Hulk Hogan: Real American – Episode Four, “Hulk vs Terry”

Previously: Part One (The Rise), Part Two (Hulkamania), Part Three (Hulkamania)

And finally, we get to the good stuff.

Hulk Hogan works out in the gym again, making weird Hulk noises. Werner Herzog appears to tell us about how we are performative during life. “In the case of Hulk Hogan, it would be interesting to look into the performer and the real Hulk Hogan if he still exists.” Hogan records a phone promo about walking ont the beach in a banana hammock to promote karaoke at his bar.

2003. Hulk gets some work done backstage so he can perform that night. Triple H says Vince was back in love with Hulk and he and the rest were trying to tell him “no.” The voice of Vince McMahon tells us there is nothing like 20,000 people roaring and that the business is tough to leave. Hulk: “If I die, I hope I die out there.” Okay, Ric Flair. He says the one thing he would change is not doing the leg drop because he had big arms and could’ve done a sleeper without decades of doing that bump.

David Shoemaker looks at Hogan taking an extra lap. He says even as a Hogan fan, you have to wonder why he’s still there. Hogan has his last WWE match against Randy Orton. He was gone so much that his marriage was pretty much in shambles. He would sit on the couch quietly and watch movies. He woke up one day and he was old. He got a call from VH1 about doing a reality show. The kids were all into it and Hulk hoped it would bring him and Linda back on the same level again.

“Hogan Knows Best” is born. Jimmy Hart says it was to launch Brooke as a singer, Nasty Nick as a personality and Linda in front of the camera. Nick says Huk warned them what they were getting into. Linda says they all loved it and the numbers were great for VH1. It was good for everyone but Nick, who was painted as a Bart Simpson prankster instead of the 16-year-old who liked to go hang with his friends and work on cars. Linda says it gave us more of Terry instead of Hulk, softening his image up a bit. But then there’s the mistakes that showed through.

Hulk tells us that having their personal problems televised make things so much worse. He’d come home with a check and give it to Linda who would throw it back in his face and make fun of it. The voice of Brooke Hogan remembers not even being there because of the drama. Linda Hogan needed a break from the cameras. They did couple’s therapy which wasn’t just for the show. Hulk always thought it could be fixed but then 2007 comes around. Linda’s housekeeper brings her a gold hoop she found in their bed and brings it to Linda. Hulk hooks up with one of the executives of Brooke’s recording group and Linda leaves. “You’re not really sad any more, you’re just kind of mad.” Hulk comes back from a wrestling show in Germany and everything in the house is gone except for his clothes. They have a bitter divorce and don’t talk, making things difficult with the children. Linda starts dating Charles Hill, a 25-year-old who went to school with Brooke and Nick. He reveals that he’s 19 and she tells him he better not be lying about that too. Sheesh.

Hulk Hogan tells Rolling Stone, “I know why O.J. did it” and tells them, “I could’ve turned everything into a crime scene like O.J., cutting everybody’s throat.” He thought the reporter was his friend – which is dumb – and says he said all of that while buzzed. “I would never go there, I wish I had never done the interview with Rolling Stones. I went home and I started drinking and started eating pills and I just went down this rabbit hill for a couple days. Next thing I know I’m sitting in the bathroom with a gun in my mouth.”

Linda gets 70% of everything and says he was broke but TNA saved him. With Eric Bischoff, Hulk signs with TNA. Jeremy Borash says it wasn’t competitive in any way with WWE, but it gave guys another place to work and was like a gnat for WWE. It became apparent quickly Hulk wasn’t in shape to be a member of the roster. He had back surgeries three through six. Bischoff felt shitty about making Hulk go to TNA. All he could do in the ring was get beat up and bleed. He has a spinal cord stimulator implanted in his back. Eric would have to help Hogan get out of bed. Hulk was taking 80 mg Fentanyl in his mouth, two 300 mg patches on his legs and had six 1500 mg Fentanyl lollipops. That’s a hell of a lot of Fentanyl. In a meeting with Borash, he gets a call and learns a sex tape of him is coming out.

Gawker shares the infamous video with Hulk and the wife of Bubba the Love Sponge. Ken Turkel, Gawker Trial Attorney, says it was shitty and that Gawker should’ve never put it out, with Hulk horrified that a kid could Google it and find it. This is where we get the court footage of Hulk saying that Hulk is a character and Terry Bollea is the man on the stand. Hulk wins a giant verdict but then the tape transcripts come out, including Bollea using racial slurs. “What I said resonates and has an echo effect and keeps vibrating for years. I keep hitting the way, crashing and burning and saying stupid stuff and messing up.” Previously, he said, I never should have said what I said, it was wrong, I’m embarrassed by it, but a lot of people need to realize that you inherit things from the environment.” No, that does not make it okay. Triple H says he’s the one who called Terry that their partnership was over. “I didn’t fire Hulk Hogan, I fired Terry Bollea.”

