Thank You Hulk Hogan: A roundtable tribute
July 24th 2025 will be remembered in the minds of all pro-wrestling fans as the date when Hulkamania died. Terry Bollea AKA Hulk Hogan passed away and following Hogan’s passing an entire generation commemorated the career and life of one of pop-culture’s greatest icons.
Upon hearing the news, the Wrestling Estate team came together to produce a special roundtable celebrating the contributions, career and life of the immoral Hulk Hogan in professional wrestling.
How did you hear about the news that Hulk Hogan passed away?
Lavie Margolin:
It was trending on X. It took me a few minutes to believe it.
Jack Goodwillie:
I had a social media alert, can’t remember the outlet though because as the new broke my phone became flooded with notifications.
James Klonowski:
I was working on a children’s book when I got a text from my brother saying if I’d seen the news about his passing. It was a complete shock. I know there had been conflicting rumours recently about his health, and what condition he actually was in, and it just goes to show there was more truth to those rumours than we initially thought.
Juan Bautista:
“I’m not celebrating his death, but I’m not mourning it either.” (Steve from WrestleJuice Friday July 25, 2025) There is no questioning Hulk Hogan’s impact on professional wrestling on a global standpoint. You can’t deny the box office numbers across multiple decades with the accomplishments that followed.
Steven Jackson:
It was a text I received from my eldest cousin on WhatsApp who’s a lapsed wrestling fan. I immediately got online to check the news. I then began refreshing the BBC News feed to make sure it was true about Hogan’s death. It took me a few minutes to believe it but then it slowly sank in.
What’s your earliest memory of seeing or hearing about Hulk Hogan?
Margolin:
My earliest pro wrestling memory was seeing (what I realized later) a recap of the Saturday Night’s main event angle on Wrestling Challenge that led up to WrestleMania V: the Mega Powers vs. the Twin Towers. Elizabeth gets injured, Hogan leaves to help her, Savage is left all alone, accuses Hogan of lusting after Elizabeth.
Hogan was also in the main event of my first wrestling show ever. It was at Madison Square Garden and he was against the Earthquake. I went with my parents and it is one of my favorite memories.
Goodwillie:
I wasn’t allowed to watch wrestling as a kid, which coincided with wrestling’s heyday in the United States between 1997 and 2002, but Hulk Hogan as a pop-culture figure transcended all of that. I was aware of him as the world’s most famous wrestler. How I became aware of him specifically, I’m not so sure.
When I did finally dive into wrestling in 2004 when I was 12, the first wrestling game I picked up was Legends of Wrestling II, in which Hulk Hogan was heavily featured and of all the wrestlers in that game (with the exception of Eddie Guerrero who I would watch every week on Smackdown), the most recognizable to me.
Klonowski:
I first started watching wrestling at the tail end of 1999, and was a complete WWE guy so the first I heard of Hulk Hogan was when The Big Show dressed up as him for his match with Kurt Angle at Backlash 2000, and Jim Ross mocked The Hulkster on commentary throughout as Hulk was still with WCW at the time.
But then when he came over in 2002 and had that epic showdown with The Rock at WrestleMania, I became somewhat of an Hulkamaniac. I think you’re lying if you say you like WWE and aren’t a Hulkamaniac, to be honest.
Bautista:
Everyone has their starting point Hogan. He was a wrestler at one point in time trying to find his way. Those in Minnesota saw him get an entire state behind him and later star in Rocky III. In WWE, you saw him as an all american hero and in later years looking for more as a legend.
One leg drop is all it took for Hogan to become the coolest thing in wrestling in WCW while in TNA he became the saddest thing ever.
Jackson:
It was Hollywood Hogan in 1999 in WCW. I was too young to be a Hulkamaniac first time around so my entry to Hogan came through the nWo. What was interesting though is that when I began watching WCW my sister recognised Hogan straight away and told me about his 80s WWF run.
From there I asked my cousins and sought out VHS tapes of Hulk Hogan from the 1980s and early 1990s, specifically Royal Rumble 1990 and 1991.
How would pro-wrestling in the USA have looked if Hulk Hogan had not jumped to the WWF from the AWA in 1983?
Margolin:
Not as big. It’s iffy if it would have gotten over the hump. Sgt. Slaughter, for example, could fulfill the American patriotism role but Hogan transcended the sport.
