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00:00One of the foundational forces that launched professional wrestling to a new level a generation ago, Hulk Hogan, died this morning of cardiac arrest.
00:09Hogan was born Terry Bollea in 1953.
00:12Blonde, bronzed and built, Hulk Hogan was one of the most recognizable faces in the country back in the 1980s.
00:19You can argue whether pro wrestling is a sport or not, but there's no debate that Hogan was box office gold.
00:24Back in the day, why bother putting on WrestleMania if the Hulkster wasn't the main event?
00:30In later years, his star dimmed.
00:32Hogan reportedly used racial slurs and WWE cut ties with him in 2015.
00:38Hulk Hogan was 71 years old.
00:41Let's go back through what made him such a draw and one of the legends of pro wrestling.
00:45Where better to start than WrestleMania 1?
00:47Hogan, headlining the card at MSG, teamed up with fellow 80s icon Mr. T to take on Rowdy Roddy Piper
00:53and Mr. Wonderful with Muhammad Ali serving as the special guest referee.
00:59Two years later, at WrestleMania 3 in front of over 90,000, Hogan defended his title against his former friend-turned-enemy Andre the Giant.
01:07The body slam of the Giant, one of the iconic moments in wrestling.
01:10No mean feat to pick up a 500-pound man.
01:14Nearly a decade later, Hogan showed up at the WWF's biggest rival, World Championship Wrestling Bash at the Beach.
01:20There, Hogan stunned audiences by turning heel and teaming up to form the NWO.
01:27But Hogan would return to WWF in 2002 under the moniker Hollywood Hogan and took on The Rock in the main attraction dubbed Icon vs. Icon.
01:37The Rock would defeat Hogan in what was seen as the passing of the torch in pro wrestling.
01:41Friday night, SmackDown lead commentator and ESPN announcer, Joe Testor.
01:45Joe, good to have you here in the studio to talk about this.
01:47And you have a unique vantage point on all this because of your role both with WWE and mainstream sports.
01:54So if you're framing Hulk Hogan in the prism of both sports history and pop culture, how would you do it?
02:02David, listen, he's a complex character.
02:04But I think it's very easy to answer that in simply saying he's the most influential pro wrestler of all time.
02:10But really, by the measure of promotional impact, if you just think of sports entertainment in terms of putting butts in the seats and getting eyeballs to the screen,
02:19he is as transformational as anybody, anybody in modern sports and entertainment history.
02:26He's arguably number one in a class of American sports stars of Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan.
02:35I'm not saying greatest at what he did.
02:38I'm saying promotionally the impact that he made.
02:42It's those four guys for me in the modern era of sports in terms of strict transformational promotional power.
02:50You know, you have to be of a certain vintage like myself.
02:52Maybe you're a little bit younger than me to remember what this guy was in the 1980s.
02:58I mean, he was huge.
03:01How did he like cut through all that clutter and become this towering figure in the sport?
03:06Well, listen, I think he captured the right time and was at the right place.
03:09And really, when you look at it, Hulk Hogan and what Hulkamania really was, was corralling the zeitgeist of the 1980s.
03:18It was really the moment where sports and entertainment all merged together.
03:23That on-ramp was the fast lane with Hulkamania.
03:27We didn't see anything before it, and we've seen a lot after it.
03:30Listen, the very network that we're talking on, the reason why we have jobs,
03:34is because of the packaging of great storytelling and making icons and putting people over.
03:41So the way that we package and market everybody in modern sports today is basically the formula that Hulkamania was in the 1980s.
03:50Did you have the lunchbox?
03:52Did you have the action figure?
03:53Were you waking up on Saturday mornings and seeing him on cartoons on one network and then watching late-night TV and seeing him on late-night shows on another?
04:00It was beyond anything we have ever seen.
04:03Yep.
04:03Yeah.
04:03So recognizable.
04:05The goatee, the 24-inch pythons.
04:07I'm not sure he owned a shirt for many years there.
04:10If he did, he ripped it off.
04:11He sure did.
04:12What was the difference, though, between Hulk Hogan, the character, and the person, Terry Bollea?
