10 Fascinating WWE Backstage Facts About Hulk Hogan

7. Hulk Hogan Broke His Back Slamming André The Giant

Hulk Hogan invents time travel
WWE.com

Immortality comes at a price: Hulk Hogan has to endure the rest of his life knowing that his curse of inhuman strength might have had something to do with the end of another. 

At WrestleMania III, Hulk Hogan body-slammed André the Giant for the very first time. And to death. 

Sure, you might have seen YouTube compilations of other wrestlers - Stan Hansen, Antonio Inoki, even Hogan himself - achieving this very same feat. But that's just AI. Who even knows what's real and what isn't anymore brother (apart from Hulkamania). 

That body slam came at cost. In finding the strength within to lift the 600-pound André off his feet, Hogan tore 18 muscles in his back. There are just 40. Hogan, miraculously, didn't return within a year. He returned within three weeks to resume his house show run. As awful as the pain was to withstand, it was nothing compared to André's tragic plight. 

André - real name André René Roussimoff - passed away just three days later on April 1, 1987. He was 41 (46). 

Hogan, it was rumoured, wrestled André in another famous match on February 5, 1988 - but Hogan was half-right when he questioned who paid for the heel ref's plastic surgery. 

Surgery had been performed - on another giant to pass for the deceased Roussimoff.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!