411’s Hulk Hogan: Real American – Episode Four Report: ‘Hulk vs Terry’

-Written: 4.24.26
-Source: Netflix
-Run Time: 1:17:45

-Previous Episodes: One, Two, Three

-My piece following Hogan’s passing!

-We start with the opening credits this time over Hogan working out in the gym. Werner Herzog (filmmaker and wrestling fan) speaks over the footage and says we all have a performative life. We all follow some sort of script. We are performative as a parent and in our wedding. It is part of the human nature and human experience. We cut to Nick filming Hogan cut promos for Main Event Karaoke. “In the case of Hulk Hogan it would be interesting to look at the performer and the real Hulk Hogan, if he exists.” He wonders if Hogan lives the illusion himself of being the character. They splice together various Hogan promos over the years so they sound like one. Man, seeing Hogan struggle to get around is tough. They ask Werner if he knows Hogan’s real name and he says he doesn’t want to know. “Keep it secret.”

-We go to 2003 and see Hogan getting electric stimulation with needles in his back. That sucks to look at! HHH says following Mania X-8, Vince was back in love with Hulk Hogan. HHH says they told Vince it was a nostalgia pop and it would be dead in three weeks. I guess you have to tank the guy that just tore the stadium down and your crowning Mania moment as a babyface had to follow it. Just saying! Also, it’s not mentioned here, but HHH was jobbing the WWF Title to Hogan a month later.

-We skip that though and go to Mania XIX with Vince vs. Hogan. We get footage from that Mania documentary. Hogan tells the story of if he could change one thing and it would have been using a sleeper instead of the leg drop. Booker says doing that move for 30 plus years is brutal and it adds up. We get a montage of people hitting Hogan with a piledriver and then the famous SUPLEX OFF THE CAGE WITH BOSSMAN! Hogan says he would be a different person, but admits he would not give up everything he got from taking all that abuse.

-2005: We see Hogan vs. Angle and Shawn vs. Hogan. Hogan mentions that Shawn was making fun of how old he was. Hogan says Shawn oversold in the match to make it a joke. Shoemaker defends Shawn as he says it was on him to make it exciting. Rock had an amazing match with Hogan and didn’t sell like that. With that said, Shawn sold like that for Sid and Diesel as well. Maybe not to that extreme but we have the meme of Shawn doing a headstand after taking a boot or punch from Sid. He bounced all over the place at Mania XI to steal the show from Diesel and even Nash called him out for it. Also, having Shawn on here to talk about it would have been nice.

-2006: Hulk Hogan has his last WWE match against Randy Orton at SummerSlam. Hogan obviously didn’t know that would be his last WWE match. Also, I should note Hogan got a bigger pop than DX and it pissed HHH off, so he tried all he could to get the crowd cheering for DX louder later in the show.

-Hogan was back home and says there were highs and lows. He admits that Linda was on her own for a long time. Hogan says his marriage was in shambles at that point. He would sit on the couch and watch a lot of movies. Linda knows that Hogan belonged to the public. More home videos as Hogan says he woke up one day as an old man and doesn’t know how it happened. We get footage of them doing things as a family which was enough for Linda.

-VH1 came calling to see if Hogan wanted to do a reality show. He asked Linda and the kids. Of course the kids were all about it. They had watched The Osbourne’s and Jessica Simpson. I LOVED NEWLYWEDS! It didn’t last but Jessica and Nick were great! The great Larry Csonka covered Hogan knows best for 411 and here is one of his amazing reviews. Go read them as they are awesome!

-Hogan Knows Best: Hogan also thought it would help Brooke with her singing career. Jimmy says Linda always wanted to be in front of the camera instead of behind it. Hogan warned them that being a celebrity is a different world. Nick and Linda said they were ready. I loved that show for what it was. I am a reality TV junkie even if I know it’s not reality. Jersey Shore! Survivor! All my jam! We get highlights from the show and I want to go buy it on DVD now. Is it streaming anywhere? Linda says they all loved the show. VH1 was pumped as the show was a ratings monster for the network. Again, we love reality TV in this country! Hogan says it didn’t do much for Nick except paint him in a corner as Dennis The Menace. Hogan says if the day was slow, they would tell Nick to go throw water balloons. Again, not reality at all, but I still love it.

-Linda says it showed the soft side of Hulk and he has a good heart. She loves that about him and puts over how loving he is as a father. We see Hogan give Brooke the sex talk and I laugh. It seems the show brought in a big female demo. I think Bulldog’s son even got roped in as a potential date for Brooke in one episode. Hogan says a lot of good came from the show. We see Hogan and Linda celebrating their anniversary. They joke there is no need for a prenup and Hogan laughs, “if you divorce me, I will kill you.”

