Hulk Hogan died at 71. Here are his most memorable moments.
Hulk Hogan died at 71 on Thursday morning after cardiac arrest. The embattled, controversial and iconic Hall of Famer is arguably the greatest pro wrestler of all time depending on how you define a great pro wrestler. Even without the hardcore wrestling bona fides that befit his less famous contemporaries like Terry Funk, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Roddy Piper and Ric Flair, very few people on planet earth will hear the name Hulk Hogan and not know who he is.
Hogan’s almost 50-year career in the wrestling business gave way to countless memorable moments. Some polarizing, some timeless, but every one of them was all the above.
1. The Rise Of Hulkamania
Hulk Hogan was fired from WWE after pursuing a now-iconic role on Rocky III as Thunderlips. The role launched him into superstardom and made him an instantly recognizable figure, not to mention a draw for Verne Gagne’s Minnesota-based wrestling promotion AWA.
Hogan left AWA to join Vincent Kennedy McMahon’s WWE, where he won his first world championship within months of signing. Hogan’s victory over the Iron Sheik is considered the birth of Hulkamania and the beginning of the WWE’s national takeover of the wrestling business.
2. Hulk Hogan Chokes Out Richard Belzer
Ahead of what would be his most important main event, a tag team match alongside Mr. T at WrestleMania I, Hulk Hogan and Mr. T went on a back-breaking promotional tour to promote WWE’s make-or-break showcase. In addition to hosting Saturday Night Live the night before WrestleMania I, Hogan and Mr. T’s most infamous stop came during an appearance on Belzer’s show Hot Properties.
The smarmy talk show host clearly didn’t understand pro wrestling, nor did he take it seriously. This clearly miffed Mr. T, who antagonized Belzer throughout the interview. Hogan did his best to remain professional throughout. While demonstrating a basic wrestling hold on Belzer, however, Hogan accidentally choked out the cocky host who went limp and passed out onstage, hitting his head. A clearly disoriented Belzer quickly hopped to his feet and threw to commercial break.
The incident would cost WWE a $400,000 settlement after Belzer sued, but this is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things considering the free press this caused, which helped lead to a successful WrestleMania pay-per-view.
3. Hulk Hogan Headlines First WrestleMania
Hulk Hogan and WWE’s finest hour (to this point) came at the first WrestleMania, WWE’s Super Bowl. Compared to what WrestleMania has become, the main event was nothing to write home about.
Hogan and Mr. T won via disqualification in a tag team main event. This was the only tag team main event in WrestleMania history until WrestleMania 39, and one of the few WrestleMania main event matches where a world title was not on the line. Still, WWE’s accumulation of talent from territories around the country led to a successful event that would change the face of pro wrestling, making the scripted sport mainstream at the expense of regional territories.
4. Hulk Hogan Slams Andre The Giant
Ask a wrestling nerd what the best match of WrestleMania III was, and they’ll mansplain Randy Savage vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Ask WWE’s business manager what the most important match of WrestleMania III was, and they’ll tell you Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant. WrestleMania drew a record-breaking crowd—a disputed 93,173 fans in the Silverdome, who witnessed quite possibly the most immortal moment in WWE history.
If WrestleMania I was a celebration of a new mainstream wrestling product, WrestleMania III was the coronation. In the night’s main event, Hogan slammed Andre the Giant en route to successfully defending his WWE Championship, and wrestling was never the same.
5. Hulk Hogan Wins The WWE Title Against Yokozuna At WrestleMania 9
One of Hulk Hogan’s most polarizing moments came at the end of WrestleMania IX. In a post-Hogan era, where Hogan and WWE seemingly parted ways, the event struggled to sell tickets in Las Vegas’ Caesar’s Palace. As WWE’s biggest show of the year drew closer, WWE had no choice but to break the red-and-yellow emergency glass case and book Hulk Hogan. This was Hogan’s ninth consecutive WrestleMania, and it was memorable for a host of reasons.
Hogan showed up sporting a gnarly black eye after a Jet Ski accident, an incident that is the subject of pro wrestling lore as some fans believed the injury was due to a physical altercation with Randy Savage. Savage playfully fed into these rumors while on commentary during the event. Hogan and Brutus the Barber Beefcake failed to win the Tag Team Titles in another WrestleMania tag team match featuring Hogan with a DQ finish. But this was far from the most memorable moment of the evening.
Hogan resurfaced following Yokozuna’s heel win over Bret Hart to capture his first WWE Championship. After Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna’s manager, challenged Hogan to a world title match on behalf of Yokozuna, Hogan jumped at the opportunity and beat the superheavyweight in a matter of seconds. Fans in Caesar’s Palace went crazy for the moment live, but many hardcore fans who had grown tired of Hogan’s act consider this—well—a black eye on the history of WrestleMania.
6. Hulk Hogan Signs With WCW
As WWE unceremoniously moved on from Hulk Hogan in the ‘90s, this time for real, Hogan took his talents to WCW where he got a new lease on life. The massive signing was celebrated with a red-and-yellow parade at Disney-MGM Studios, and Hogan’s WCW pay-per-view debut featured the likes of Mr. T and Shaquille O’Neal.
Hogan won his debut, capturing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in a win over Ric Flair.
7. Hulk Hogan Turns Heel, Joins NWO
Perhaps the most infamous heel turn in pro wrestling history came at Bash at the Beach in 1996. The bloom had come off the rose as far as Hogan’s drawing power as a babyface. After over two decades of telling young fans to say their prayers and eat their vitamins, the world had become more edgy and cynical in the ’90s.
As had pro wrestling.
Hogan shrewdly leaned in to American counterculture by aligning with heel outsider faction the New World Order, switching out the red and yellow for black and white. In 2025, whitemeat babyface had a similar heel turn, causing ubiquitous debates of whether or not this was better than Hogan’s heel turn almost 20 years later.
It wasn’t.
8. Hulk Hogan Vs The Rock At WrestleMania X8
During Hulk Hogan’s comeback in 2002, he initially returned as the charter member of the NWO that he was during the group’s rise in the ’90s. But the Hogan fatigue that forced him to turn heel in 1996 was replaced with fan nostalgia inside the SkyDome, where he headlined WrestleMania VI against the Ultimate Warrior.
Though Hogan was supposed to be a heel, fans in Toronto vehemently cheered Hollywood Hogan, causing somewhat of a double-turn within the match. Hogan would eventually succumb to The Rock, but received a curtain call from the stadium in quite possibly the most unfollowable match in WrestleMania history.
9. Hogan Wins WWE Undisputed Title In 2002
Hulk Hogan’s nostalgic run in 2002 was punctuated with his first WWE Championship win in nine years. Now wearing his vintage Hulkamaniac colors, Hollywood Hulk Hogan defeated Triple H at WWE Backlash, becoming one of the oldest active wrestlers to win the WWE Championship in history.
10. Hulk Hogan Returns On WWE Netflix
Hulk Hogan’s final appearance on WWE television was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
During Raw’s debut on Netflix in Inglewood, Hulk Hogan marched out to Intuit Dome to a chorus of boo’s. The broadcast was supposed to be a celebration of WWE’s past, present and future, but fans in the historically Black enclave still had not forgiven Hogan for his racist remarks made during a leaked sex tape in 2015. Despite a clumsy apology tour, Hogan was never able to completely shake his darkest moment. His otherwise incomparable legacy will forever be stained by his hateful remarks about Black people.
