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00:00First, tonight, it is truly the end of an era, as Hulk Hogan, the 80s superstar who helped take pro-wrestling mainstream, has died.
00:08The Hulkster, whose real name was Terry Bollea, died this morning after suffering cardiac arrest.
00:14Police said he passed at the hospital at 11.17 a.m.
00:18It has been said that America has many celebrities, but very few true stars.
00:25Hulk Hogan was certainly one.
00:27His influence extended far beyond the wrestling ring.
00:30He became an all-American cultural icon, an entertainer whose theatrics and horseshoe mustache made him a household name.
00:39Standing at 6'7 and weighing more than 300 pounds, Hulk Hogan was known for his signature bright yellow trunks and his bandana.
00:48He launched WrestleMania with Mr. T and Muhammad Ali.
00:52He body slammed Andre the Giant at Michigan's Superdome in front of tens of thousands of Hulkamaniacs.
01:00He starred in big Hollywood movies like Rocky III, portraying the towering Thunderlips.
01:06He even had his own Saturday morning cartoon show and starred in serial commercials.
01:11Hulk Hogan officially retired from professional wrestling in 2012, but a high-profile lawsuit kept him in the headlines.
01:35He won a landmark defamation case against the website Gawker in 2016, related to the publication of a sex tape.
01:43His victory in court helped put Gawker out of business.
01:47Hogan then entered the political ring in his final years.
01:50He supported President Trump and became a mega star, as well as a mega star, famously ripping his shirt off at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
02:00President Trump, who famously had his own moments in the wrestling ring, posted on social media today,
02:20we lost a great friend, the Hulkster.
02:23Hulk Hogan was MAGA all the way.
02:25Strong, tough, smart, but with the biggest heart.
02:28He gave an absolutely electric speech at the Republican National Convention that was one of the highlights of the entire week.
02:35He entertained fans from all over the world, and the cultural impact he had was massive.
02:42Hulk Hogan was 71 years old.
02:44Our first guest tonight knew him well, both in and out of the ring.
02:49Diamond Dallas Page is a retired professional wrestler, a WWE Hall of Famer, and three-time WCW heavyweight champion.
02:59He once teamed up with Tonight Show host Jay Leno to take on Hulk Hogan.
03:03He's now an inspirational speaker and creator and CEO of the DDP Yoga.
03:08Great to have you here.
03:10So, first of all, I want to get your reaction to the sad news today.
03:15Was it a surprise?
03:16Uh, yeah.
03:20It didn't, immediately, it took my breath away when I first heard it.
03:24And, uh, it didn't really sink in until I was writing what, how I felt about Hulk, uh, on one of my social media posts.
03:32And, uh, to me, he was one of the guys who helped lifted me up.
03:37You have to understand, I didn't start wrestling until I was 35, and my career didn't take off until I was 40.
03:41And that guy, he helped, like, give me that opportunity.
03:48What was it like to headline a main event with him, to be in the ring with him?
03:55Well, one of the fascinating things, WrestleMania VI, I would drive the car of Rhythm and Blues, Hockey Talk, and Greg DeHammer, Valentine, Jimmy Hart, to the ring.
04:06And I was a manager at the time in the AWA.
04:10Eight years later, I would headline with me against Goldberg and Hulk against the Ultimate Warrior eight years later.
04:21That's how crazy wrestling, you know, can be.
04:24And when you put the work in, you know, uh, Hulk came up to me very early on in my career, and he said, whatever you're doing, brother, keep doing it.
04:35Because it's not this year or next year or the year after, but somewhere down the line, I believe you have the ability to draw huge money with me.
04:42And he walked away, and to be truthful, Elizabeth, all I could think about, did Hulk just tell me he watched my matches?
04:49And the beautiful thing about that is, uh, four years later, Rodman was coming in for the second time to align with him and the NWO, Hulk and the NWO.
05:02And I had a very good friend of mine named Carl Malone, and Carl Malone played for the Jazz, and they both, Rodman and Jazz, like, they fought it out during those times.
05:14They were almost shooting angles of what the feud was going to be like later.
05:18And, uh, at the end of the, uh, of course, the Bulls won.
05:22But me and Carl Malone against Hogan and Rodman turned out to be the second biggest drawing pay-per-view of all time.
05:31Yeah, I think, you know, folks in our audience who might not be WWE fans, let's fill them in a bit on how big this sport is and on how big Hulk Hogan is.
05:45He is, he's been, it's been said he was one of the most famous people, literally, in the world.
05:51Yeah, I would say if you took a Q rating of people who would be recognizable, Muhammad Ali would be right there at the top.