04:18I was with Terry back in January.
04:19As many of us who work at WWE were, it was our Netflix debut.
04:24It was a global event in L.A.
04:26And, yes, at that point of his career, Terry Bollea, and with some things that happened in the recent past, became a very politicized figure.
04:33But still, when he walked into the room, you knew it.
04:37The air changed.
04:38And I don't care who you were with.
04:40I can remember that night with Travis Scott and Logan Paul, and whether it's Randy Orton, John Cena, and all those guys.
04:46But you were very aware who was in the room.
04:50If you're simply saying Hulk Hogan and his presence, it was as big as it got.
04:55You talked about the issues he had.
04:58He admitted he was racist to a point.
05:01WWE basically dropped him, washed their hands with the guy.
05:03Yeah, absolutely they did.
05:04What was that period like for Hulk Hogan after that?
05:07Well, it was a complex period.
05:09But in recent years, obviously, he was embraced back with the company.
05:13He's a Hall of Famer.
05:14And really, it's a celebration of not denying that the impact that he made.
05:19You are talking about somebody.
05:21Listen, you could even throw out numbers here, David, right?
05:24When he fought Andre the Giant after the famous body slam in WrestleMania III, 33 million people tuned in to watch it.
05:33You know what we call 33 million people tuning in to watch something in American TV right now?
05:37We call it the NFL playoffs.
05:39We call it the SEC times two.
05:41So, it was understandable the embrace you have to have to reflect on the impact that Hulk Hogan had, no matter the rocky roads like many sports superstars that Terry Bollea had.
05:54Okay.
05:55Give me your favorite or your biggest Hulk Hogan moment, if you could, Joe.
05:59Listen, obviously, everybody goes to the body slam of Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III.
06:04How did he pick him up 500 pounds?
06:05How about that?
06:05Nobody ever did it, right?
06:06But he slammed Andre the Giant at the Silver Dome.
06:08But the moment that started it all for me was Hulkamania in January of 1984 at Masson Square Garden, defeating the Iron Sheik to start it.
06:16Then WrestleMania I, which really, to me, and I brought this up earlier, it frames the 1980s as we know it.
06:22It was the cross-pollination of, really, American culture from the past with Liberace.
06:27You see Mr. T there.
06:28From the past with, like, Liberace and Muhammad Ali as the guest referee to current pop superstars.
06:33This was really what I talk about, the merging of sports and entertainment that has never stopped.
06:39It's just been more fuel on that fire.
06:41But it all began at WrestleMania I.
06:43But I got to tell you, I'm very fond of the Rocky III cameo, aren't you?
06:47The ultimate male versus the ultimate meatball.
06:50But there were so many memorable moments.
06:52But for me, WrestleMania I captures it all.
06:54It ends up framing the 1980s as we would know them.
06:58There you go.
06:58Joe Tessitore joining us here in studio to give us some insight and some thoughts on the passing of Hulk Hogan, who died this morning.
07:05Yeah, before I fly off to SmackDown, where we will memorialize Hulk Hogan tomorrow night, Friday night.
07:10Thank you, Joe.
07:12The wrestling community and sports world taking to social media to mourn the loss of Hulk Hogan.
07:17And former WWE chairman Vince McMahon also offering his thoughts on Hogan.
07:22The world lost the treasure today.
07:24Hulk Hogan was the greatest WWE superstar of all time.
07:28Someone who was loved and admired around the world.
07:31He was the trailblazer, the first performer who transitioned from being a wrestling star into a global phenomenon.
07:38His grit and unbridled thirst for success were unparalleled and made him the consummate performer.
07:45He gave everything he had to the audience, whom he appreciated, respected, and loved.
07:50He leaves us with one of his favorite expressions he used to direct to the kids.
07:55Train, take your vitamins, and say your prayers.
07:59Today, we pray for him.
08:03Hulk Hogan was 71 years old.
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08:34Hulk Hogan was 71 years old.
08:35Hulk Hogan was 71 years old.
08:36Hulk Hogan was 71 years old.