NFL
By: Rick O’Donnell
First it was Theo (Malcolm Jamal Warner), then it was Ozzy, and now they took Hulk. It’s a sad week for ’80s icons. I guess if you’re splitting hairs, Black Sabbath may have started in the 80s, but Ozzy’s best-selling album, Blizzard of Oz, debuted in the 80s. However, very few stars were bigger than Terry Bollea, better known to the wrestling world as Hulk Hogan. He was known to Rocky fans as Thunderlips. In his later years, he was known as Hollywood Hogan, but nothing was quite like Hulkamania.
Despite what the adult me had to endure from Terry Bollea, a younger version of me idolized Hulk Hogan. The (then) WWF was a huge part of my growing up. Back when PLEs were known as Pay-Per-Views, before WrestleMania was a two-night event, before the Attitude Era, and yes, even back before Shawn Michaels switched to his vocals on his theme music, Hulkamania ran wild in my household, and of course, at my grandparents where we’d typically watch the PPVs.
Hogan was as big a star as any in the ’80s. There was the aforementioned Rocky movie, No Holds Barred, and of course, Suburban Commando. He and other fellow wrestlers had a short-lived Saturday Morning Cartoon called Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling. He was the cover athlete for dang near every WWF video game to be put out in that era. Back before the icons such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, Hulk Hogan was paving a path to becoming “The Immortal One.”
Back before the controversies, ask any wrestling fan who their Mount Rushmore of wrestling was, and it would be hard to find anyone who didn’t name Hogan. If you were to ask why, any and everyone would have the same answer: he was a legend.
Going back to those days as a kid, spending time at my grandparents’ house, with an uncle who was only a few years older than me, we bonded over wrestling. Back when kids were still allowed to rough-house, weather permitting, we’d go outside and play, mainly at the stern request of my exhausted grandparents: “WILL YOU TWO GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY?” It was probably the most-used phrase in the household. When it was too rainy, it was tackle basketball in the den. Yet, our favorite pastime was reenacting the matches and moves we’d seen on TV.
There were plenty of figure-four leg locks, big boots, sleeper holds that led to the arm drop, and classic “hulk up” and dreaded point that would spell the other’s doom. It was a pastime that carried well into our early teenage years, even when Hulk Hogan left for WCW.
Neither of us were huge WCW fans, but occasionally you’d flip over during the “Monday Night Wars” to catch whatever was happening during commercial breaks. Luckily, the “Attitude Era wasn’t far behind, and WWE was soon to follow. In his absence, WWE still thrived, but a whole new chapter of our wrestling fandom reopened with Hogan’s return in the early 2000s. Vince McMahon had bought WCW, and some of the biggest stars were returning home, most notably Hulk Hogan.
In 2002, just after WrestleMania, for my birthday, my mom purchased me tickets to a SmackDown taping in Rochester, NY. Hogan’s run was with the NWO, but he was on his way back to becoming a fan favorite. Fast-forward to August 4th, where my uncle and two of his friends (who also loved wrestling) were seated, ready for SmackDown. It was one of my first real shows that wasn’t a “house show” that came to the area. We were seated not too far back in decent seats, not too far from the ring. Imagine our faces when Hulk came out, not in the black and white of Hollywood Hogan, but returned for the first time in his classic red and yellow Hulkamania colors. The place went absolutely insane.
A few years later, my mother, who was always the respectful one, on her travels back from Florida, where we frequently vacationed, saw him at the airport. Did she get a picture with him or an autograph? No, she did not, and she knew I was disappointed in her and my stepdad, a feeling that would linger for longer than I’d like to admit.
Say what you will about Hulk Hogan, but he was essentially the WWF’s version of Superman. However, where Superman was “Truth, Justice, and the American way”, Hogan was more of the “say your prayers, eat your vitamins…” and fans ate it right up. Just like the heroes in the comics, he had you believing the good guy would always win in the end. Too bad, in the end he didn’t prove to be a good guy.
No matter how you choose to remember someone, it’s important to always acknowledge the impact they’ve had on your life. It’s easy for the internet to sway your opinion. Of course, there were things in the later years of his life I didn’t agree with or that soured my opinion, but now that he’s passed away, there’s no need to carry that burden or frustration. Some of my fondest memories with my family and friends were thanks to Hulkamania and the WWF/WWE, and those moments mean a lot. I’ll never agree with everything that came out, but at least I have some great moments I’ll remember.
