only wants his dad.
A little bit of protein, son.
[Nick] It was just
tough to process all of it.
You know, everybody knows
he went in to have a neck surgery.
And, you know, after the neck surgery,
there were some complications.
[Sky] This was the day
before Terry went in for neck surgery.
He's… You know, we're smiling.
He's bright-eyed, and, um…
we never got back to that spot again.
[Nick] It was about two and a half months
that we were in and out of hospitals.
But he still showed so much resilience
and strength in those moments.
I wish we never did the neck surgery.
[sighs in sadness]
[crying] Oh.
[grunting]
[Nick] The thing that I'll miss the most
is just being able to call him.
You know, it just feels weird
that I haven't talked to him.
[Linda] I still cared about him the same.
It doesn't go away.
You know, I wish things
would have turned out differently for us.
-All right, yes! Stand up by yourself.
-What was your wish, Linda?
But then when he got sick,
I realized my love never faded for him.
I still had love for him.
I really do. I still love him.
It's my baby.
[Hogan] How you doing, cupcake?
[exhales]
You know, somebody
that was your partner for so long.
And then to just see him
suffering like that toward the end, um…
You know, to just know
that he really didn't deserve
to go out that way.
It's… It's sad.
You know, I'm sad for my kids.
[Nick] In my eyes, he was always immortal.
The child in me always believed that.
This is his big old size-17 boot.
And for comparison, my shoe is a size 12.
-[Linda] Oh!
-[Hogan] Why are those feet on the table?
[Linda laughs]
[Hogan] Just big feet.
You gonna eat your cake with those feet?
[laughs]
[young Nick laughs]
[Nick grunting]
[exhales]
[somber music fades]
[Levesque] All right, guys,
welcome to Cleveland.
Just before we get started,
as I'm sure everyone is aware,
unfortunate passing
of Hulk Hogan yesterday.
Hard to say there's been
a more influential figure,
especially on the performing side.
[man] These are empty and ready to go?
[Levesque] No one is perfect in life.
And they had ups and downs.
But we're going to continue
to remember Hulk Hogan
as what he meant to this industry.
His influence cannot be denied
and it cannot be overstated.
You could make an argument
that we wouldn't be sitting here today.
This business might have gone
the way of roller derby
or some other shit
that didn't quite make it to the end.
But here we are.
So we're going to start
this show out tonight
with a ten-bell salute
with everybody on stage.
I don't think it needs to be said,
but anybody that has an issue,
does not want to be on that stage,
no problem, no issue, no… no anything.
[Rhodes] I know it's complicated,
I do, how everyone feels,
but I think we all have to kind of wrestle
with the idea that he's gone.
And there's so many great things
about the immortal Hulk Hogan.
Can we focus on those?
[Hart] It's just such a shock.
You know, Hulk and I have been friends
for over 40 years.
Everything that we've done together,
and all of a sudden, it's over.
I just couldn't believe it.
And I still choke up, every now and then,
when I talk about it.
I know tonight, when we go on the stage
out here and do the ten-bell salute,
I know I'll break down again.
And this is the face of the Hulkster
that's going to represent
the whole country of America.
[Hart] What a great night, Hulkster.
I know you're probably
looking upstairs, man.
What a great night for you.
I know I'm gonna be very sad.
It's like being at a place
where I know my friend wants to be here
with us doing this tonight,
and he won't be.
And I know he's up there now
looking down tonight,
but he's with all of his friends.
His friends are down here,
and his friends are up there, Brian.
He's going to see Dusty Rhodes.
He's going to see André the Giant.
The Iron Sheik.
He's going to see Randy Savage,
Rowdy Roddy Piper, Mean Gene Okerlund.
Maybe you can go into the ring
once more up there,
and you can just say
what you've always said to Mean Gene,
"Let me tell you something, brother."
But let me tell you something, brother.
[Hart] The part of him
I'm going to miss the most
is just gonna be
hearing his voice every day.
Are you kidding?
[snorts] No, I'm not kidding at all.
[inaudible]
-[Hart] Will the band get back together?
-Nope. It's going to have to be upstairs.
[Harts] Hey. How you doing, baby?
You know, Hulk would love this, though.
You're here.
Sarge is here.
You know, Hacksaw. Part of the past, man.
He would love this.
It still seems unreal.
I can't even believe it.
I just wish Hulk could be here with me,
because I know he'd want to be.
He would love it.
This is what Hulk always loved
his whole life. He loved this.
[poignant music playing]
[crowd chanting] Hogan! Hogan! Hogan!
Hogan! Hogan! Hogan!
[Levesque] Ladies and gentlemen,
yesterday we lost
one of the biggest icons in the world.
[crowd cheering]
The truth is
we would not be standing here right now,
all of us together, if it was not for him.
