00:00Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News. I am Luke Cohen and this is a breaking news episode
00:05that I'm doing here on the podcast set as opposed to the regular news set which is just over there
00:09to cover the news that Hulk Hogan has passed away at the age of 71 according to TMZ and a few other
00:19sources and outlets. Everyone's pretty much gone home it's like it's kind of the last thing I was
00:24going to I was just about to head out the door and I thought I'll just have a little check of
00:27the YouTube comments and see how today's video and a lot of you will even comment that that Hogan
00:31had passed away so it turns out yeah according to TMZ I'm just going to read you their report here
00:37wrestling legend Hulk Hogan has died at 71 years old TMZ Sports has learned. Medics were dispatched
00:42to the 71 year old WWE Icons Clearwater Florida home early home early Thursday morning with
00:48operators stating it was regarding a cardiac arrest. We're told a slew of police cars and EMTs were
00:53parked outside Hogan's home and he was carried on a stretcher and into an ambulance just a few weeks
00:58ago Hogan's wife Sky denied rumors he was in a coma stating his heart was strong as he recovered from
01:03surgeries. We broke the story last month there were rumblings that Hogan was on his deathbed but we
01:07were told at the time he was just dealing with the symptoms of a neck procedure he underwent in May
01:11and then they talked about his career and stuff and that's kind of actually it I'm just checking
01:18here yeah everything else I talked about Rocky 3 Thunderlips no holes barred Suburban Commando
01:24and Hogan knows best so the last time we spoke with Hulk was back in May as he was launching Real
01:32American Freestyle and Amateur League Wrestling yeah which actually oh god is the first event next month
01:37isn't it uh that he'd launched with uh Eric Bischoff and a uh freestyle wrestling legend I believe
01:41so yeah Hogan has uh passed away um he is a guy that has had a bit of a dark cloud over him I would
01:49say over the last sort of 10 years maybe maybe less than that obviously since the that the the sex tape
01:56got leaked and and his uh his racist rant was part of that and he's kind of it was sort of blacklisted
02:03by wrestling for a little bit but he came back to WWE and he was kind of dismissed when he came back
02:08as well by some talent who felt that he didn't actually apologize for his actions he just apologized
02:12for getting caught uh a few people saying that he never really atoned for his wrongdoings but he was
02:18on WWE TV as late as last January he was on the Netflix debut where he was booed out of the building
02:24and that will probably unfortunately be the last well there will be the last of uh of Hogan in WWE would
02:31he be him being booed out of the building on the Netflix debut when he went out to promote his real
02:36American beer but he is a guy that is is undeniable in terms of the legacy that he leaves behind within
02:43the wrestling ring itself like really the true the truest of true top stars of that modern era that
02:52rock and wrestling era there was guys but there were top stars before him like Bruno San Martino but
02:57Hogan in the 1980s defined the WWF and he really was their their poster child he was their guy he was
03:05front and center of all of their promotion he was front and center of all of their video games of all
03:10the magazines that the Hulk Hogan cartoon he was he was the guy he was Mr. WrestleMania WrestleMania
03:17exists because of guys like Hulk Hogan he was the guy that really carried WWF through the 1980s
03:25um until his star started to wane slightly uh into the early 90s at which point he decided to
03:31transition away from wrestling and go into acting which is where he was doing things like
03:35Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny and was it Trouble in Paradise was that the the tv show thing that he
03:41I think it was called Trouble in Paradise or something along those lines um but yeah he uh he was
03:46transitioning into that and that really wasn't kind of working out for him either obviously done acting
03:50before when he was in Rocky 3 as Thunderlips but the acting side wasn't really working out for him again
03:55and so he then got an offer from WCW to go and be their top guy over there and so Hogan
04:04jumped ship kind of effectively from the the WWF the the company that made him to their direct
04:10competitor WCW there's I mean everyone knows that footage don't they of him being paraded with the
04:15ticker tape and everything in the in the car with Jimmy Hart there as well and he became the top star for
04:21WCW but even then you know the star started to wane fairly quickly and that the baby face Hogan
04:26routine was not really clicking as we got into the mid 90s lest we forget that Hogan released a musical
04:32album in 90 in 1995 released uh the wrestling boot traveling band which is an incredible album that
04:39people should go and listen to if any of you want to hear Hulk Hogan uh singer ballads um it's one of
04:45the most incredible things I remember hearing and I can still there are some lines I want to be a
04:51Hulkamaniac I actually do know pretty much all of the words too because when I was a student radio DJ
04:56I played it on my radio show every single week because me and my friends were obsessed with that
05:00song I thought it was the funniest thing in the world anyway come 1996 uh is when the iconic thing
05:06happens which is when he joins forces with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall of the Outsiders to form
05:12the new world order the NWO which completely changed the landscape of professional wrestling
05:18for the late 90s so he changed the landscape in the 80s and he changed again in the 90s and ushered in
05:24the era of the cool heel and the heel that was selling merchandise and outselling a lot of guys in
05:30terms of merchandise the NWO is not only probably the greatest faction of all time um it is certainly
05:36the most impactful faction of all time with one of the most iconic logos of all time and that lasted
05:42up until and very recently uh Oli Davis and I covered this on the the WrestleTalk podcast bonus over on
05:48patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk Bash of the Beach 2000 at that point he was kind of transitioning a
05:53little out of the Hollywood and back into the the red and yellow um he'd also tried to run for
05:58president at one point and uh he was going back there and he used his creative control because he