Jimmy Hart says that Hulk separated himself from his friends too. Sky Daily Hogan, Hulk’s Wife, sees a whole crowd queuing up to meet him at his restaurant. They make eye contact and she felt that “zing.” She told him to quit complaining and to be grateful for things. He goes to church with her, listens to what was being said, and gets baptised (with the bandanna of course). They get married and he learns he has to separate the character from Bollea for his final act. He’s reinstated into WWE and has some fun with it.

President Trump is back. He says Hulk would always be politically correct back in the day and Hulk says he knows Donald very well. “At least he’s honest about who he is.” Yes, that hasn’t been problematic one bit. Hulk goes to the RNC and says he was a coward who voted for Trump but wouldn’t wear the red hat. Then the Trump assassination thing happens, and Hulk says he was done, he was pissed, and he told his wife that he has to speak up. Hulk Real Americans his way onto the RNC stage, rips the shirt to show off his Trump/Vance shirt, and, “yeah, it felt good man.” Hulk listens to a voicemail from Trump talking about the ratings and that he loves having Hulk on his side. “Yes sir, America’s back. We got our country back,” says Hulk. Oh boy.

His wife says they did get death threat letters, “but for the overall pro-America brand, it was great.” He makes Real American Beer and meets with fans who tell him that he made the right choice. Bruce Prichard tells us that if you talk politically, you alienate 50% of your audience. We go to the Raw Netflix premiere as Triple H explains they wanted to blend past, present and future on the first episode. Cody Rhodes was stoked to see Hulk and says it stung a little that he wasn’t as well received as previously.

We go to that reception as Hulk and Jimmy go on the stage to all boos. Triple H says yeah, he thought he was going to get booed out of the building, especially in Los Angeles. Kevin Nash says LA would hate him too if he went on Jesse Watters three times a week. Triple H says Hulk made a lot of mistakes and hasn’t atoned or even apologized for some of it. Booker T knew they were waiting for Hulk to make any kind of statement. Jimmy knew it bothered Hulk. Hulk: “Bro, I could come back as a bad guy in LA and sell out that building with anybody.” Okay. Bischoff says if you’re getting booed as a character that’s good, but if you’re going out as the good guy it’s a different story.

Hulk talks about how it feels to be in the ring and catching the right waves. “There’s nothing else like it. I don’t know how else to say it, but it’s almost like you’re coming all the time.” Boy I wish he could have found any other way to say it. He found out that wrestling was not the gateway to eternal happiness. The times he was happiest was with his kids and Linda being his best friend. The director plans to meet with Hulk one more time in a couple of months as Hulk walks off with his walking stick.

Three Months Later, July 24, 2025: Hulk dies of cardiac arrest. HHH gets the phone call that Hulk died while on a call with Bruce. Hacksaw Jim Duggan cries. Jesse Ventura calls it the end of his era. “Hulk dying made you feel real mortal.” Nick Hogan says it is strange working out without him but it is comfortable to be in his gym. Linda wishes things would have turned out differently for them, but she realized her love never faded when he became sick.

WWE SmackDown, 30 hours after the passing. Triple H meets with the production crew and tells them they’re going to honor what he did for the business. He tells them they’re doing a ten-bell salute but if anyone does not want to be on the stage for it, there’s no issues. Cody knows it is complicated but they should focus on the great things about the Hogan character for the night. Jimmy Hart is sad but knows his friend wants him there. He’ll miss hearing Hulk’s voice every day. The bell tolls and we hear Jimmy say they’ll always love the Hulkster. This fades into the funeral footage.

Ventura says Hulk will be remembered for taking wrestling to seismic levels. Nash calls him the face on Mount Rushmore. HHH calls him the most recognizable man on the planet who lifted the business to heights never imagined. Vince at the funeral asks to give Hulk one more standing ovation and leads a Hogan chant. Triple H says that people’s memories will fade of things he did that they didn’t like over the years (they won’t). “He made people feel.” Hulk: “Terry Bollea was just a human being, but the legend of Hulk Hogan will live forever.”

Well, this episode was a LOT. It was the most fascinating of the four because it showed us the stuff we didn’t necessarily see outside of the repeated wrestling history. I missed “Hogan Knows Best”, so that was interesting. Of course, seeing Hulk going political and his thought process behind it – flawed as it might be, perhaps – was interesting. And seeing the perception of him change was wild to watch. I am glad they didn’t totally shy away from all of that, even the negative.

I think the last episode covered things pretty fairly and I appreciate that. While a doc made to be on Hulk’s side and with WWE’s blessing, it did cover some negatives and why they were negatives. As a whole, it was a good series. Something to remember is that this was catered to an overall Netflix general audience and not the hardcore wrestling audience, so it wasn’t necessarily a gigantic deep dive into every angle and opponent in his history. As a documentary fan in general, it entertained me. I didn’t lose interest at any point, even when I had the knowledge of the things happening. Of course, if you despise Hulk, you might come in hate watching or just not want to watch. It was an interesting watch one time though, particularly this episode. The other three episodes are things you know or could learn from almost any WWE Hulk documentary.