BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Wrestling champion, Hulk Hogan is dead. He was 71.
The news was first reported by TMZ on Thursday morning. WWE confirmed the news at noon.
“WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away,” the company said in a statement. “One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans.”
It was reported that Clearwater Fire Department and Clearwater Police Department personnel responded to a medical call at 9:51 a.m. Thursday morning in the 1000 block of Eldorado Avenue on Clearwater Beach, according to USA Today.
The nature of the call was for a cardiac arrest. Hogan was treated by Clearwater Fire & Rescue crews before being taken by Sunstar to Morton Plant Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.
Born Terry Gene Bollea on Aug. 11, 1953, in Augusta, Georgia, Hulk Hogan is one of the greatest — certainly one of the most attention-getting — professional wrestlers of all time.
“The key figure in WWE’s rise from regional attraction to worldwide entertainment leader in the 1980s, The Hulkster’s superhuman size and undeniable charisma set the standard for what a Superstar should be,” WWE writes in Hogan’s biography. “A larger-than-life icon, he packed 93,173 WWE fans into the Pontiac Silverdome, won six WWE Championships, starred in movies, television shows and his own animated series and became an idol to a vast legion of fans he dubbed his Hulkamaniacs.”
According to Pro Wrestling Wiki, Hogan is a 12-time World Champion, including six WWF/WWE Championships, six WCW World Heavyweight Championships, and a former WWE World Tag Team Champion with fellow wrestler Edge.
He is survived by his third wife, Sky Daily; his two children, Brooke and Nick; and his grandchildren, twins Oliver and Molly, who were born in January of this year.
Hogan officially retired from wrestling in 2012 after a 35-year career.
Hogan has lived all over Florida.
He has lived in Tampa and Miami, got married, then divorced, and then married again. At the time of his death, he resided in Clearwater, where he opened a Hulkamania shop. A second shop is located in Orlando.
He also once mentioned on social media that he quit wrestling for a year, back in the late 1970s, to run a bar in Cocoa Beach.
He helped manage what was then known as The Anchor Club, located at the end of State Road 520. In his memoir “Hollywood Hulk Hogan,” he reminisced about taking the job out of desperation.
The hit reality show “Hogan Knows Best” premiered on VH1 in 2005, which centered around Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. It lasted for four seasons, ending in 2007.
