Hulk Hogan documentary was light on a big part of his legacy
Hulk Hogan's career is a story often told to wrestling fans. His missteps in life deserved the same attention.
I watched the Hulk Hogan documentary.
I’ve told a couple people that and I get the same response: “Why?”
Pro wrestling fans know the importance and legacy of the Hogan character to the business. He helped reset it in the 1980s (WWF) and the 1990s (WCW and the NWO).
We know Hogan, who died last summer, was one of the biggest stars in the world. We also know in his last appearance on WWE television in January 2005, he was booed mercilessly by fans in Inglewood, Calif.
I was interested to see how Hogan’s path toward becoming one of the most loved to most hated would be addressed.
I was never a big fan of the Hogan character growing up. Growing up in Southern California neighborhoods where the American Dream felt far away, something about saying my prayers and eating my vitamins didn’t feel like enough to change my world.
Hogan was the perfect hero and to a young me that was kind of corny. I was more into the Hollywood Hogan version in WCW.
But this isn’t about the Hulk Hogan or Hollywood Hogan characters. This is about what the real man, Terry Bollea, alienated legions of Black fans and never seemed to want to make amends.
Yes, he apologized, but did he acknowledge the pain his words caused to Black wrestling fans?
He used racial slurs to describe his daughter’s boyfriend that was secretly recorded. He said if she was going to date a Black man, she could have at least dated a tall Black man who could make money playing basketball.
That warranted more than an apology to fans. It needed a direct message to Black wrestling fans, many who acknowledge the entertainment we enjoy wouldn’t be what it is without Hulk Hogan.
The documentary not going more into the racist words like it did in trashing the late Ultimate Warrior is frustrating. There have been Black wrestlers (and non-Black wrestlers) who have said Hogan was no racist. Still, that portion of the Hogan story needed to be explored to show if there had been action to heal the hurt.
Hogan didn’t help ease the minds of Black fans that his words in that recording 20 years ago weren’t just a bad moment with his rant about Kamala Harris, asking if she was “Indian” which was something that was said during her Presidential campaign to dismiss her identifying as a Black woman. Hogan also campaigned for his friend, Donald Trump, whose name is enough to cause racial divides.
Maybe part of me watched the documentary hoping to get answers to that part about Hogan. After all, most wrestling fans know the career arc of Hogan.
But I’m a wrestling fan, so I was going to watch. Maybe there will be a sequel that will go deeper into that part of the Hogan story.