When Terry Bollea, more commonly known as Hulk Hogan, appeared in a night slot at the 2024 Republican National Convention, the reactions were mixed.
The then president of the then candidate Trump and his followers, both inside and outside the hall, were clearly delighted, especially when they bogate, in an exclusive movement, he started his shirt to show a Trump/Vance tank. Others reacted disgust, denouncing the “cheap” theatricality of a trick in which Trump courted fans of professional struggle and Hogan tried to recover national relevance.
In any case, it was mutual blessing. Trump won taking advantage of a popular culture that Hogan, who died on Thursday at age 71, played an important role in the configuration. From the popularity of the reality shows to the celebration of the “true Americans,” Hogan's career catalyzed and reflected the displacement of the spirit.
Forty years ago, he began to take advantage of patriotism in the face (complete with “Real American” as his main song) and a naked domain demand to become an autonomous celebrity that helped convert the professional struggle of a form of entertainment of niche into an international industry of one billion dollars.
He created the template for the management of the reality stars when Kim Kardashian was still in diapers; He accumulated millions of devout followers when speaking directly, and on all limits long before social networks were invented. It was canceled (by racist language), only to be discouraged after a successful apologies.
Not only did he survive the launch of a sex tape, but demanded (with the help of billionaire Peter Thiel) the Gawker media site for publishing and winning, putting Gawker out of business and surprising fear in the heart of the free press. He frustrated the unions, starred in films, had a restaurant chain and was co -ownership of his own beer brand.
Touch any part of the culture of modern, good, bad and ugly celebrities, and is Hulk Hogan, all the mustache of the mango bar and “let me tell you something, brother.” The combative style of taking prisoners who made it stand out in the 1980s has become as conventional as the professional struggle.
Even those who would prefer to eat glass than to see professional wrestling know who it was; He was a pioneer of personality as a profession.
Six feet eight and built as a tank, Terry Bollea became a professional fighter in 1977 and cultivated the type of self -preparing personality that had made George George (George Raymond Wagner) a star decades before. But Hulk Hogan was chosen as a hero, unleashed to leave the bad. He spoke directly with his audience, including children, and soon won national, and then international, fame, for him and the World Federation of struggle.
Hulk Hogan was chosen as a hero, helping to popularize wrestling and the World Fight Federation, which would later become World Wrestling Entertainment.
(Universal History Archive / Universal Archive / Universal Image Group through Getty Images)
So much so that, in 1993, the World Wildlife Fund demanded the organization for its initials, which forced him to change his name to World Wrestling Entertainment – WWE. The name change made a lot of sense: Pro Wrestling has always been more about entertainment than sport. Yes, participants are super tight and strong and their bodies support all kinds of injuries, but their fights are not true competitions.
The matches are carefully choreographed, with the winners chosen in advance (although the results remain from the audience). With their dependence on exaggerated people categorized as “faces” (good) and “heels” (villains), professional struggle, such as many modern reality programs, had to do with the preference of the audience.
In many ways, Hulk Hogan was the first reality shows star, a champion not because he was a better fighter (or at least not in the non -professional sense), but because he was a better interpreter, going back against the rise of the new, gentle and feminist man of the 1980s with his physicality and bravery.
It is not that he was above modifying his personality for greater popularity: in his early years, it was a “face” before becoming a “heel”, a villain growl that was renamed Hollywood Hogan. “I did it to disturb fans,” he told Times in 2019. “But it really didn't work. They still loved me.”
At the end of the 1980s, “Hulkamania” was everywhere, feeding on the characteristic colors of Hogan (yellow and red), moves (the drop of legs) and phrases (“What will it do when Hulkamania goes crazy over you, brother?”). Not even an admission that he used steroids, after years of claiming the opposite, derailed his popularity.
Everyone wanted a piece of him, and Hogan began to appear in cinema and television. In 1982, he played Thunderlips, a version of himself, in “Rocky III”, facing Rocky Balboa by Sylvester Stallone in an exhibition game.
Hogan would also appear on the small screen on “The Love Boat”, “The A-Team”, “The All New Mickey Mouse Club” and, more recently, “The Goldbergs”; He made some terrible films, including “Suburban Commando” and “Mr. Nanny”, did the voice work for video games and appeared, of course, in countless WWE productions. He prepared the stage for other professional fighters to become actors, including The Rock, John Cena and Dave Bautista.
In 2005, he went to everything best, starring “Hogan Knows Best”, who focused on his family life with his wife Linda, his son Nick and his daughter Brooke. (Hogan partly agreed to support Brooke's flourishing song). As with many family -based celebrities series, it ended after four seasons, when real reality, including the couple's divorce and Nick's participation in a car accident for which he was accused of driving recklessly (and then sentenced to prison), made it impossible to continue.
Despite its many wrestling titles and iconic parties, Hogan's most famous battle occurred in a court room. In 2012, Gawker published portions of a sexual film in which he appeared. Hogan sued. Or rather, Terry Bollea demanded (with Thiel's financial support, who had her own ax to grind with Gawker for leaving years before). He said that, although Hulk Hogan was a public figure that often talked about his sexual skill, Bollea was not, and therefore publish the film, which had been done without his consent, he violated his privacy.
In 2016, the jury found Bollea and granted him $ 115 million; Gawker folded a few months later and Hogan found himself in the midst of a debate on the 1st amendment and the decrease in the popularity and profitability of the press.
However, more harmful portions of that film in which Hogan used racist insults were leaked, including word N, talking about his daughter's boyfriend. In 2015, the WWE terminated Hogan's contract and eliminated all his mention from his website. Hogan's subsequent apology tour led him to be reinstated in 2018.
These were not the only scandals in which Hogan was involved: at the end of the 1980s, it was essential to prevent an attempt by other unionizing fighters; His divorce from Linda was messy, and he and his daughter were separated for years. His appearance at the RNC Convention last year divided his fans. In January, he was booed by members of the crowd gathered for the premiere of Los Angeles of “WWE RAW” of Netflix, which many, including Hogan, saw as a conviction of their support to Trump.
It is not that it seems too worried. In a culture where hateing is courtesy and the applauded toxic conversation, the only real enemy is silence. As Hulk Hogan taught us, for better and worse, a face is as good as a heel and a boo is as good as a joy, as long as the crowd continues to do some noise.