Goodwillie:
Hogan not jumping in 1983 doesn’t necessarily mean he wouldn’t go later. After all, as big of a piece of the WWF’s expansion plan as Hogan was, he was still, at most, a big piece of the plan. The plan itself is something that Vince McMahon would have proceeded with one way or the other, and it was one that could have succeeded agnostic to Hulk Hogan.
Hogan was the color that brought the vision to life, but at its core, the vision was built around securing TV deals in every major market and the rest of the business’ inability to adjust. Of course, the grand vision was WrestleMania, and that likely only comes together if McMahon has Hogan or some sort of comparable star.
If you’re to look at the WWF roster at that time, Sgt. Slaughter was being pushed heavily as a top babyface at the time and could have slotted in to feud with the Iron Sheik as an American hero. The feud would have done good business, though Sarge lacked the intangibles that Hulk had to springboard off of it and become something larger than life.
It’s also entirely possible McMahon would have pivoted to a Randy Savage or a Jim Duggan, but they did not come to the WWF until 1985 and 1987 respectively and were not yet the version of themselves that made them attractive options for the WWF.
The short answer is that ultimately, the territories would have gone the way of the dinosaurs because of McMahon’s television plan and the inability of territory promoters to adapt, but the lack of a Hulk Hogan-level star puts a firm ceiling on what wrestling could have become otherwise.
Klonowski:
Very, very different. He was the personification of Americana. Showbiz, aura, charisma, larger than life, he just had everything, and he was in the right place with Vince McMahon looking to take WWE mainstream with his sports entertainment approach.
Truly the most important moment in the history of WWE was Hulk Hogan joining in 1984. I don’t think anything else even comes close to what a seismic change that was.
Bautista:
The complexion of wrestling is different if Hogan doesn’t jump from the AWA because he was the biggest piece to the puzzle.
Jackson:
Professional wrestling in North America would not be what it is today. Hulk Hogan’s jump from the AWA to WWF was the vital piece of the jigsaw Vince McMahon Jr. needed to make his vision a reality. The sad thing is that had Vince McMahon Sr. seen how “Superstar” Billy Graham got across with the audience, it could have been Billy Graham rather than Hulk Hogan who made pro-wrestling mainstream.
What do you think was Hulk Hogan’s greatest match?
Margolin:
There were 3 and they were all similar in the sense that they were all Hogan passing the torch: Ultimate Warrior, Goldberg and the Rock.
Goodwillie:
Hogan vs. Rock, Hogan vs. Warrior and the Hogan vs. Andre matches prior to WrestleMania III are all great answers. For me, it’ll always be Hogan vs. Vince. Both men, non-wrestlers by 2003, left it all out there for the fans and delivered a surprisingly believable, bloody brawl to culminate their feud over who the true creator of Hulkamania really was.
Klonowski:
Has to be his aforementioned “Icon Vs Icon” encounter with The Rock from WrestleMania 18. It’s the match I always turn to when trying to convert a total newbie to the wacky world of professional wrestling that we love. It is a masterpiece of storytelling from two of the finest to ever do it.
Jackson:
Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. Goldberg. I love Hogan vs. Savage, Hogan vs. Piper, Hogan vs. Bossman from SNME and even Hogan vs. Warrior (from Wrestlemania VI of course!), but Hogan vs. Goldberg will always have a special place in my heart.
Hogan was always criticised for never putting people over. However, Hogan made sure to make Goldberg look like a million dollars and the wrestler that would take the industry into the 2000s. We need to remember too that Hogan will have been the ring general here and did an unbelievable job as a veteran. And it was on TV!?
Who was Hulk Hogan’s greatest rival?
Margolin:
Bobby Heenan for creating consistency and threading through so many opponents throughout the years during the WWF run from the Heenan family through Ric Flair.
Goodwillie:
It’s tough to say. Vince was Hogan’s greatest antagonist. Warrior was the Hogan in-waiting. Randy Savage was the classic No. 1 vs. No. 2 type of feud. Sting was the greatest rival for heel Hogan, and then you also have Ric Flair. But think I was generally underwhelmed by Flair’s work with Hogan because out of the names I just mentioned. He is sort of the gun-to-your-head outlier and not really a conventional opponent for Hulkamania.