[crowd cheering]
So please help us honor him now
as we give a ten-bell salute
to Terry Bollea,
the one and the only,
the immortal Hulk Hogan.
[applause]
[bell ringing]
We love you, Hulkster.
You'll always be the best.
Always.
[poignant music soaring]
[bell rings]
[bell ringing continues]
[interviewer] What do you think
Hulk Hogan will be remembered for?
[Ventura] Well, what he accomplished
was taking wrestling
to seismographic levels
it had never seen before.
He was the golden goose.
The greatest entertainer of all time.
[Nash] The head of Mount Rushmore
when you talk to wrestling, and still is.
There's Hulk and there's everybody else.
Stand behind it all the way, Daddy.
It's USA and Hulkamania running wild.
[Levesque] Arguably,
the most recognizable man on the planet.
He lifted our business to heights
that we could have never imagined.
Even in the very end he was now
powerful enough to get presidents elected.
Believing in yourself, training,
saying your prayers, eating your vitamins.
[Booker T] He knew how
to make those fans believe in him.
And if you could do that in this business,
man, you're a hell of a wrestler.
[crowd cheering]
[McMahon] At the end of every match,
they give him a standing ovation.
So what I'm suggesting to all of you
is that we give Hulk Hogan
his very last standing ovation right now.
[applause]
[crowd chanting] Hogan! Hogan!
Hogan! Hogan! Hogan! Hogan! Hogan! Hogan!
[poignant music continues]
[Levesque] People don't remember
what you say, what you do,
but how you make them feel.
As time goes on,
people's memories fade of things he did
that they didn't like to some degree.
I believe the last thing
that will fade in them
is how Hulk Hogan made them feel.
[Herzog] In the life of Hulk Hogan,
what is reality? What is the real truth?
Strangely enough,
emotions are always truthful
no matter how crazy
and implausible the story might be.
And searching for truth gives us dignity,
gives us meaning.
Hogan! Hogan! Hogan!
[Levesque] Hulk Hogan made
millions of people around the world feel.
Give me an H.
[Levesque] Feel patriotic.
[child] Give me a U.
[Levesque] Feel a rush of adrenaline.
Feel excited.
-[child 1] Give me an L. Give me a K.
-[child 2] K.
[Levesque] Feel elated for this guy
that they thought was the all-time hero.
But he made people feel.
It's what Hulk Hogan did.
[commentator] Hogan giving it to him.
Two… He got him!
[music crescendo]
-[crowd cheering]
-[bell ringing]
[child 1] What do we have?
[all] Hulk Hogan!
I can't hear you.
Hulk Hogan!
[applause]
[Hogan] Terry Bollea
was just a human being.
Okay.
But the legend of Hulk Hogan…
will live forever.
[music fades]
["Hulk Rules" playing]
[announcer] Hulk Hogan, Bugs Bunny
has challenged you to a match.
Right, what are you gonna do next?
Bring up that half-baked drake,
the fruitcake from the lake,
Daffy Duck?
[announcer] Weighing 302 pounds,
the incredible…
[grunts]
Yeah!
When he steps into the ring
He's ready for a fight ♪
His 24-inch pythons
I loaded up tonight ♪
-[host] That's incredible.
-24 inches.
[host] Let me see that.
Everybody's talking trash
But he knows that talk is cheap ♪
If you mess with the Hulkster
He'll rearrange your teeth ♪
Woah, woah
The Hulkster rules! ♪
[commentator] The adrenaline's
starting to flow…
Woah, woah
The Hulkster Rules! ♪
[commentator] Hulkster put him on the mat!
I don't believe it!
-[children] Hogan! Hogan! Hogan!
-[imitates fart]
["Hulkster's in the House" playing]
The Hulkster's in the house ♪
Check him out, check him out ♪
When the going gets tough
The tough get rough ♪
Hey hey, oh oh, come on, let's go ♪
Hey hey, oh oh, come on, let's go ♪
[commentator] The wind-up, and right hook!
-[music stops]
-[static crackling]
[music resumes]
Oh oh, oh oh, come on, let's go ♪
Hey hey, oh oh, come on, let's go ♪
Hey hey, oh oh, come on, let's go ♪
[music fades]
[Hogan] You better be a good bowler.
All the marbles are gonna sink.
-[Linda] Ice cream for a good game, okay.
-[Hogan] Thinking, "Bowling for sugar."
And, Nicholas,
you get to put the chocolate on top, okay?
-Look at the pins. Slow, Nick.
-[Linda] Good.
-[bowling pins clatter]
-[Hogan] Whoa!
All right, ice cream for everybody!
Give me five, give me five,
give me a back five, give me a back five.
-Is everybody ready?
-I am.
Okay, let's go get the ice cream, come on.
Yeah.
All right. All right. Let's go.