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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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page. (July 2025)
Hulk Hogan
Hogan in 1985
Born Terry Gene Bollea
August 11, 1953
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Died July 24, 2025 (aged 71)
Clearwater, Florida, U.S.
Occupations Professional wrestler
television personality
actor
entrepreneur
Years active 1977–2025
Spouses Linda Claridge
(m. 1983; div. 2009)
Jennifer McDaniel
(m. 2010; div. 2021)
Sky Daily
(m. 2023)
Children Brooke
Nick
Relatives Horace Hogan (nephew)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Hollywood Hogan[1]
Hollywood Hulk Hogan[2]
Hulk Boulder[3]
Hulk Hogan[4]
Hulk Machine[5][2]
Mr. America[2]
Sterling Golden[6]
Terry Boulder[2]
The Super Destroyer[2]
Billed height 6 ft 7 in (201 cm)[4]
Billed weight 302 lb (137 kg)[4]
Billed from Hollywood, Los Angeles
(as Hollywood Hogan)
Venice Beach, California[4]
(as Hulk Hogan)
Washington, D.C.
(as Mr. America)[7]
Trained by Hiro Matsuda[2]
Debut August 9, 1977
Retired January 27, 2012
Website [Link]
Signature
Terry Gene Bollea[8][9] (/bəˈleɪə/; August 11, 1953 – July 24, 2025), better known by his ring
name Hulk Hogan, was an American professional wrestler and media personality. He wrestled
in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Total Nonstop
Action Wrestling (TNA), New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), and the American Wrestling
Association (AWA). Known for his showmanship, large physique, and his trademark blond horseshoe
moustache and bandanas, Hogan was widely regarded as one of the greatest and globally most
recognized wrestling stars of all time.[10][11] He won multiple world championships across companies,
most notably being a six-time WWE World Champion.
Hogan began his wrestling career in 1977 and achieved global stardom after joining the World
Wrestling Federation in 1983. His persona as a heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s
professional wrestling boom, during which he headlined eight of the first nine editions of the WWF's
flagship annual event WrestleMania and also regularly headlined Saturday Night's Main Event. His
first reign as WWF Champion lasted 1,474 days, the third-longest in the belt's history,[a] and he was
the first wrestler to win back-to-back Royal Rumbles (1990, 1991).
In 1994, Hogan joined WCW, winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times. His
reinvention as the villainous "Hollywood" Hogan and leadership of the New World Order (nWo)
stable revitalised his career and played a major role in the success of the "Monday Night War"
wrestling boom of the late 1990s. He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times.
Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 after its acquisition of WCW, winning the Undisputed WWF
Championship for his then-record-equaling sixth reign before departing in 2003. He was inducted
into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo.[13]
Outside of wrestling, Hogan starred in films such as Rocky III, No Holds Barred, and Suburban
Commando, and in TV shows including Hogan Knows Best and Thunder in Paradise. He also fronted
the Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules, reached No. 12 on the Billboard Top Kid
Audio chart in 1995.
Several controversies damaged Hogan’s public image. In 1994, he admitted to using anabolic
steroids since 1976, and helping stop a wrestler's unionization effort. In 2012, the media
company Gawker published portions of a sex tape in which Hogan was heard using racial slurs.
Hogan sued Gawker, which was found liable and subsequently declared bankruptcy. Despite this
legal victory, Hogan’s reputation has been described as “permanently tarnished,” a view reflected in
the mixed public reactions to his death in July 2025.[14][15]
Early life
Part of a series on
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Hogan was born in Augusta, Georgia, on August 11, 1953,[2] the son of construction foreman Pietro
"Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) and homemaker and dance teacher Vernice
"Ruth" (née Moody; January 16, 1920 – January 1, 2011). Hogan was of Italian, Panamanian, Scottish,
and French descent;[16] his paternal grandfather, also named Pietro, was born in 1886
in Cigliano, Province of Vercelli in Piedmont.[17] Hogan had an older brother named Allan (1947–1986)
who died at the age of 38 from a drug overdose.[18] When he was one and a half years old, his family
moved to Port Tampa, Florida.[19] As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. Hogan
attended Robinson High School.[20] He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in
high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes,[21] and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium.
It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first noticed "Superstar" Billy Graham and began
looking to him for inspiration;[21] since he first saw Graham on TV,[21] Hogan wanted to match his
"inhuman" look.[21]
Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based
rock bands.[1] He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South
Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, he dropped out of the
University of South Florida.[22] Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called
Ruckus in 1976.[23] The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region.[23] During his spare time,
Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting.[24] Many of the
wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing.
[21]
Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco.[21]
Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsuda—the man who
trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)—to make him a potential
trainee.[25] In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed.[26] At
first, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring;
according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. After Hogan
quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler,[27] Graham finally
agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request. During the first session in training, Matsuda broke
Hogan's leg. After 10 weeks of rehab, Hogan returned to train with Matsuda and blocked him when
he tried to break his leg again.[28]
Professional wrestling career
Early years (1977–1979)
In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by
Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots
and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week.[29] In his
professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida, on
August 10, 1977, in CWF.[30][31] A short time later, Hogan donned a mask and assumed the persona of
"The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by
other wrestlers.[32]
Hogan eventually could no longer work with Matsuda, whom he felt was an overbearing trainer, and
left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from
wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for a man named
Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and opened a gym together;
the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.[33]
Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came to Cocoa Beach to help
Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his
spare time, both he and Leslie worked out in the gym together,[33] and eventually Beefcake developed
a muscular physique. Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced
that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to
return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find
him a job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed, and Hogan soon joined Louie
Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come
with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.[34]
In Alabama, Hogan and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers.
These early matches prompted a rumor among wrestling fans (who were not aware of the inner
workings of the wrestling business) that the two really were brothers,[35] as few people actually knew
their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for.
After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett,
the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for
$800 a week; this was far more than the $175 a week they would make working for Tillet.[36] Hogan
and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.[36]
During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno,
star of the television series The Incredible Hulk.[37] The host commented on how Hogan, who stood
6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds (134 kg) with 24-inch (61 cm) biceps, actually dwarfed
"The Hulk". Watching the show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than
Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Hogan began
performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder[38] and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.[1]
On December 1, 1979, Hogan won his first professional wrestling championship, the NWA
Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division), recognized in Alabama
and Tennessee, when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee. He dropped it in January 1980
to Bob Armstrong. He briefly wrestled in the Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from
September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden.[39]
World Wrestling Federation (1979–1981)
Hogan and his manager Freddie Blassie in 1980
In the fall of 1979, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to WWF
owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature.
McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave him the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to
dye his hair red. Bollea claims his hair was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused
to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish".[40] Bollea wrestled his first match in the WWF under
the ring name "Hulk Hogan" by defeating Harry Valdez[41] on the November 17 episode
of Championship Wrestling. He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden on December
17, 1979, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug.[42] After the match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for
putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor he repaid during DiBiase's second run
with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man".[43] McMahon gave
Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide.[44] At this time, Hogan
wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship,[45] and he started his first big feud with André
the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980.[46] During his
initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, himself a villainous
wrestler-turned-manager.[47]