Medical personnel were sent to his home in Clearwater, Florida, with operators stating it was “cardiac arrest.”

“The Hulkster” headlined WrestleMania 8 times. His most memorable bout in the WWE signature event was in 1987 against Andre the Giant, 520 pounds, his mentor, in the Pontiac Silverdome before a then-record crowd of 93,173.

Six-foot-7 and 320 pounds, Hogan — born Terry Bollea — would enter the ring in yellow trunks, boots and bandana, his muscles bulging, his body glistening. Accompanied by “Real American” theme music, he would rip apart his singlet and cup his ear to the roaring crowd.

Hulkamania

Post-match, Hogan would cup his ear once more and pose, flexing his “24-inch python” arms, often waving large American flag. It was part of “Hulkamania.”

“When we say ‘Hulkamania will live forever,’ it’s immortal,” he said.

His over-the-top acting skills naturally led to Hollywood, where he portrayed the wrestler Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982) in his big-screen debut. Stallone, who would induct Hogan into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, said that the wrestler sent four stuntmen to intensive care after he jumped into the crowd in one scene.

He also appeared as himself in The A-Team and Baywatch, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), Spy Hard (1996) and Muppets From Space (1999). He lent his voice to episodes of Robot Chicken and American Dad!

In 1985, Hogan co-hosted (with Mr. T) Saturday Night Live and was star of the CBS Saturday morning cartoon Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling. He faced Jay Leno in PPV tag match — and lost! He starred alongside his first wife and two kids in the reality show Hogan Knows Best.

In his heyday, he was the most requested celebrity for the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

In 1994, he admitted that he had used steroids for 13 years. Twelve years later, he was ostracized by the WWE and removed from its Hall of Fame after he was heard making disparaging racial comments in leaked sex video.

In 2016, the wrestler was awarded $140 million by Florida jury after he sued the celebrity website Gawker, which had released clip of the video. Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, backed Hogan’s case. After losing in court, Gawker filed for bankruptcy and sold itself to Univision in 2016. Hogan wound up with $31 million in settlement.

In April, Hogan and Bischoff launched the Real America league, and it landed a TV rights deal with Fox Nation this month.

Born in Augusta, Georgia, on Aug. 11, 1953, Terry Gene Bollea was the son of pipefitter and a U.S. Navy secretary. He idolized wrestler Dusty Rhodes and convinced his father to take him to the Fort Homer W. Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida, to watch the matches.

Bollea was a Little League pitcher and later a guitarist for Florida rock bands before he was spotted at Hector’s Gym in Tampa by wrestling scouts and urged to train with Japanese star Hiro Matsuda.

“The wrestlers were like Greek gods to me,” he wrote in 2002 memoirs, Hollywood Hulk Hogan. “They were giants, larger than life, and the combination of entertainment and physicality that I saw in the wrestling ring was something I had never seen in other sports. That, I guess you’d say, was where it all started for me.”

He wasn’t always Hulk Hogan; his earlier incarnations were the masked Super Destroyer, Sterling Golden and Terry “The Hulk” Boulder. That last nickname came during a morning talk show interview in Mobile, Alabama, when he came face to face with Lou Ferrigno, star of CBS’ The Incredible Hulk.

“When I got on the show, the host looked at Ferrigno and he looked at me and he said, ‘Oh my God, you’re bigger than Lou Ferrigno! You’re bigger than the Hulk!’” he recalled. “And I said, ‘That’s because I’m the real Hulk.’”

His lifelong friendship with WWE boss Vince McMahon began in 1979 when he was put against stars Ted DiBiase, Bob Backlund and Andre the Giant, whom he said “grabbed me by the back of my shirt and straightened me out,” he noted during his Hall of Fame speech. “More than anybody in the ring, Andre taught me how to be a professional in his business.”

Hogan would begin his pre-match interviews with Gene Okerlund by yelling, “Well, let me tell you something, Mean Gene.” He would be sure to call everyone “Brother” and end by asking, “Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you?”

Hulkamania born in 1984 NY

The birth of Hulkamania occurred in New York’s Madison Square Garden on Jan. 23, 1984, when Hogan leg-dropped The Iron Sheik to capture the heavyweight crown.

Hogan reached an out-of-court settlement for undisclosed amount after he placed a sleeper hold on talk show host Belzer, who passed out and hit the back of his head.

He teamed with Mr. T at the inaugural WrestleMania in 1985 to defeat “Rowdy” Piper and Paul Orndorff, then faced King Kong Bundy in blue steel cage.

When Turner launched WCW Monday Nitro on TNT in 1995 as a counterpunch to McMahon’s Monday Night Raw program on USA, the WWE mocked Hogan, then 42, with ageist skits, calling him “The Huckster” and having an impersonator enter the ring using a walker.

Hogan had career-resurging heel turn as the mystery “Third Man” during WCW’s Bash at the Beach in 1996.

For wrestling fans, it was a shocking moment; the much-loved Hogan had turned bad guy with leg drop on longtime friend “Macho Man” Randy Savage and joined forces with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, who weeks earlier also had jumped ship from the WWE.

The three wrestlers became known as villainous, rule-breaking New World Order (NWO). As its leader, Hogan wore black and white, grew beard, sported dark shades, cheated to win and called himself “Hollywood Hulk Hogan.”

As that character, he would win the title six times and battle longtime foes including Piper, Flair, Lex Luger, Sting, Savage and The Ultimate Warrior.

In 1998, Hogan teamed with then-Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman to fight Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz, who had lost to the Bulls in the NBA Finals just weeks earlier.

He lost the WCW belt to Bill Goldberg, a former defensive tackle with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons who was on a meteoric, undefeated run. Their match was held at the Georgia Dome, and more than 5 million households watched, the largest TV audience for a wrestling match in cable history.

His final WWE match came at SummerSlam 2006 when he defeated upstart Randy Orton in Boston. He then joined TNA Impact in 2009 as an onscreen authority and occasional wrestler before exiting in 2013.

Survivors include his wife, Sky, whom he wed in 2023, and his children, Nick and Brooke, from his first marriage to Linda Claridge (they were married from 1983 until their 2009 divorce). He also was married to Jennifer McDaniel from 2009 until 2021 separation.

Tony Maglio contributed to this report.