President Donald Trump called Hulk Hogan a “great friend” on Friday after the professional wrestling legend’s passing a day earlier, adding that the six-time WWE champion was “angry at himself” for not getting political sooner.
Hogan, whose real name was Terry Gene Bollea, died Thursday in his Clearwater, Florida, home surrounded by his family after suffering a cardiac arrest earlier that morning. He was 71.
“He was a great guy. He was an unbelievable showman. I’ll tell you what he really was. He was a physical specimen,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Friday. “I’ve watched him lift 350-pound men over his head and throw them out of the ring.”
Hogan was a WWE Hall of Famer who became a pop culture icon in the 1980s with the growth of cable television. As the face of Hulkamania, he emerged as the most recognizable wrestling star in the world.
“He was the real deal. He was MAGA all the way,” Trump said. “He said, ‘I’ve always loved you.’ You know, we’ve always been friends, but he wasn’t a political guy, and in the last three years I’d say, he became really political.”
“He said, ‘I’m so angry at myself for not doing it earlier.’ He was happy,” Trump said.
Hogan gave a rip-roaring speech in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention in July last year, which began just two days after Trump was shot in the ear in an attempted assassination at a Pennsylvania rally.
“When they took a shot at my hero, and they tried to kill the next president of the United States, enough was enough, and I said, let Trumpamania run wild, brother! Let Trumpamania rule again! Let Trumpamania make America great again!” Hogan shouted as he ripped off his shirt to reveal a Trump campaign shirt underneath.
HULK HOGAN GOES FULL WWE AT THE RNC
TEARS HIS SHIRT OFF, CROWD ERUPTS IN USA CHANTS 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ymwRvd5I7B
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) July 19, 2024
Trump also said Hogan had long suffered from various health issues before his death due to his career in the wrestling industry.
“You know, he took a beating. When you look at the life that they lived, he would wrestle sometimes 200 times a year. Think of that. I say, what, do you wrestle every weekend, no, he said, sometimes you wrestle every night, and it’s hard to believe,” the president said.
“Being a friend, I got to see his wife a little bit, and his knees were in trouble, his back was in trouble. He was in such trouble, but he was great,” Trump said.
Hogan had undergone neck surgery in May. Before that, he had gone through several other back surgeries that did not completely resolve his problems.
“He was a great man, he was an incredible showman, and he was really a great friend, and he was a great friend to MAGA,” the president said.
