10 Wrestlers Who Escaped Certain Death

4. Hulk Hogan

Ric Flair
ABC

'The Hulkster's personal peaks and valleys over the past decade have resulted in two alleged suicide attempts, including one famous talk-down as he had his 'finger on the trigger'.

Revealing in his second memoir 'My Life Outside The Ring', Hogan explained that the collected pressures of his son Nick's impending incarceration following a near-fatal car accident and the divorce proceedings with now ex-wife Linda almost convinced him to end it all. Mixing rum and Xanax, he was apparently holding a gun to his head when American Gladiators co-host Laila Ali happened to call. Her kindness on the phone supposedly convinced him life was worth living.

After a successful return to the WWE fold in 2014, Hogan's world again came crashing down, and it hurt inside. A ultimately successful lawsuit against Gawker resulted in private audio being leaked of 'The Hulkster' using a host of racial slurs that again put paid to his cushy ambassador deal with Vince McMahon.

Noting months later that the spell threw him into another battle with depression, Hulk told media outlets that he again contemplated suicide. Asking himself 'What’s the easiest way out of this?', he noted that his faith in God and relationship with new wife Jennifer McDaniel kept him from a fatal finale.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett