We’re living in the world Hulk Hogan — and Donald Trump — made

If you truly want to understand American politics and society in the Age of Trump you need to review professional wrestling I have written or explained selected version of this dozens of times during the last years But in the wake of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan s death from cardiac arrest at on Thursday and with President Donald Trump marking six months in office following a bruising campaign in it is clear that even I greatly underestimated professional wrestling s political and cultural power Beginning in the mid to late th century after the Civil War American professional wrestling went from its more sport -oriented roots to the regional territories and a more theatrical aesthetic and presentation From the birth of the television era and into the s with the rise of Vince McMahon s World Wrestling Federation for the average person professional wrestling eventually became synonymous with the WWF A lawsuit forced the World Wrestling Federation to change its name to World Wrestling Entertainment WWE s multiple weekly TV shows monthly pay-per-view events or as WWE describes them premium live events Hollywood films megastars like The Rock and John Cena video games and a wide range of merchandise have become part of global popular custom including politics In WWE was sold to Endeavor Group Holding Company which also owns UFC for billion In the mid- s Hulk Hogan became the majority of popular professional wrestler in the world Hulkamania was a generation-defining event and was quite literally everywhere Hulk Hogan whose real name was Terry Bollea was an icon He took to the ring in his signature red and yellow ring gear boa and headscarf sporting a handlebar mustache and massive biceps his -inch pythons and waving the American flag His catchphrases Eat your vitamins and say your prayers brother his finishing move the big leg drop and his larger-than-life persona and physique played a central if not indispensable role in this story In the mid- s Hulk Hogan became the the majority popular professional wrestler in the world Hulkamania was a generation-defining event and was quite literally everywhere Good timing and the unique partnership between Hulk and McMahon allowed professional wrestling to conquer the world Bollea died of cardiac arrest at his home in Tampa Florida But Hulk Hogan is immortal Alas Terry Bollea the man was not Last Friday night s episode of WWE s weekly television show Smackdown featured the traditional bell salute honoring a beloved professional wrestler or other member of the extended wrestling family when they pass away The faces of the WWE superstars revealed the depth of the public s pain and shock at Hulk s sudden passing As a lifelong professional wrestling fan and smart mark I too am in shock During Bollea s decades-long career he was both a villain a heel and the ultimate hero the face In either role and for the majority of his career Hulk Hogan was a megastar Related Trump-a-mania run wild The messy union of Donald Trump and Hulk Hogan I grew up during the s in a city where multiple of the WWF wrestlers and employees lived Professional wrestling was a kind of civil religion in that working-class group uniting us on both sides of the color line This explains my love of that blue-eyed soul brother The American Dream Dusty Rhodes His Hard Times promo the wrestling term for an impassioned speech has gotten me through countless dark moments as I am sure it has multiple others I remember how someone at school or at the local bowling alley or arcade would on an almost weekly basis announce they had seen Hulk Hogan He was at the supermarket They saw him driving down the street He stopped his car to sign autographs for people who were waving at him Bulk of the stories were tall tales and urban legends communicated to entertain or to count chosen popularity Years later I revealed out that specific of these stories were in fact true All this makes it hard to fully explain to those who are not of that era what it was like when Hulkamania was running wild and how it felt when Hulk went to World Championship Wrestling WWF s rival organization and turned heel at the Bash at the Beach pay-per-view event Hulk Hogan a heel Never But it was true He ditched his trademark red and yellow for all black and the NWO New World Order was born The original NWO which consisted of Hollywood Hulk Hogan Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were so bad they became antiheroes and immensely popular Hulk Hogan turns heel with the NWO at WCW s Bash at the Beach in Toward the end of his career and especially in his later years Bollea had more downs than ups as he ascertained himself at the center of several general controversies While he continued to have specific great matches Hulk Hogan s match with Dwayne The Rock Johnson at WrestleMania being the best of them his sex tape shame subsequent lawsuit against Gawker for allegedly violating his privacy racism and other indictments of his character would take a toll on his once near-universal popularity Following his death sports journalist and professional wrestling historian Brian R Solomon summarized Hulk s complex legacy in a series of posts on X There can be no doubt that Terry Bollea the man did grievous harm to his legacy in latest years alienating multiple fans who once loved him There can also be no doubt that Hulk Hogan the wrestler was the biggest star this business produced in the past years if not of all time he wrote in one post In another Solomon reported Wrestling history is divided in two parts Before Hulk Hogan and after Hulk Hogan He was larger than life inspired millions of people multiple of whom spent decades being