The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Of Hulk Hogan's Wrestling Career

1. A Racist Rant

Despite his various bad acts in wrestling and controversies, no issue had a more wide-ranging and damaging effect on the public perception of Hulk Hogan than the leaking of a racist rant.

In 2015, an eight-year-old recording of Hogan using the “N-word” slur and claiming to be “racist, to a point” exploded on the internet. In the clip, Hulk spoke about how he was disgusted about the idea of his daughter dating a Black man, punctuating the point by using the slur.

Hogan would apologize, but WWE wasted little time in taking action. At the time, Hogan was part of a relaunched Tough Enough television series. WWE would remove him from the program, terminate his contract and take down his merchandise from the online store. Hogan would be removed from the Hall of Fame as well. Toy stores also took down their Hogan merch.

It would get worse for Hulk. More reporting indicated Hogan also had used homophobic slurs on the recording, and he used similar racist language in a 2008 call to his then-imprisoned son, saying he hoped they wouldn’t be reincarnated as Black men.

Ultimately, Hogan would be welcomed back into the WWE fold after a three-year hiatus, just in time to appear on the company’s second PLE in Saudi Arabia.

Still, this controversy would follow Hogan around, with his appearances on WWE programming often sparking a retelling of the racist rant to educate another generation of wrestling fans.

As mentioned at the outset, Hogan’s legacy is complicated. His career involves the highest of highs and some of the lowest lows. It’s possible to both love him for his contributions and despise him for the negative elements he brought along for the ride.