-Hogan says being around each other all the time and plus the cameras put everyone on edge. Real issues actually started to happen and not the ones for camera. Hogan would come home with a 7 digit check and Linda would throw it back at him. He says she was a different person. Linda says Hogan was not her soulmate anymore. We get audio of Brooke from 2021 and she remembers not being there because of the stress. She says the fall was harder than the rise. Linda says they needed a break from the cameras. She says the couples therapy on the show was real.

-Oct 2006: Howard Stone asks the kids about the idea of their parents divorcing and they both shoot it down. Brooke tells him her parents love hard and fight hard. Hogan says he will be dead before he is out of the marriage. Hogan says he always thought it could be fixed and he needed to hang in there.

-2007: Hogan reads a poem to Linda and they both cry. We see their house get damaged from a storm. Linda says she knows Hogan loved her and was crazy about her. We get still photos and now we are getting in some tough stuff to watch. Linda knew Hogan was hiding something and the housekeeper found a gold hoop in her bed. Hogan admits to having a relationship to one of Brooke’s friends, who worked at the record company. Linda says she was with Hogan from 22 to 49. “That is half your life.” She doesn’t know why Hogan cheated on her and she felt like a failure. She was more angry than sad and was in survival mode.

-Hogan says he came back from wrestling in Germany and everything was out of the house except his clothes. We see video from the courtroom over the divorce. It was ugly and everything was done through the lawyers. It was hard on the kids. No kidding! Nick isn’t sure if he wants to get into this stuff. I have parents that divorced, but I was only a few years old so I don’t remember much of it.

-We get to Linda’s boyfriend that went to school with Brooke and Nick. The kid told Linda that he was twenty five and she said that was young, but was fine. They went out and he couldn’t get a beer and had to admit he was nineteen. Linda on what she thought if the kid was lying about being 19: “If you are lying about that we have problems.” Hogan says the judge wouldn’t let him live in his big house or little house. He had an apartment and could see his old house on the beach and the new boyfriend was taking Hogan’s boat out on the water. Linda would rub it in and make Hogan watch so he would know how it felt. Linda: “A little bit wouldn’t hurt.”

-Hogan tells Rolling Stone he understands why OJ Simpson did it. Yeah, that’s, I don’t even know. Hogan says he spent three days with Rolling Stone and thought the guy was his friend. They were drinking and the reporter asked about OJ. We see the video and it sounds less psychotic than the printed words, but still. Hogan wishes he never did the interview. He started drinking and taking pills. He had a gun in his mouth and didn’t know what he was doing. No mention of Muhammad Ali’s daughter though.

-Eric says Hogan was down and hurting. He felt he needed to go to Florida and hang out. He says it was the darkest and most devastating part of Hogan’s life at that point. Hogan says he hit rock bottom and gave Linda 70% of everything to get rid of her. “After the divorce I had no money. I was broke and TNA saved me.”

-We get video of the TNA Press Conference that announced Hogan as part of the company. Eric says he put the deal together and admits Hogan was reluctant to go, but needed the money. Jeremy Borash is here and gives us a brief TNA history. TNA was put together after the death of WCW and he calls it a gnat that was annoying around the face of WWE. It wasn’t competitive on a financial scale in any way, but it was a place for guys to go. Bubba Dudley says people tuned in to see what Hogan was going to do. The plan was for Hogan to wrestle, but it became apparent he was in no shape to do it. I just want to add WWE getting TNA footage has been great for these documentaries.

-Hogan says his body had enough and we see him in the emergency room with back issues. Surgeries started mounting and he couldn’t sleep in his bed. He had to sleep in a chair. His finger would twitch and cause spasms. We see a doctor showing Hogan an x-ray of his back compared to a healthy one, and it looks brutal. The curve in Hogan’s spine is wild. No wonder he shrunk! Hogan had four different back surgeries which was six overall. Eric notes he felt shitty making Hogan do it. Shoemaker says all Hogan could do was bleed. Doctors told Hogan he needed to put a stimulator in his back and it would help block the pain. Eric would have to help Hogan to get out of bed to get in the shower. Hogan talks about all the Fentanyl he was taking and was told he should be dead. Eric: “He was in so much freaking pain.”