05:57Like, Hulk's not far behind him.
05:59And wrestling is, you know, in our day, like, Hulk was a big star in the 80s.
06:04I came on the 90s, and Hulk was an even bigger star in the 90s.
06:09Like, he, he, he, uh, he set all different records of being as the top guy, a top performer in our business.
06:16And he, and along with all of my other brothers who paved the way for this new generation of guys that are on Netflix.
06:24And Netflix is, you know, now it's the world.
06:27It's always been the world, but now they're selling out Paris, you know, in seven minutes.
06:32They're selling out Berlin in 12 minutes.
06:35Like, it's, it's all over the entire world, and everything started with Hulk.
06:40Hulk and Vince McMahon getting together, and, you know, they, they just changed, they changed, they changed, they changed the, the, not just wrestling landscape, but the pop culture landscape.
06:52Right, that's what I was, it was not just a sports, uh, influence that he had.
06:57It was a massive cultural influence.
06:59When was the last time you spoke to him?
07:01You know, I, I actually, he sent me a text about, I'd helped a guy, a guy named Butterbean, uh, favorite, famous fighter.
07:12I helped him get back, and, and he sent me the most loving text, uh, you know, about how, what I'm doing today and helping people, and that he's just, he's very, he was very proud of me.
07:24So, you know, we went back and forth with a couple of texts.
07:28I didn't talk to him probably in about a year.
07:29I think it was about a year we were doing a WWE, uh, Legends, and Hulk came in, uh, with his wife, Skye, and, uh, we sat down and had a good talk.
07:38You know, there's the Hulk Hogan everybody grew up with, the wrestling star, the movie star, the reality TV star.
07:44Uh, what would surprise people the most about the Hulk Hogan they didn't get to see, the one you knew on a personal basis?
07:53You knew him personally.
07:54How different was he from the larger-than-life character the rest of the world knew?
07:59For me personally, he helped me a lot.
08:03Like, again, starting at 35, my career didn't take off until 40.
08:06He saw it in my late 30s.
08:09And he would smarten me up as I went along to, you know, keep doing this.
08:14Don't do that.
08:15You know, and, uh, he saw that somewhere down the line we could draw money, and he was always looking for the next guy.
08:22I love this picture that's up there right now with him doing a diamond-cutter sign.
08:25We were at a Wrestlemania.
08:27I'm like, Hulk, let's get a picture together.
08:28And he throws up the diamond-cutter.
08:30And, uh, you know, he was a tough guy, you know, when it came to business tactics.
08:36But when it came to who he was as a man to me, he was always very giving.
08:41He had a heart of gold.
08:42And, uh, you know, I will never forget what he did for me because you just don't go from where I was to the top of the world without help from others.
08:52And Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Randy Savage, Eric Bischoff, and that guy right there, Hulk Hogan, of course, my man Dusty Rhodes, too.
09:01It takes—you just don't get to the top in our world without creating relationships.
09:05Yeah, it—you don't—it wasn't just you.
09:09There were many people he helped along the way.
09:12Oh, yeah, 100 percent.
09:14And, again, he was always looking for that next guy that could grab the people's attention.
09:18And, you know, when he—when he turned heel or bad guy with the NWO, that completely changed everything.
09:29I mean, because fans didn't know what was real and what wasn't.
09:32And that's the beauty of wrestling.
09:34You just don't know.
09:35And I'm not talking about who wins and loses.
09:37That's a show.
09:38That's predetermined.
09:40Yeah.
09:41But the bottom line is the people—but the people—the storylines, so many of them are based in reality.
09:49And then you get into what's real and what's not.
09:52And to me, Hulk, as far as I was concerned, had a hearted goal when it came to me personally.
09:59And I'll never forget him for it because it allowed me to live a dream.
10:05And I can still—it gave me that base, that base level of fans who believed in me with what I'm doing with DDP Yoga today.
10:14And Hulk made all that possible.
10:16Yeah, we should say.
10:18Looking at you, Dallas, I'm a little surprised to hear about DDP Yoga.
10:21And that you're—this is the thing you're doing now, helping folks?
10:25Because you don't look like the yogis I see in most yoga studios.
10:29But you—this is why, actually, he reached out to you a few years back to say how proud he was that you were helping so many people who've been through a lot of things, both physically and emotionally, through the spirituality of the yoga practice.
10:45Dallas Page, great to talk to you.
10:49Thank you for sharing your message, your memories of your friend who the world is mourning tonight.
10:55Very sad news.
10:57Really appreciate you joining us.
11:00Thank you.
11:01He will be missed.
11:02Much love.
11:03All right.
11:03Thank you.
11:15Thank you.
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