Hulk Hogan leaves behind a complicated legacy

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The biggest name in professional wrestling history was and probably always will be Hulk Hogan.

The man credited with single-handedly propelling pro wrestling into the mainstream has passed away, taking with him a complicated legacy.

The wrestling character, Hulk Hogan, represented everything WWE needed in 1980s to overtake the territorial system that Vince McMahon Jr. was bent on disassembling. His bleached blonde hair, handlebar moustache, chiselled physique, red and yellow gear and all-American values captured lightning in a bottle.

He preached about saying prayers, eating vitamins and vanquished foreign foes such as Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik and threats at home like Sgt. Slaughter.

No one grew to greater fame, no one became more of a household name and no one put pro wrestling in a bigger spotlight than Hulk Hogan.

The man himself, Terry Bollea, however, found himself embroiled in various scandals over his life, including the 1990s steroids scandal, a sex tape scandal involving his former best friend and radio personality Bubba The Love Sponge and later racism allegations following the release of a tape on which he was heard spewing racist remarks.

While pro wrestlers will often tell you that they became their characters, with different aspects of a character mimicking their “shoot” lives, as they say in the business, Terry Bollea became Hulk Hogan.

There wasn’t a time or place where you could encounter the hulking man when you wouldn’t find him wearing his signature look, colourful clothing, thick jewelry, signature bandana and handlebar Hogan moustache.

Hogan might be the only wrestling figure in history who could claim that he was responsible for the rise of a company and nearly being responsible for its demise. After helping McMahon tear apart the territories and create the global titan now known as WWE, Hogan quite nearly tore it all apart when in the late 1990s, he defected to rival World Championship Wrestling to join Ted Turner’s rival company, which very nearly took down WWE in the so-called Monday Night War.

During that time, Hogan also successfully — and improbably — turned his world-famous superhero character heel, practically unheard of.

His Hollywood Hulk Hogan heel persona would go on to dominate WCW and spawn a whole new generation of fans. It can still be argued that no one who reached Hogan’s level of success as a babyface (good guy) ever was able to so successfully swing his persona in the other direction and not lose money and legions of fans in the process.

Hogan’s accolades, at least in wrestling, are simply too many to mention. In his prime, he was on the cover of every wrestling magazine nearly monthly, even finding his way onto mainstream covers and into the wildly popular Sylvester Stallone Rocky series.

He opened restaurants, made appearances on TV, at events, on late-night shows and revolutionized pro wrestling.

It’s fair to say that the pro wrestling landscape wouldn’t even resemble the global empire that it is now if not for Hulk Hogan.

His legacy, and place in pro wrestling languished toward the end, as he struggled with the new generations of fans. In fact, the immortality he once seemed to possess was quite nearly cancelled on more than one occasion. But somehow, Hogan still kept himself in the spotlight, making sporadic appearances for WWE, running his beach shop in Florida and landing in news headlines here and there.

It will be interesting to see, in the wake of his death, how Hulk Hogan is looked on. Certainly Terry Bollea will be remembered for his many transgressions.

But Hulk Hogan, the wrestling character, much as he did when he captured imaginations and inspired millions around the world early in his career, should live on.

For his contributions to wrestling, Hulk Hogan stands alone, a giant among men. Immortal. Magical even.

It’s hard to imagine he’ll be remembered any other way.