Hulk Hogan’s final WWE appearance on January 6 didn’t exactly go to plan after the iconic wrestler was booed by fans during the premiere of Raw on Netflix.
According to Hogan’s longtime friend and wrestling manager Jimmy Hart, who appeared with him onstage at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, that night, the negative reaction came as a surprise to the WWE Hall of Famer.
“We go out, and we had a mixed reaction. You can have 500 people cheering you, and one person booing you, but I’ll be darned if that one person doesn’t outshine [the people cheering],” Hart, 81, shared on the Thursday, July 31, episode of the “Stories With Brisco and Bradshaw” podcast.
Hart added, “It’s a mixed reaction, but it’s a little bit more boos than anything. That devastated him. That bothered him.”
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Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) made a special appearance on Raw in January to mark the show’s move from its longtime cable home, USA Network, to Netflix, as well as hype his Real American Beer brand.
“In the past, I’ve had a whole bunch of partners down the line,” Hogan said to jeers. “I had incredible partners, like the “Macho Man” Randy Savage. I’ve had giant-sized partners like Andre the Giant. But the greatest partner the WWE has ever had, is the fact that tonight, we’re making history, and the WWE has tag teamed up with Netflix, the greatest tag team partner of all time.”
Hogan died at age 71 on July 24 from acute myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack, according to documents obtained by Us Weekly.
In the decade before his death, the former WWE champion was a polarizing figure among wrestling fans due to his political beliefs and a racism scandal that erupted in 2015. At the time, audio leaked of Hogan repeatedly using the N-word and describing himself as “racist, to a point.”
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WWE fired Hogan and temporarily removed him from the WWE Hall of Fame, though he was later reinstated in July 2018.
In a July 2015 statement, Hogan said there was “no excuse” for the language he used on the leaked audio. “I believe very strongly that every person in the world is important and should not be treated differently based on race, gender, orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise. I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs. It is not who I am. I continue to work every day to improve as a person, and this matter is an important learning experience for me in that regard,” he told Us.
In the wake of his death, Hogan’s longtime friend Kevin Nash recently defended him over his past controversies. “For the people that want to go after Hogan for doing this, doing that, doing this — how about f*** you, man?” Nash said earlier this week on his “Kliq This” podcast. “He’s dead. How about his kids, man? Can’t you just lay off the man?”
Us confirmed Hogan’s cause of death on Thursday, per a medical examiner’s report. The document also appeared to suggest that Hogan secretly battled cancer during his lifetime. According to the document, the wrestler had a history of leukemia CLL, a type of cancer that affects white blood cells called lymphocytes.