I thought Roddy Piper was a better stand-in to what a Flair-Hogan feud would have looked like in the WWF, and I think by the time they faced off in WCW the bloom had come off the rose a little. Then there’s Andre the Giant. Nuff said.
It’s a very tough question. Agnostic to the matches, hell, even agnostic to the moments, I have to think it’s Andre the Giant. The Irresistible Force vs. The Immovable Object. A tale as old as time that is still replicated today and will continue to be until we’re dead and buried.
Klonowski:
In real life or in the ring? Because he’s had a lot in both! I’d say Randy Savage or The Ultimate Warrior, for both, and leave it at that.
Bautista:
The biggest rival in Hulk Hogan’s career was himself. Hogan couldn’t get out of his own way until the very end. He has the same fate as his former boss Vince McMahon. Hulk Hogan is one of the biggest stars of all time, but has a legacy you can’t exactly celebrate entirely.
Jackson:
Rowdy Roddy Piper! Piper was the kyrptonite to Hogan’s Superman. Roddy Piper wasn’t as big or strong as Hulk Hogan but Piper knew how to outsmart the Hulkster whenever needed. It’s a seminal rivalry in wrestling history and one that followed the classic formula: Good conquering evil.
What was the greatest moment in Hulk Hogan’s career?
Margolin:
Either pinning Iron Sheik at MSG or slamming Andre.
Goodwillie:
Greatest moment? Slamming Andre at WrestleMania III. In all the highlight reels that have played since his passing and will continue to play, that is the clip that I think resonates with the most people.
Klonowski:
Turning heel and joining the nWo. Nobody saw it coming, and I’d have loved to have witnessed that live. Talk about a major shift in the landscape of the Monday Night Wars. That single heel turn almost put WWE and Vince McMahon out of the business. The irony of Hulk Hogan had been the guy to end the company he basically created.
Jackson:
Look I love WCW. I love the nWo. So it has to be when Hulk Hogan walked down the ring at Bash at the Beach 1996 and revealed he was the mystery Third Man! What a moment. Yes slamming Andre the Giant was a feat but for Hogan to totally reinvent himself and make wrestling history at the same time was incredible.
Did you prefer Hulk’s time in the WWE or WCW?
Margolin:
WWF (sorry, I still can’t say the E when it refers to the earlier time period).
Goodwillie:
By and large, WWE, although that second act I was so fond of admittedly doesn’t happen without his WCW run. I just think that as hot as his run in WCW got at the peak of the nWo, bad booking, bad morale and the slow deterioration of his work all the while marred it a little for me
And just as there is no second WWF run without his WCW run, there is no WCW run without the initial wave of Hulkamania throughout the bulk of the ’80s.
Klonowski:
Well, the only bits I saw of him in WCW was feuding with Billy Kidman and The Wall so I’d have to say WWE, and I think most would. While it was fun to watch him heel it up as Hollywood Hogan in the nWo, he will always be remembered for the red and yellow.
Jackson:
See the sentimental side in me is coming out again. I love Hulk Hogan’s time in WWF but something about WCW always appeals more to me. I think it’s because Hogan had already made his name, so Hogan didn’t need to wrestle to get himself over. People hated Hogan’s privilege and that’s what made him a fantastic heel.
Now I do agree that Hulk Hogan did get ‘X-Pac heat’ and didn’t help WCW as much as he should. But, people are still talking about the ‘Fingerpoke of Doom’ and Bash at the Beach 2000, which is what matters. I don’t agree with those actions, but it’s better to be spoken about after the fact than forgotten.
How do you feel about Hulk’s time in TNA?
Margolin:
Meh. Took the wheels off a promotion that had momentum. That first Monday night in January was a glorious hotshot and ratings success but it was over within weeks.
Goodwillie:
When I heard the news, I was thrilled. Nowadays you hear a lot about whether TNA is actually doing a service to themselves with the WWE partnership (IE, Joe Hendry showing up on WrestleMania to lose as the TNA champion). Personally, I think a lot of that critique is bullshit and unfounded, but I will admit that when Hogan came to TNA I initially had the same opinion before ultimately changing my mind before 1/4/10.
