2-Time WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away at the age of 71, according to TMZ Sports. Emergency responders were called to Hogan’s home in Clearwater, Florida early Thursday morning, with reports indicating it was due to a cardiac arrest. Sources say multiple police vehicles and ambulances arrived at the scene, and Hogan was taken from the house on a stretcher and transported by ambulance.
Just weeks earlier, Hogan’s wife, Sky, dismissed rumors that he had fallen into a coma, saying his heart was “strong” and he was simply recovering from recent surgeries. Last month, TMZ reported speculation that Hogan was on his “deathbed,” though sources at the time insisted he was only experiencing side effects from a neck surgery he had undergone in May.
RAW General Manager Adam Pearce issued the following statement on Hulk Hogan’s death:
“I grew up in Chicagoland watching the AWA pre-cable via tin-foiled rabbit ears. The Incredible Hulk Hogan vs. the World Champion Nick Bockwinkel with Bobby Heenan.
Original Hulk-a-Mania. Magic. I loved it.
Fast forward a million years.
April 4, 2013. Jonesboro, Arkansas…
I’m working the first of two dates for TNA. Trying to get hired on as an agent (thank you again, Bruce Prichard). Wrestled a match against a talent I really liked and that they wanted to hopefully feature. It didn’t go well. I took the blame because I was senior…
I sit down to watch the rest of the matches, and Hulk sits next to me. Eric Bischoff next to him. Hulk asked me what I thought. I answered honestly.
He told me what he thought. I’ll always appreciate his words…
Over time people do many things, become loved and hated, rinse-and-repeat for those things, and if we’re all being honest, the emotions are warranted…
It is impossible to overstate the impact that Hulk Hogan had on our industry and the countless people that got into it because of him. In a roundabout way, I’m one of them. Heenan was my idol, but when he was opposite Hogan it was the magic I fell in love with…
Godspeed, Hulk Hogan. Thank you for all of the good. Thank you for your candor in a moment where I doubted myself. All love to his family, friends, and those lives he touched along the way. Rest well, sir.”
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