-Borash says Hogan was in a room with him and needed to take a call. The call lets him know a sex tape was coming out and he was going to be in it. They have Hogan’s attorney in the Gawker lawsuit: Ken Turkel. He does a voice test before speaking and goes over the basics of the lawsuit. Hogan’s defense it was an invasion of privacy as he was Terry Bollea and not Hulk Hogan. Ken says what Gawker did was shitty and I agree. He says Hogan was horrified at the idea of any kid googling that and seeing the tape. We see footage from the trial where Hogan talked about the differences between Hogan and Terry. Shoemaker says it made Hogan think about the difference between Hogan and Terry for the first time in 30 years. The lawyer notes a home should be the last safe place someone has. Hogan wins the verdict, but the transcript of the tape comes out.

-Hogan uses a racial slur. Hogan says he should have kept his mouth shut and we hear the statement he released about how it was unacceptable and he was sorry. He says in present day he should have manned up when he said it. Another older interview he says it was wrong but says you inherit things from your environment. HHH had to be the one to call Hogan and let him know they had to cut ties. Hogan was basically erased though it wasn’t quite the Benoit treatment. HHH says he did not fire Hulk Hogan….”I fired Terry Bollea.”

-Jimmy says Hogan was at a low point, but never talked about it. He separated himself from his friends at the time as well. Hogan says he had been through so much craziness and negativity and it was “woe is me.”

-We meet Sky Daily Hogan, Hulk’s wife. She has lived in Clearwater her whole life and mentions that Clearwater loved Hogan. They met in a bar and connected immediately. Hogan says he was coming off his second divorce and heard “I am putting you through a cleansing,” in his house when he was all alone. He was coming off his 10th back surgery and said he would never marry another blonde. Sky told him to suck it up and quit complaining. She invited him to church and he listened to what was being said. “I got hooked.” He was baptized and born anew. That was the start of his comeback. He credits his wife for being dialed in.

-We see Hogan pulling up to a meet and greet and he is in awe of the line of people waiting to meet him. He admits Terry Bollea wasn’t the greatest person, but the character was. He loved the character and was ready to to jump back on the Hulk Hogan train. Jimmy says Hogan is in a better place now. He gets invited back to the WWE and gets a second Hall of Fame induction as part of the nWo. The Hulk Hogan brand was still alive, and we see Hogan working for WWE in Saudi Arabia. More footage of him meeting fans as Hogan says the character helps people. He isn’t sure in what way, but he knows Hulk Hogan helps people. Hogan meets an autistic fan and tells him his wife has an 18 year-old autistic son and Hogan loves him. Hogan says he knows he is here for a reason other than wrestling.

-Hogan says he stayed out of politics because his fans are Democrats and Republicans. We see him hanging out with Trump at Mania IV again. The President is back and says Hogan was neutral when they discussed politics. Hogan wanted to be politically correct. Hogan says he knows the person, Donald Trump. He doesn’t agree with everything he does, but he knows Donald is honest about who he is.

-July 2024: Hogan is at the Republican National Convention. Hogan says he voted for Trump in 16 and 20, but didn’t want people to know. He was going to keep a low profile in 2024 when he was going to vote for him again, but then someone tried to assassinate Trump in Pennsylvania. We see the video and Hogan says that did it for him. He was pissed and told his wife it was something he had to do. He knew it could jeopardize things and his wife says coming out in support of Trump as an entertainer will divide your audience. Trump: “I am less controversial over the years, but I am fairly controversial.” Hogan speaks at The RNC and is in full Hulk Hogan mode. The crowd is eating everything up as he calls Trump his hero. He rips off the shirt and yells, “let Trumpamania run wild, brother.” They cut between the RNC and video of Hogan beating Slaughter and waving the flag at Mania VII. Shoemaker says having the crowd go wild probably felt like old times. Hogan plays a voicemail from Trump that he sent him after the RNC. Trump brags about the “biggest ratings by far,” and calls Hogan the star of it.

-Shoemaker says Hogan should be bigger than politics like Superman. Sky says Hogan wanted to be more authentic to himself in this new chapter of his life. She says there was backslash and they received death threat letters, but overall the reaction was great. We see Hogan at a bar passing out his new beer and signing cases for people. Prichard says you don’t discuss politics or religion because you will alienate 50% of the audience.

