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takerfoxx · 1 day ago

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A Real American Fraud: the Death of Hulkamania

Okay, I know this is coming two weeks too late, everyone has stopped talking about this and all, and I really should have finished this earlier, but I am always busy, always procrastinating, I got sick, and to be honest, I really didn't want to talk about this and often considered just scrapping the whole thing.

But hey, I said I would talk about it, and given that pro wrestling has been my special interest in decades and considering what a mess Hulk Hogan's legacy is, I really felt I had to say something. I of course couldn't just shoot off a quick RIP, but at the same time, I also felt that I couldn't just go "Good Riddance" without trying to explain why.

So here it goes. Here's me trying to untangle why in a business full of downfalls and toppled pedestals, it's biggest star fell the hardest.

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On January 6, 2025, Hulk Hogan made his last ever appearance on WWE television before his death on July 24.

The show was an important one, as it was to be the debut of Monday Night Raw on Netflix, which meant that everything had to be BIG! Big matches, big moments, and big stars past and present were all set to be there, which of course almost necessitated an appearance from the Immortal One. I mean, it only made sense, right? Hulk Hogan is synonymous with the WWE. It was largely on his star power that the then WWF went from being the regional New York territory to the national, and then internation juggernaut that it is today. For decades he has been the face of pro-wrestling, the first person that everybody thinks of when they think of the squared circle. And while his days of actually competing in the ring were loooooong behind him, his overwhelming charisma and magnetic personality were as sharp as ever. So it only made sense for him to appear for that nostalgic pop, give one of his classic promos, and also promote some beer for some reason.

Instead, the once-beloved icon was mercilessly booed out of the building in one of the most genuine expressions of hatred from the crowd to a specific wrestler.

How did things go so wrong? Sure, it had been a long time since he had been the Guy, and his schtick seems incredibly cheesy when compared to modern sensibilities, but nostalgia covers a multitude of sins. I mean, the guy was loved! How could he have received such a venomous reaction that had casual fans bewildered and dedicated wrestling fans shaking their heads and going, “No shit.”

Unfortunately for him, Hogan leaves a…complicated legacy, resulting in one of the starkest falls from grace in an industry that has knocked over many a pedestal. Over the last several years, any conversation about Hogan will soon turn toward how, in contrast with his wholesome superhero image, the man himself was kind of not a good person. At all. And while many wrestlers have also revealed themselves to be pretty shitty people, Hogan stands out in that people just can’t seem to stand the guy, from the constant bullshit that comes out of his mouth to his notorious backstage politicking that has selfishly sabotaged many a career for his own gain to his reprehensible politics to his supposed lack of any actual talent for the business that he was supposedly at the best at to his overinflated ego to, and most damningly, his despicable racism.

And yet, there’s something about this that still seems strange. Others have done similar things and still returned to warm receptions. Ultimate Warrior was worse than Hogan in every way and yet he got a nice sendoff. All the members of the Kliq have engaged in plenty of backstage backstabbing and politicking and yet people still cheer when they show up. Other legends who have clearly become absolute trainwrecks who just need to go away will at least get polite receptions. Why did Hogan get it so bad?

Starting with the least egregious, let’s talk about Hogan’s skills as a wrestler, or lack thereof. This is something that I’ve seen a lot over the years, with Hogan himself and other once-beloved figures who fell from grace, leading to many, many people go on and on about how their work was never good to begin with and stuff like that.

And I get it. Angry and dillusioned former fans who feel betrayed by their idol will want to convince themselves that the thing that they once loved was bad actually so as to make letting go all the easier. By the same token, those from a later time used to a more action-packed style will look back and wonder what the fuss was. But to be honest, I’ve never really vibed with that sort of thing. Talent is no respecter of integrity, the quality of a work is no dependent on the decency of the creator, and pretending otherwise feels dishonest. Gaiman’s books and comics really were that good, Kanye’s music really was that revolutionary, and for all the flaws that are thrown into a starker light, HP was the juggernaut it became for a reason. It’s just that the people who created them turned out to be kind of shit.

As for Hogan? Well, that’s a tricky one, as in this era of highly athletic, fast paced matches that easily hit the twenty minute mark, Hogan’s matches were short and comparatively uninspired affairs, being basically glorified squashes with a lot of stalling, posing, and mostly punches and power moves. And his whole persona is now ludicrously cheesy, even by the standards of the day. And there is no denying that his act got stale several times and there’s been plenty of times when he’s stunk out the joint. So dismissing him as being a talentless hack who got by on looks and promotion should be easy.