While TNA hitching its wagon to a star of Hogan’s magnitude inevitably improved the visibility of the product, it did so at the expense of the quality of the product. Whereas with WWE and TNA’s partnership, the TNA product has generally continued to be pretty strong, with some slight exceptions.
Obviously, the additions of Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam were great. Jeff, after Sting, Jeff Jarrett and AJ Styles, could have a case for being one of the company’s staple stars over its full history, and when there’s an opportunity to bring RVD into the fold, you don’t say no.
However, it was the additions of faces like the Nasty Boys, The Band, and yes, Bubba the Love Sponge that foretold a different direction for the product. All the show really needed was the old product with Hulk Hogan rubbing elbows with the stars that would carry the company the next 4-6 years.
I don’t know of anything good that came out of it other than maybe the fact I got to see Hulk Hogan wrestle Sting for the final time LIVE. Granted, it was at Bound for Glory 2011.
Klonowski:
The less said about that the better. Wrong guy. Wrong place. Wrong everything.
Jackson:
I thought it was amazing TNA had got Hulk Hogan to agree a contract. However, the issue was that TNA was gaining great momentum at the close of 2009, so I was worried that things would suddenly change in 2010. Unfortunately that was the case.
I don’t know Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff’s political standings in TNA, but I felt Hogan took away from the up-and-coming stars rather than helping them. It was history repeating itself from what fans had seen during 1999 and 2000 of Hulk Hogan’s WCW run.
However, seeing how the fans and announcers reacted to Hulk Hogan making his entrance in the Impact Zone during his debut in TNA is still one of the coolest moments in TNA history.
Should Hulk Hogan be included on every pro-wrestling Mount Rushmore?
Margolin:
He should be at the top of a pyramid and you go down from there.
Goodwillie:
Yes.
Klonowski:
From a pure standpoint of importance to the business, without a shadow of a doubt. He’s number one.
Bautista:
Now more than ever naturally the ‘Mount Rushmore’ discussion has sprung up again. Obviously Hulk Hogan would be on almost every Mount Rushmore. If we maintain the same standards to others in society then he will only be on the Mount Rushmore that WWE proclaims.
Jackson:
Hulk Hogan NEEDS to be on every professional wrestling Mount Rushmore. Hogan helped push the mould of modern day professional wrestling, which all fans see today.
Not to discredit great wrestlers like Lou Thesz, Harley Race, Gene Kiniski, or even Bruno Sammartino, but Hulk Hogan was to North American wrestling what Rikidozan, El Santo and Big Daddy were to professional wrestling in their respective countries.
What is Hulk Hogan’s legacy in professional wrestling?
Margolin:
The greatest of all-time. His highs were the highest. However, when people didn’t want to see him-they really didn’t want to see him.
Goodwillie:
To praise Hulk Hogan for his entire body of work on this planet is not to excuse him from some of his actions later in life. Hogan always struck me as a clinically depressed man who likely never dealt with the tragedies of his midlife in any way that could be healthy or productive for him.
When he would give interview or go on podcasts, it was almost like he was in “work mode” because that’s all he knew when the red light would turn on. I think for a time he was able to turn Hulk Hogan on and off. Having a reality TV show in the mid-2000s, combined with a dependency on prescription medication for his back, likely made it even more difficult.
Stevie Richards once told a hilarious story on his podcast about Hogan telling him he needs “10 million dollars a year just to live,” to which Stevie replied, “You give me 10 million dollars and you’ll never have to see me again.” Some of this is just speculation, but I am of the mind that Hulk Hogan was not a bad guy, but a good guy who sometimes did bad things.
Why do good people do bad things? There’s never an easy answer. What I do know is that the weight he was burdened with, carrying not only a company on his back but the hopes and dreams of every wrestling-loving American child had to be emotionally exhausting.
But that’s what he did, and it’s a role that, in a way, he never let go of. He couldn’t stop being Hulk Hogan because he lost sight of where Terry Bollea ends and Hulk Hogan begins. Whether it was the constant lying, the racist comments or his appetite for the spotlight, you are more than within your right to not want to celebrate Hogan’s life and career.
It’s also a fact that the wrestling business we know and love today would not exist without him. It may exist, but in a drastically different form. Perhaps it wouldn’t exist at all. His legacy as a human being is going to be debated til the end of time, but as far as his professional wrestling legacy is concerned, he’s the unquestioned biggest star the business has ever seen and probably will ever see.