-RAW on Netflix debut! We see Bruce and HHH giving Hogan the rundown of what he will be doing. HHH says it was important to have people like Hogan there. We see highlights from the show. Cody says he was stoked to see Hulk Hogan. He says Hogan gave him a giant duffle bag of his new beer and it stung Cody to see that Hogan wasn’t received well. That’s kind of underselling it as Hogan was BOOED out of the building. Poor Jimmy is back there waiving The US Flag and we hear a “fuck you Hogan” chant. Nattie says she was blown away. HHH says he thought it might happen and especially in LA. HHH laughs and says there is a different vibe and mentality there. Hogan heard the boos and Jimmy tried to tell him they weren’t there. I mean, the Mr. Burns and Smithers joke is right there for anyone to make. Nash says he could have LA hate him if he was on Jesse Waters every week. Nattie doesn’t think it was the stuff with Trump. HHH says Hogan has made mistakes and hasn’t atoned for those mistakes to some or the apologies were seen as hollow. Booker says the people were waiting on Hogan to make any statement so they could show how they feel about him. Jimmy says he knew it bothered Hogan.

-Hogan tells the producer he didn’t feel sad. He saw how intense they were and in his mind all he could think was he could return and sell out LA as a heel. Even being crippled they would love to see him ass kicked. “That red would turn to green quickly.” Eric doesn’t think this was Hogan getting heel heat. Hogan notes he used to get cheered in LA. He says he goes to New York and will get cheered. He says there is a difference in getting cheered than booed. We see him meet fans outside MSG and they are in awe talking to him.

-Hogan says when he went into the ring he was Hulk Hogan and it was magic. He says there is nothing else like wrestling. “I don’t know how else to say it except it is like you are cumming all the time.” Yeah, gross! He found out later that is not the gateway to eternal happiness.

-The producer asks if he remembers the time he was happiest. We see home videos of Hogan with his kids and Linda. He says he gets weird flashbacks during the day and they cut in old videos as he is driving in a muscle car. He will be in the car by himself and think of something that will make him smile. He thinks back to his young kids and when they were healthy. When Linda was the best mom he had ever seen. “The perfect soulmate across the board. That was probably the happiest I had ever been.” We see Linda and Hulk making their kids believe that Santa had been in the house and they cut back to Hogan smiling. The producer tells Hogan they are good for the day and maybe do another one in a couple months. Sigh! We see Hogan struggle to get to his feet and he walks off with his cane. We know what’s coming.

-Three Months Later: I will get this out of the way now. I am going to cry. People out there won’t and will celebrate him being gone, and to each their own. This is going to be rough for me.

-July 24, 2025: News breaks all over the world that Hulk Hoga has passed. They cut to Jimmy, Nash and Linda crying. We see the tributes outside of The Beach Shop. Cut to Sky crying, HHH looking emotional, and Bischoff crying. Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea was 71!

-We are at WWE HQ only four hours after his passing. Bruce says Eric called him at 11:30 AM to let him know that Hulk had a heart issue and was going to the hospital. Bruce called HHH and as they were on the phone news broke that Hogan had died. Bruce starts to cry! He says it is surreal and breaks down even more. Jim Duggan is here and is crying his eyes out: “Where the hell did that come from.” Duggan’s reaction crushed me here. Jesse Ventura says it signified it was the end of his era. “Hulk dying made you feel real mortal.”

-We now see Nick working out in the gym alone. This is a first for Nick and he says it is comforting in a way. We cut back to footage of Hogan with Nick as a baby. Nick says it was tough to process all of it. He says Hogan went in to have a neck surgery and there were some complications. Sky shows a picture of Hogan with her the day before the surgery. She says Hogan never got back to that. They were in and out of hospitals. Sky breaks down as she wishes they never did the neck surgery. Nick misses being able to call him. I feel that sir!

-Linda says she still feels the same about him and wishes things would have turned out different for them. When he got sick she realized she had love for him still and will always love him. She breaks down and says it was say to see someone like him go out that way. She also feels sad for her kids. Nick always believed his dad was immortal. He shows his dad’s shoe compared to one of his own and it cuts back to Hogan talking to a young Nick about his big feet. A well-timed Netflix ad gives me a few seconds to get things together.

-SmackDown in Cleveland. HHH has a meeting with the roster and goes over the passing of Hulk Hogan. He talks about Hogan’s influence on the business and how it can’t be denied or overstated. He says nobody is perfect in life, but they will remember Hogan for what he did in the industry. “You can make an argument we would not be sitting here today. This business could have gone the way of roller derby or some other shit that didn’t quite make it to the end.” He says they will start the show with a 10-bell salute and he doesn’t think it needs said but anyone with an issue doesn’t have to be on the stage. “No problem, no issue, no anything.”