gradually let down by him In what is likely the largest part bizarre moment in Bollea s journey Hulk Hogan would ally with Trump during the presidential electoral contest seamlessly adapting his trademark performance for the MAGAverse In a series of appearances first at the Republican National Convention then at Trump s epic Madison Square Garden rally and achievement celebration at the Capitol One Arena in Washington D C the night before the inauguration Hulk would deliver a promo to rile up the MAGA faithful flex his muscles and then tear off his shirt to reveal a Trump-Vance-MAGA shirt beneath it Trump followed Hulk Hogan on stage as the conquering hero and champion It was surreal The message messenger symbols language audience and the meaning and emotions they created together were all one A type of rare semiotic unity had been achieved The Democrats had and continue to have no real answer for such power Want more sharp takes on politics Sign up for our free newsletter Standing Room Only written by Amanda Marcotte now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts On his Truth Social platform Trump posted the following tribute to Hulk We lost a great friend at present the Hulkster Hulk Hogan was MAGA all the way Strong tough smart but with the biggest heart I have no doubt Trump was being sincere After all he has been a Hulkamaniac since the eighties as Josephine Riesman author of the book Ringmaster Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America writes in a new essay Trump hosted two WrestleManias that Hogan headlined back in his initial run of fame and attended countless more shows in which Hogan wrestled You can see him on the old tapes the future POTUS leaping to his feet to give Hogan standing ovations and beaming at him like a kid who just saw Superman Just before he accepted the Republican nomination for president last year at the party s convention in Milwaukee that same expression crossed Trump s weathered face as Hulk spoke she writes The candidate had spent the bulk of the convention sitting bored in his chair occasionally falling asleep or perking up just to leer at his own daughter But when Hogan cut a promo to use the jargon of the pseudo-sport that made him famous in Trump s honor that night urging America to Let Trumpamania rule again Trump was absolutely riveted Maybe if it s even doable happy If our hero Hulk Hogan whose theme song proclaimed himself a Real American who would fight for the rights of every man could embrace a person like Donald Trump a villain who believes himself to be the real victim how lost then are we Americans as a country and a people Trump and Hulk s alliance irrevocably stained the cherished memories a large number of Americans of a certain age have of Hulkamania If our hero Hulk Hogan whose theme song proclaimed himself a Real American willing to fight for the rights of every man could embrace a person like Donald Trump a villain who believes himself to be the real victim how lost then are we Americans as a country and a people This betrayal is at the heart of the boos and contempt a large number of professional wrestling fans and the larger constituents came to feel toward Hulk But the pairing makes perfect sense once you realize how much the two have in common Products of an age of hypermedia and extreme spectacle both are characters and symbols more than they are people Donald Trump and Hulk Hogan are fabulists with a documented history of telling obvious lies and abusing the truth Being real Americans and patriots is central to both of their brands and popularity Hulk Hogan Trump and MAGA all embody the same anti-intellectual demagogic juvenile adolescent male power fantasy That big muscles sheer will and violence can fix everything We need your help to stay independent Subscribe in the current era to assistance Chauncey DeVega s journalism To that point Trump at routinely shares images of himself online as Superman a heavyweight professional wrestling champion a Sith Lord from the Star Wars film universe Sylvester Stallone s human war machine character Rambo a mafia boss and of lesson a professional wrestler On Thursday I watched a local news story about how Hulk s fans gathered outside of his store in Orlando and left flowers took photos and shared their memories of him Several of the people interviewed were not white they were Black They celebrated Hulk Hogan the icon and they had located a way to forgive or at least to overlook Terry Bollea s racism and other bad behavior It would appear at least for them that the memory of Hulk Hogan the good deeds he did and what he meant to professional wrestling was and is much greater than Bollea s great offenses I urged Barry Blaustein who wrote hit movies including Boomerang The Nutty Professor and Coming to America and directed the beloved professional wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat for his thoughts about Bollea s legacy and passing He stated me this Hulk Hogan has been around forever whether we craved him to be or not Wrestling would not be what it is the present day without his mighty contributions His legacy will live on forever both the good and bad sides of a complicated man May he rest in peace I agree and I think of this line from Real American When it comes crashing down and it hurts inside you gotta take a stand it don t help to hide Rest in peace and power Hulkster For better or worse this is the world you helped to create and we are living in it Read more about this topic The Trump-Musk feud that wasn t Media distracted by another MAGA spectacle Trump s distraction machine is working The entertainment of MAGA fighting is a trap The post We re living in the world Hulk Hogan and Donald Trump made appeared first on Salon com