Klonowski:
His legacy was somewhat tarnished with his unsavoury (to say the least) remarks and a lack of a true apology, but he is still Hulk Hogan. He is still the reason wrestling exists as it does today. He should forever be immortalised as the icon he truly is to professional wrestling. I hope we can separate the man Terry Bollea from the icon that is Hulk Hogan.
Hulk Hogan’s legacy is a testament to the power of character, showmanship, and connection. He inspired countless individuals to pursue their dreams, brought families together to watch his epic battles, and, most importantly, made millions believe in the power of “Hulkamania.”
For many of us, he wasn’t just a wrestler; he was a part of our childhoods, a symbol of hope, and a reminder that with enough “Hulkamania,” anything is possible.
Bautista:
The legacy of Hulk Hogan is intertwined with the man that portrayed it…Terry Bollea. The man, myth and legend can’t be separated. The past weekend has seen a wide spectrum of response there can be due to the last 10-15 years of his life.
Ironically Hulk Hogan passed away on the 10-year anniversary of the day that forever altered his life. The leaked tape that featured the unforgivable racist rant that a proper apology was never given. WWE made the right decision with the banning of Hulk Hogan in 2015, but made the wrong decision with welcoming back with open arms.
The locker room speech that should’ve happened took place, but the words that should’ve been spoken weren’t. As Big E later elaborated in a video posted to Twitter later to be confirmed by others that were present in that locker room Hulk Hogan only apologized for the fact he got caught. He was doing what he always did and tried to play the victim. For the die hard Hulkamaniacs that was enough, but for others it wasn’t.
The NBA stood their ground against Donald Sterling and has not welcomed him back. In a weird scenario a double standard has developed and the same rules haven’t been applied. To this day, Tessa Blanchard is still dealing with the noise of previous allegations and those that brought up those allegations still hold her accountable. The same can’t be said with Hulk Hogan.
Now there is no excuse for the online abuse that Chelsea Green experienced, but a more respectable way to approach her would be why the shift in energy because of who signs your paychecks. Now I’m not saying to disregard a life, but the statement was a WWE PR statement.
Now no one is a perfect “saint” if such things exist, but standards still have to exist. For years to come this will be an obstacle people choose to tackle or ignore. In the weekend that has followed his passing Hulk Hogan is as polarizing as ever and will be for the rest of time.
We will all remember where we were when we discovered the news. The career of Hogan is as complex, controversial and historic as they come. It will be a story told for the rest of time, a story that now has a beginning, middle and end.
Jackson:
Trying to describe Hulk Hogan’s legacy in professional wrestling is one of the toughest questions I could be asked. How can you sum up a career and life like Terry Bollea AKA Hulk Hogan’s? Hulk Hogan is the reason why The Wrestling Estate (and all other key wrestling news websites) exist.
Hulk Hogan was a superhero to children and adults around the world. He was larger than life in body and personality. Hulk Hogan was the individual that allowed professional wrestling to be accepted as a mainstream form of entertainment. The person that broke more box office records, sold out more arenas, and converted more non-wrestling fans into wrestling fans than anybody else.
Saying all this, it feels only apt that I close with probably the most important match of Hulk Hogan’s career. Wrestlemania VI: The Ultimate Challenge. Title for title. The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan. Hulkamania had been running wild throughout the 1980s and the Ultimate Warrior was set to grab the torch for the 1990s. Hogan was at his peak and Warrior was at his peak. North American wrestling was a pin on the map.
But what I want all you readers to pay attention to is Hulk Hogan’s walk to the ring. The noise. The atmosphere. The emotion. Gorilla Monsoon’s call of “It is deafening in here in the Skydome”, leading to him and Jesse “The Body” Ventura falling silent and watching the entrance of one of the most important pop-culture figures of all-time is unlike anything else you’ll witness.
Upon hearing Hogan’s passing, I rewatched this moment and it drew me to tears. 65,000+ people’s eyes glued on a man who built what we view as professional wrestling. A man beloved around the globe and a person who, granted, made mistakes in his later life , and I’m sure he regretted, made an impression on the world that will last forever. Thank you Hulk Hogan!
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