Hulk Hogan, the American sports and entertainment star who made professional wrestling a global phenomenon and loudly supported Donald Trump for president, has died at the age of 71, World Wrestling Entertainment said on Thursday.

“WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture’s most recognisable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s,” WWE said on X. It gave no cause of death.

The bleach-blond, mahogany-tanned behemoth became the face of professional wrestling in the 1980s, helping transform the mock combat from a seedy spectacle into family-friendly entertainment worth billions of dollars.

A key moment in that evolution came at the WrestleMania III extravaganza in 1987, when Hogan hoisted fellow wrestler Andr the Giant before a sold-out Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for a thunderous body slam of the Frenchman.

Hogan parlayed his wrestling fame into a less successful career in Hollywood, starring in films like Rocky III and Santa With Muscles, but kept returning to the ring as long as his body would allow.

In 2024, he appeared at the Republican National Convention to endorse the presidential bid of Trump, who in the 1980s had played host to Hulk-headlined WrestleManias. Hogan said he made the decision to support the Republican candidate after seeing his combative, fist-pumping reaction to an attempted assassination on the campaign trail.

“Let Trumpamania run wild, brother!” Hogan bellowed to a cheering crowd, ripping off his shirt to reveal a Trump tank top. “Let Trumpamania rule again!”

Becoming ‘Hulk’

Born Terry Gene Bollea in Augusta, Georgia, on Aug 11, 1953, the future Hulk and his family soon moved to the Tampa, Florida area. After high school, he played bass guitar for area rock bands, but felt a pull to the red-hot wrestling scene in Florida in the 1970s.

Many of the details of his career were showbusiness exaggerations, representative of the blurred lines between fact and fiction in wrestling. His first trainer reportedly broke Hogan’s leg to dissuade him from entering the business, but he kept at wrestling, weight training, and — he later admitted — anabolic steroids. He gained in notoriety as his biceps turned into what he dubbed the “24-inch pythons.”

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2025