Well, here’s the thing.

Pro wrestling is a business of smoke and mirrors. I know in this age where matches average around 20 minutes and are fast-paced, athletic exhibitions, the Hogan matches of old would seem boring in comparison, but the whole point of wrestling isn’t to show off kind of cool stuff you can do, it’s to get yourself over in the manner that is right for you. And Hulk Hogan was a master at getting the most out of the least. He could show up, throw a few punches, do a suplex or two, hulk up, pose, pose, big boot, leg drop, finish, and the fans would go absolutely nuts for him. Because they weren’t there to appreciate the art and athleticism, they were there to see the superhero vanquish the villain. And in that lens, Hogan was one of the best, from his charisma to what he would do and when to crowd control. He wasn’t just some roided up beefcake that was only popular because WWF shoved him down everyone’s throats like the Ultimate Warrior or whatever. He knew exactly what he needed to do to be who he was.

And yes, his schtick often went way past its expiration date because of his ego, nobody’s denying that. However, during his long peak, he wrestled exactly the way that he should have wrestled.

I am not going to say many nice things about Hulk Hogan, but if you don’t understand why he was the star that he was for so long, then I don’t know what to tell you. And by the same token, even if he was as great a worker as Ricky Steamboat in his heyday, that wouldn’t make his behavior any less repugnant. His skills as a wrestler are completely immaterial to the controversy.

And as an aside, for everyone posting comments from Hogan's old rivals like Randy Savage and Andre the Giant, all I can say is maybe you ought to look into the reason why Bad News Brown once confronted Andre on a bus, or the most likely reason why WWF refused to work with Savage after he left despite bringing nearly everyone else back.

Keep posting quotes from the Iron Sheik though, as I haven't heard anything bad about him!

And this marks the end of me saying anything nice about Hulk Hogan.

The next possibility is Hulk Hogan’s reputation as a liar. The number of falsehoods that he’s told over the years is staggering, even in a business built upon warping the truth. From claiming to have wrestled more days in a year than a year has days thanks to flying back and forth from Japan to Metallica asking him to be their bass player to him being the one to bring Simon Cowell to America to Foreman Grills approaching him first to be their spokesperson and only going with George Foreman because Hogan missed the call, Hogan is a prime example of a bullshitter. You cannot trust anything that comes out of his mouth, because he’d rather climb a tree and lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth.

However, I’m adding this only because people have been mocking him for it for years. This isn’t the reason why people turned on him. His tall tales, while blatantly false, are pretty much harmless, and are more amusing than anything. Paul Heyman is as much of a liar as he, and he only gets booed when he’s a heel. So let’s move onto something more malicious: Hulk Hogan’s reputation as a selfish backstage politicker.

As much as I’ll give the man credit for his actual skills as a performer, his schtick went stale several times, and yet he remained on top despite audiences growing sick of him. And the reason for that is well-known. Plenty of wrestlers have a reputation for throwing their weight around backstage, leveraging their influence to ensure that they stay on top, that they win and keep winning, that no one’s star eclipses their own, and they are the ones getting all the attention and making all the money. And out of all of them, Hogan is by far the most notorious. Whether it be in the WWF (hi, Bret Hart!), WCW, or TNA, Hogan’s selfishness and two-faced nature has been talked about for decades, and his betrayal of Jesse Ventura is why wrestlers don’t even have a union despite desperately needing one. In sharp contrast to his wholesome role model persona, the real Hulk Hogan is as conniving as they come.

And yet, while this certainly contributed to the negative reception, it’s not really the main factor. Shawn Michaels also had a reputation for being a backstage diva. Kevin Nash’s own antics in keeping himself on top are well known as well. And yet, while people still snark about their primadonna behavior, people love them when they show up. Granted, both of them did get better and matured into better people while Hogan kept it up for waaaaay too long, but there are other, more significant factors at play.

So let’s start cracking into some truly gross behavior. Let’s talk about Hulk Hogan’s abhorrent politics.

Hogan was MAGA. He loudly and proudly supported Donald Trump. He’s shown up at Trump rallies decked out in MAGA paraphernalia and talked about wanting to body slam Kamala Harris. I mean, it wasn’t exactly a surprise given everything else we know about the guy, but given that a large chunk of today’s wrestling audience at least leans blue, you can imagine how many people felt a certain way about it. Hell, plenty of people have pointed to this as the main reason for him getting booed in LA, which sits in a largely blue area.