06:04wanted to win the world championship at Bash of the Beach the reason for that being is that Vince
06:08Russo wanted him to lose that match but then had no other creative plans for him because he wants to
06:13focus the world title around Jeff Jarrett and Booker T Hogan said nope my contract my contract says I can
06:19do whatever I want and I can turn down finishes if I don't believe in them so he reversed the finish and
06:23he won at Bash of the Beach and that led to this big worked shoot angle that then actually became a
06:28work um sorry became a shoot rather it was a worked shoot angle that then became an actual shoot
06:33the idea being I'll give you the broad strokes but the idea being that Hogan would do this fake match
06:39where Jarrett would lay down for him and he would just put his foot and pin Jarrett and win the title
06:43he would then storm out of the building working the boys into thinking it was real and then he wouldn't
06:47come back until later in the year for Halloween Havoc or Starcast Starcast Arcade where he would
06:52challenge uh the the the current champion and they would do a champion versus champion match to find out
06:57who the real world champion is which likely Hogan would have won um but then uh Vince Russo went out and
07:02called him a big bald son of a bitch and called out his creative control in a in a live promo on
07:07pay-per-view Hogan heard it and sued WCW and never went back uh he would return to the W I'm trying to
07:13do a lot of this off memory basically he returned to WWE in 2002 first part of the NWO uh sort of
07:18reunion gig that they did there and had that iconic match at Wrestlemania x8 against The Rock
07:24which uh although he lost he it kind of reignite reignited his babyface star within the the eyes of
07:31WWF fans and he became a babyface again won the world title in 2002 and then from there he's just
07:37had those sort of sporadic runs the uh the quite famous SummerSlam match with Shawn Michaels in um
07:4406 yeah 06 right uh or 05 maybe um yeah it's 05 isn't it uh and he had matches with Randy Orton he had
07:53match with Brock Lesnar he then went to TNA in 2010 to kind of like see if he could find new life
08:00there him and Bischoff tried to relive the Monday Night Wars the success of WCW but in TNA to uh
08:06very poor success um well I can't really use the word success I mean very poor they were they were
08:12very poor added and it kind of very much damaged TNA uh to the point where it took them a good like 15
08:17years to recover from the damage that the Hulk Hogan did uh that Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff did to
08:23to poor TNA uh and then there he had matches there like he had a tag match with uh Abyss against
08:28Ric Flair and AJ I think he had a match with a singles match with Sting he had the the Hulkamania
08:33tour that he was doing around Australia like just prior to this as well but he is you know and then
08:39you have all the Gorka stuff that comes after that he is a guy that has been just like in he's he's
08:45wrestling I think if you were to ask people in the street name a wrestler Hulk Hogan would be a name
08:51that they would say I think they might say The Rock or depending on their age they might say Steve
08:55Austin they might likely say John Cena but all of them no matter age will probably say Hulk Hogan
09:00within that because he is was the first guy that truly transcended wrestling into pop culture icon
09:08status I before I was a wrestling fan I knew who Hulk Hogan was he is and always will be
09:17that star he was such a star within the world of professional wrestling and there's a lot to be
09:25said about his personal life and a lot has been said about his personal life and I would imagine
09:29in the years to come there will be even more to say about his uh his personal life but his his actual
09:35impact on the business cannot be denied so yeah Hulk Hogan has passed away at the age of 71
09:44I'm sure there'll be more details to follow um uh it kind of yeah TMZ reporting this sort of has a
09:52little bit of a uh oh is it a TMZ thing but I'd imagine there will be I mean oh poor old Dave Meltzer
09:57he's got to write up the wrestling observer now he's got to do the the Hulk Hogan obituary that's
10:00going to take him that's going to take him ages to do um that's going to be keeping him up all night
10:05writing that thing for tomorrow's wrestling observer newsletter but that is the the very sad news that
10:09I've got to bring with you today in this sort of like very 10 minute rambling video so apologies for my
10:13sort of rambling in my my very loose history of Hulk Hogan there was actually going to be a
10:17biopic of him that was in development like you know with Chris Hemsworth playing Hogan which I
10:21think only like kind of died a death a little bit uh recently so you know maybe that that project
10:26will come back um I will say we have got the WrestleTalk podcast coming out tomorrow Oli and I have
10:31already recorded it we recorded it earlier in the day um talking about WWE and TNA um and their
10:37partnership and relationship so there won't be any talk of the the Hogan passing in tomorrow's WrestleTalk
10:43podcast I might do a little bit of a bumper at the start just to explain that we pre-recorded it
10:47but that'll be live here tomorrow on the channel um so thank you so much for for watching this video
10:52leave a comment down below with your memories of Hogan there might be some fans watching this or some
10:58viewers who are watching this who their first favorite wrestler was Hulk Hogan there might be
11:03people who are sort of around my age and a little bit older that Hogan was their guy so please leave
11:08your comments down below with your Hogan memories or even if you're one of our younger fans like what are you
11:12your perception of Hogan is whether good or bad because there's a lot there's a lot to be said
11:17about Hulk Hogan both good and bad uh within his impact on the wrestling business a fascinating
11:24individual within wrestling one that I genuinely thought was going to outlive us all uh there was
11:29a period of time Sullivan and I would were just saying before I came down to record here Hogan has
11:34always just felt old so he has just been always been that old man that I've seen so like I really
11:40thought he was going to outlive us all I feel he looks the same now as he did when he was in 1996
11:44so yeah leave your comments down below with uh with your Hulk Hogan stories and memories and uh
11:50we'll check you we'll see you again on another WrestleTalk News jam that jam
12:03you
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