Terry Hulk Hogan Wrestling legend, actor Date of Birth: 11.08.1953 Country: USA

1. Terry Halk Hogan: The Legend of Wrestling
2. Biography: Early Life and Career Beginnings
3. Entering the Wrestling World
4. Rise to Fame as Hulk Hogan
5. Personal Life and Controversies

Terry Halk Hogan: The Legend of Wrestling

Terry Halk Hogan is an American wrestler, fighter, actor, TV host, entrepreneur, and musician. He is a legend in the world of wrestling and was one of the most popular representatives of this theatrical combat show in the 1980s. Although Hogan is not as famous as before, his name was last seen on the front pages of tabloids not because of his participation in another TV project, but due to a scandal involving allegations of racism. While the scandal ended well for all parties involved, it once again proved to the public that Hulk Hogan is one of the most controversial celebrities in Hollywood.

Biography: Early Life and Career Beginnings

Terry Gene Bollea was born on August 11, 1953, in Augusta, Georgia, USA, to Pietro 'Peter' Bollea, a builder, and Ruth V. Bollea, a dance teacher. Terry has Italian, French, Panamanian, and Scottish roots. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to the Port Tampa City area of Tampa, Florida. In his early years, Terry was drawn to baseball and he decided to pursue it seriously. His performances as a pitcher in Little League Baseball caught the attention of scouts from the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds clubs. However, a serious injury prevented him from building a career in baseball, and at the age of sixteen, Terry became interested in wrestling.

As a young man, Terry admired the performances of wrestler Dusty Rhodes in Tampa. After witnessing the live performance of 'Superstar' Billy Graham, Terry decided to give his body an 'inhuman appearance.' After graduating from high school, he enrolled in Hillsborough Community College in Plant City Campus, later moving on to the University of South Florida. However, his passion for music hindered him from completing his college education. Terry Bollea played bass guitar and was a member of several rock bands in Florida. In 1976, he co-founded the band Ruckus, which gained popularity, especially in the Tampa Bay area. While performing with Ruckus, Bollea also visited the local gym, Hector's Gym, to improve his physique.

Entering the Wrestling World

One day, famous wrestlers, the Brisco brothers – Jack and Gerald – visited a bar where Ruckus was performing. They were impressed by Terry Bollea's physical shape and asked Hiro Matsuda, a trainer for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), to take Terry under his wing. Terry left Ruckus, and this marked the beginning of his wrestling career. On August 10, 1977, in Fort Myers, Florida, Terry had his first match against Brian Blair. Later, Bollea put on a mask and continued wrestling under the pseudonym 'Super Destroyer.' Soon after, the aspiring wrestler ended his partnership with Hiro Matsuda and temporarily left wrestling. Together with his friend Whitey Bridges, Terry opened a sports gym called Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. Business was good, and soon, Terry's friend Ed Leslie joined them, helping manage the establishment. Leslie eventually developed a good physique, inspiring Bollea to return to wrestling. The friends found sponsors and entered the ring as 'The Boulder Brothers.'

Rise to Fame as Hulk Hogan

During his stay in Memphis, Terry was invited to a local talk show. One of the guests on the program was actor Lou Ferrigno, star of the TV series 'The Incredible Hulk' (1978-1982). Ferrigno noticed that Bollea's anthropometric measurements were much more impressive than his own, even though Ferrigno played the role of the giant green Hulk. This led to Terry being nicknamed 'Hulk.' Promoter Vincent James McMahon later came up with the Irish surname 'Hogan' for the wrestler, and soon he began performing under the pseudonym 'Hulk Hogan.'

Throughout his wrestling career, Hulk Hogan won numerous titles and prestigious awards. He is a six-time World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE) champion, a six-time World Championship Wrestling (WCW) heavyweight champion, a two-time Royal Rumble winner (1990, 1991), a WWE Hall of Fame member since 2005, and a recipient of many other awards. WWE ranked Hogan 23rd in the list of the 50 greatest wrestlers of all time. Riding the wave of wrestling popularity, Hulk Hogan tried his hand at acting in movies and television. Some of his notable projects in these industries include the films 'Rocky III' (1982), 'Santa with Muscles' (1996), 'Ultimate Weapon' (1998), and the TV series 'The A-Team' (1985, 1 episode), 'Thunder in Paradise' (1994, 22 episodes), and 'Baywatch' (1996, 1 episode).

Personal Life and Controversies

Hulk Hogan has been married twice. On December 18, 1983, he married Linda Claridge. On May 5, 1988, Hulk and Linda became parents to a daughter named Brooke Ellen Bollea, a singer, actress, and television personality known as 'Brooke Hogan.' Their son, Nick Allan Bollea, who is known as 'Nick Hogan,' was born on July 27, 1990, and became a participant in reality TV shows and an actor. Hulk and Linda divorced in 2007 after she discovered Hogan's affair with Christiane Plante, a woman who was working with Brooke Hogan on her new album at the time. Hulk was 54 years old, while Plante was 33. The official divorce between Hogan and Claridge took place in 2009.

In 2010, on December 14, Hulk married for the second time to Jennifer McDaniel, whom he had been dating since 2008. The couple continues to live together to this day.

In July 2015, WWE terminated its contract with Hulk Hogan. This decision came after the release of a sex tape from 2006, in which Hogan was involved in an affair with Heather Clem, the wife of his friend, radio host Todd Clem, known as Bubba the Love Sponge.

In 2012, when the video was initially published, Hogan sued the Gawker website, whose representatives had posted the video online. Hogan claimed that the video was filmed without his consent and violated his right to privacy. It was often reported in the press that the idea for the amateur porn video came from Todd Clem himself, who wanted to enrich himself by publishing compromising material on the world-famous wrestler. The legal battle concluded in 2016 with Hogan's victory. Gawker paid the former wrestler a compensation of $115 million, and shortly after, the provocative website closed due to bankruptcy.

When WWE severed ties with Hogan in 2015, it became clear to the public that one of the greatest wrestlers in history would not be excluded from the Hall of Fame without a substantial reason. The termination of the partnership with Hogan came after the release of a transcript of a conversation between the wrestler and Heather Clem from the infamous video. In the conversation, Hogan admitted to being openly racist and expressed his disapproval of his daughter Brooke's relationship with an African American man. After some time, the wrestler realized his mistake and publicly apologized for his unfair and offensive words towards people of color, which he had said several years ago.

On July 15, 2018, WWE reinstated the legend into the Hall of Fame, and Hogan continues to collaborate with the company as a showman and invited guest at various events.