And I’m sure that didn’t help, but I also don’t think that it’s solely the case. Undertaker is MAGA, which disappointed a lot of people (including me), and yet he was at the same show and got a warm reception. Ric Flair did a few Trump events, and yet this rarely gets talked about in light of his many other problems, and people still at least seem to root for him to get his life together. Hell, the WWE is kind of super MAGA! The Trumps and the McMahons go way back, and Triple H has spoken highly about Trump several times, and yet the WWE crowd still loves them some Papa Haitch! Besides, Hogan’s gotten booed a few times even before openly supporting Trump.

So let’s move onto the last reason, and I’m can’t really play coy anymore, because yeah it’s the racism.

Look, Hulk Hogan was racist. Like, really racist. I don’t mean came from a different time and still has some lingering attitudes and poor choices of language, I mean openly disparaging black people while using the N word with the hard R in a manner that suggests that it wasn’t the first time. We’ve all heard or at least heard of the audio from the leaked sex tape, and then there’s his bizarre comment about not wanting to reincarnate as a black guy in the next life, and then there’s the total non-apology that he gave to the locker room after. Coupled with everything else, Hulk Hogan was very, very racist, and no amount of excusing that gross example of pillow talk as honest self-reflection is going to change that.

Though before I continue, I’m just want to state, for the record, that for as gross as Hulk Hogan is, and for as terrible of a person as Peter Thiel is, and for as troubling a legal precedent that it sets, I do feel that when Hogan and Thiel sued Gawker into oblivion…Gawker kind of had it coming.

I’m sorry, but there are just some lines you don’t cross, regardless of who they’re done against. You don’t out people against their will for clicks, and you don’t publicize somebody’s revenge porn. They could’ve simply posted the audio of his comments and reported on that, but they published the sex tape and refused to take it down. For that, yeah, Hogan was justified in going after them.

But that’s basically the extent in this in which he comes off as anything resembling the good guy. Because like I said, super racist. Had he given a REAL apology at the time and actually focused on bettering himself and cleaning up his image, then maybe things would’ve turned out different, but he didn’t, and chose to stump for Trump in the last months of his life.

Though you know what? While I do feel that the racism thing was the major tipping point, everything else really primed the pump for people to turn on him. Because let’s face it: while I do stand by what I said about him not getting his due as a performer, his history of stinking up the joint are probably just as long as those in which he was genuinely over. I think out of anything, it’s his selfishness and backstage politicking and staying well past his welcome that really readied people to turn on him, with his TNA run being particularly disastrous. Because if people already know that the man behind the persona is a slimy bastard whose conduct stands out in a business full of slimy bastards, for him to still put on a public front of being some kind of wholesome superhero when he clearly isn’t one, then by the time the tape leaked, I can’t help but feel that were so sick of Hogan that they were subconsciously waiting for a reason to give him the boot. And well, they got one.

Maybe if he had at least owned up to what he said and made an attempt to fix himself and his image, people…might have reacted better. But he didn’t. We got a non-apology and he started stumping for Trump, which proved once and for all that he wasn’t sorry, he was still the same racist that we saw in those recordings. So people were just done with him.

As for how I feel…it’s complicated. Yes, he was part of the angle that got me into wrestling, but it’s not like he was a major part of my childhood, and I didn’t really come to appreciate what he offered as a performer until long after knowing what a douchebag he is. So, let’s just say I’ve never been really let down by Hulk Hogan, because I’ve always known what he was like. Everything he’s done basically fell in line with what I already knew about him.

Probably the best way to illustrate my feelings is this: I actually have a signed picture of Hulk Hogan on my wall, and I honestly don’t feel really conflicted about it, nor am I going to take it down (though the fact that it’s also signed by Bryan Danielson has a lot to do with that). However, I also have a signed picture of the Undertaker that I do feel a little more conflicted about, as I always thought very highly of him and thus was far more disappointed by his own abhorrent politics. And every time someone who didn’t know about the controversy but knows that I love wrestling has asked me about my feelings on his passing, all of his vile behavior is very quickly brought up, to their surprise. I can still enjoy a classic Hogan match, sure, but I also have no problem letting anyone who asks what a piece of shit he was.

The Immortal Hulk Hogan is dead, and it’s weird to say, but his final appearance really did kill Hulkamania. Sure, his legacy will live on in one form or another, he will still have his fans willing to look past all that, but his image is forever soiled, and he did all of it himself. Was he a huge star, one of the biggest that pro wrestling has ever seen? Yes. Was he a one of a kind talent, often imitated but never duplicated? Absolutely. At the same time, however, everyone also knows the snake behind the smile, a real American fraud.

#wwe #hulk hogan #terry bollea

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