On July 24, 2025, the world lost a true icon of the ring. Terry Gene Bollea—known to millions as Hulk Hogan—passed away at his Clearwater, Florida home after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 71 years old. Despite emergency crews performing CPR for over 30 minutes, Hogan was pronounced dead at Morton Plant Hospital. Tributes poured in from wrestling legends like Ric Flair, Triple H, John Cena, and from WWE itself, acknowledging his seismic impact on sports entertainment.
It’s tough to say something original about someone who so many have already said so much on, so I thought it would be best to relive my Mount Rushmore of moments from Hogan’s in-ring career in chronological order.
The rise of Hulkamania: WrestleMania III & the Andre the Giant
One cannot chronicle Hogan’s legacy without dwelling on WrestleMania III (March 1987) at Michigan’s Silverdome. Here, Hogan lifted and bodyslammed Andre the Giant, who weighed over 520 pounds, then hit his signature leg-drop for the pinfall. That iconic moment defined the spirit of Hulkamania and became one of pro wrestling’s most famous highlights.
However, it was the story behind the story of “the irresistible force vs. the immoveable object” that was the real story.
Andre had acromegaly, a hormonal disorder that caused gigantism and joint deterioration. By the mid 80’s, his knees, hips, and back were in severe pain and he was losing great mobility. By 1987, Andre knew his days were numbered in the ring. A decision between he and Vince McMahon was made. Andre chose to put Hogan over. In other words, after being “undefeated” for 15 years according to WWE lore, Andre decided it was time to let his longtime friend beat him and begin a part-time role that would lead to his official retirement in 1992. As the story goes, Andre didn’t tell Hogan the finish of the match until the day of the show and that Hogan’s confirmation came when Andre didn’t kick out of the leg drop.
This was a truly monumental passing-of-the-torch moment in professional wrestling that launched the WWE to much bigger heights.
A Clean Pinfall Loss That Mattered: WrestleMania VI vs. The Ultimate Warrior
At WrestleMania VI in April 1990, Hogan defended the WWF Championship against The Ultimate Warrior, who risked his Intercontinental title. This was the first time ever, that a title-for-title match – at least at a major event – took place. What made it more important was that it was between the 2 top guys in the company at the time. Hogan took his first major televised loss in nearly a decade—losing cleanly to the Warrior—providing a rare and memorable moment of vulnerability for the hero of Hulkamania. This was meant to set up the Ultimate Warrior as the face of the company for the time being. However, Hogan was still the bigger star in the eyes of many and poor storytelling and weak main event opponents ultimately left Warrior’s title run feel disappointing to many.
However, the match itself at WrestleMania VI was still an epic clash of two titans. They managed to leave it all out there with everything on the line.
The Heel Turn That Shook Wrestling: WCW’s Bash At The Beach 1996
Perhaps Hogan’s most dramatic moment came at Bash at the Beach 1996, when he shocked fans by turning heel for the first time. Hogan joined forces with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to form the New World Order (nWo), hitting Randy Savage with multiple leg‑drops. The crowd erupted in anger, throwing debris into the ring. This twist changed the face of wrestling forever and redefined Hogan’s role in the business. The unimaginable happened. The American hero went to the dark side. This industry-changing moment became easily the greatest heel turn of all time, at least for the last 29 years thanks to Cena’s heel turn this past March, which in my opinion rivals Hogan’s.
Passing the Torch: WrestleMania X‑8 vs. The Rock
In WrestleMania X‑8 (2002), Hogan faced Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a rare shared spotlight moment. Both icons—”Hollywood” Hulk Hogan and The Rock—stood toe-to-toe in the ring. Hogan, the heel and The Rick, the face.
The plan was simple. The Rock represented the present and future while Hogan represented the “selfish past”, unwilling to “pass the torch”. But that’s not how the Toronto crowd saw it. In a turn of events, the crowd saw Hogan as the hero and The Rock as the villain. Perhaps, that’s because Hogan hadn’t wrestled in Toronto for nearly a decade at that point. Maybe fans saw it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cheer their childhood hero.
In the early stages of the match, these two greats realized that the performance they had planned was no longer going to work. Improvisation came with Hogan playing into the crowd; doing his old poses, milking the crowd reaction, even doing is iconic “Hulking Up” spot. The Rock, on the other hand, leaned into the boos; showing frustration, selling like a heel in certain moments, adjusting his mannerisms. The match ended with The Rock victorious and Hogan passing the torch, as it should’ve. The mutual respect and crowd reaction turned it into a symbolic handing-over of legacy from one generation to another.
The End
I think it goes to show the nature of the business with how we began with Andre passing the torch to Hogan and ending with Hogan passing the torch to The Rock. Though, it might not have really worked that way. The Rock soon after left to film movies in Hollywood and Hogan stayed in the WWE until 2006, which gave us Randy Orton “The Legend Killer” defeating “The Legend” Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam that year. Anyways, wrestling – like time – moves on, with or without us. Eventually our time comes to an end. Unfortunately, Hulk Hogan’s time came to a tragic end.
I know there are many mixed feelings about the man behind Hulk Hogan, but that’s the thing I think many of us forget. Hogan wasn’t just Hulk Hogan. He was Terry Glenn Bollea; father, husband, friend, human. He was human just like the rest of us, which means he was flawed just like the rest of us. And that shouldn’t take away from what he meant to others and what he did for professional wrestling. He influenced an entire generation. He helped shape the WWE and the wrestling industry into what it has become today. Without him, who knows where wrestling as a whole would be.
-Jay
Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this! I hope you all enjoyed. Please feel free to leave a comment, maybe write about your favorite Hulk Hogan moment.
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