-Cody knows it is complicated and they have to wrestle with the idea he is gone. “There are so many great things about The Immortal Hulk Hogan. Can we focus on those?” Jimmy is sitting in the stands and you can see the emotion in his face. He knows he will break down again on stage. Jimmy tells Hogan it is a great night for him. We see Duggan, Dibiase, Blair and Jimmy in the back dealing with all the emotion. Jimmy tells Blair that Hogan is up there and will see Dusty, Andre, Piper, Sheik, Savage, Mean Gene. They cut to each wrestler Jimmy names and it crushes my wrestling soul. That is my childhood! All gone! Jimmy gives Aleister Black a hug and then tells Dibiase that Hogan would have loved this. “It still seems unreal. I just wish Hulk could be here with me.” He notes Hogan loved this his whole life. They cut to footage of Hogan coming through the curtain while everyone walks through the curtain for the 10-bell salute.

-We hear HHH’s speech before the 10-bell salute. We get the entire salute here but have audio of Jimmy telling Hogan he loves him and he will always be the best. We cut to the funeral, and the producer asks the talking heads what Hogan will be remembered for. Jesse talks about the seismic levels Hogan took wrestling that had never been seen. Sarge calls Hogan The Golden Goose and the greatest entertainer of all time. Nash says the head of Mt. Rushmore. “There is Hulk and everyone else.” HHH was a speaker at the funeral and notes: “He was powerful enough to get Presidents elected.” Booker T says Hogan made fans believe in him and if you can do that in this business you are a hell of a wrestler. Vince speaks at the funeral and says he gave Hogan a standing ovation at the end of his matches and he has everyone in the church stand and give Hogan one last ovation. A Hogan chant actually breaks out with Vince leading the way. Vince even does the ear cup. HHH says people’s memories will fade to some degree, but what stays is how he made people feel. That will be the last thing that leaves. He continues that Hogan made people feel.

-Hogan says Terry Bollea was a human being but the legend of Hulk Hogan will live forever.

-Ending credits with all kinds of Hogan footage from matches to outtakes and more.

-Post credits scene of one last home video of the kids bowling in the house and Hogan telling them he will take them for ice cream if they get a strike. They celebrate and Hogan cheers them on as he gets them ready for ice cream.

-Well, I made it through and the tears didn’t flow as much as I thought but I think typing this recap was part of the reason. (Note: I watched it a second time and yes, the tears flowed and Duggan’s reaction really broke me). I stayed focus on what was being said and it kept my emotions in check at least as far as not crying. Teary eyed? Sure! This episode was the longest and was the one most people are going to discuss. I again won’t get into the politics as that is just something I never got into. As for this series, I was in the bag the minute it was announced. I am a sucker for wrestling documentaries, and I know when WWE is involved, they will make sure they are slanted the way they want them to be. That happened here, but I was not here for that. I was here to get a look at the life of my childhood hero and see if I could learn anything new. I loved all the wrestling footage and photos from the early days. The home video footage was a wonderful touch and gave us a glimpse into Hogan behind the character. This series was missing some notable talking heads with the two biggest being Brooke and Vince, but we know why they weren’t there. I appreciate the effort in finding past audio. I don’t think there is anything here to make people who hate Hogan change their mind and the same goes for people who love him. I do feel for his kids, Linda, and Sky plus all his friends (especially Jimmy). You can see how much he meant to them, and you can see how loved he was. I did find it interesting that Bret was absent during this episode. They were able to pull a strong group of talking heads. The random appearance of Christoper Lloyd was probably my favorite just because I never would have guessed that one.

-Overall, I would recommend any wrestling fan watch this series. There will be something that any fan will enjoy. Whether it is the old footage or even stuff like Bret being Bret. Them blowing past the Savage relationship was kind of a bummer, but I get it as that wasn’t as important to what they were trying to do with this story. They also left out stuff like Nick’s car crash and didn’t go too deep into Hogan being brought back and how his apology didn’t work with many in the WWE. This is a series I will watch several times. Watching it without typing along will likely have me catch things I missed and I will probably get a little more emotional. I will admit I watch the WWE video tribute set to ‘Ordinary’ about once a week since his passing. As mentioned, Hogan was a massive part of my childhood and he is tied to a lot of memories of my grandparents and step-dad. As HHH mentioned, Hulk Hogan made you feel and he did that for me. Whether it was being scared for him against Andre or running around ripping my shirt off in excitement over him being the third man. I don’t want to get back into people thinking I am defending him as what I wrote after his passing explained my feelings and they haven’t changed. I do miss my childhood hero, but as noted Hulk Hogan the character will live forever, and I can watch him for as long as my heart is still beating. I want to thank everyone who followed along with this series. I do appreciate all the comments and feedback.