Credit: WWE

Hulk Hogan, WWE star and actor, dead at 71

Thu 24 July 2025 17:01, UK

Hulk Hogan, the WWE Hall of Famer and actor, has died at the age of 71.

Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, died on July 24th at his home in Clearwater, Florida, following a cardiac arrest, according to TMZ.

The publication states that a number of police cars and emergency medical technicians arrived at his home to offer medical help to Hogan, who was put on a stretcher and into an ambulance.

Earlier this month, his wife, Sky Hogan, denied reports that the former wrestler was in a coma, writing on Instagram: “No, he’s definitely not in a coma! His heart is strong, and there was never any lack of oxygen or brain damage… none of those rumors are true.”

Elaborating on his health issues, Sky added: “He’s been recovering from a major four-level Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF), which is an intense surgery with a long and layered healing process. If you look it up, you’ll see what the last six weeks have involved… not just for his spine, but also for his vocal cords, and the eating/breathing tubes that are clamped over during surgery.”

During his time in the WWE, Hogan helped make wrestling become a mainstream form of entertainment and rose to nationwide prominence during the 1980s. His popularity caught the attention of Hollywood, securing him a huge role in Rocky III, as well as No Holds Barred and Suburban Commando.

In the 1990s, Hogan left the WWE, then called WWF, to move to rival promotion WCW and helped them briefly become the most popular wrestling company in the United States. However, eventually the Monday Night War was won by WWE, who purchased WCW in 2001, and Hogan returned to his old stomping ground in 2002.

In 2005, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his Rocky III co-star Sylvester Stallone, and while he was no longer a full-time wrestler with the promotion, Hogan would regularly appear on television at this time. He later had stints in WWE from 2014 to 2015 and intermittently cameoed between 2018 and 2025.

His final appearance in WWE came at the Inglewood Forum in January 2025, the first episode of Monday Night Raw to be aired on Netflix. Hogan was loudly booed by the fans in the arena, largely due to his support of Donald Trump by speaking at the Republican National Convention and the footage of him using a racial slur that surfaced in 2015.

The footage led to his dismissal from WWE, and Hogan said of the video after it emerged online: “Eight years ago I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it.”

In the mid-2000s, Hogan’s family were at the centre of the MTV reality television series, Hogan Knows Best, which ran for four seasons. It followed Hulk, his then-wife Linda and their two children, Nick and Brooke. He also released the studio album, Hulk Rules, in 1995.

Hogan was married three times and wedded his third wife, Sky, in 2023. He is survived by his widow and two children.