Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, has reportedly died at 71 years old.
According to a report fromTMZ Sports, medics were sent to Hogan’s home in Clearwater, Florida regarding a “cardiac arrest.”
Hogan has appeared in over 30 video games, with the majority of them associated with the WWE (formerly WWF) brand. Hogan’s pivotal role in the ascension of WWE to the top of professional wrestling, and the popularization of professional wrestling as a whole, has made him a mainstay in the company’s video game adaptations.
In 2015, a clip of Hogan making racist comments while he was unknowingly being filmed emerged. Hogan was removed from WWE’s Hall of Fame and did not appear on the roster of playable characters inWWE 2K16, ‘17, ‘18, or ‘19 as a result. He was re-inducted in 2020 as a member of the NWO, a hugely popular villainous wrestling stable he helped found while at the company, and has appeared in each WWE 2K game since.
WWE 2K15 had an alternate Hulkamania edition of the game that featured Hogan on the cover but, ironically, Hogan was removed from the game following his scandal, so he was rendered unplayable in an edition named after him.
He has appeared as the cover athlete in several instalments of the 2K series, including WWE 2K22 (nW0-4-life edition), WWE 2K24 (40 years of Wrestlemania edition) and the aforementioned Hulkamania edition of 2K15.
Hogan also voices the character Angel De LaMuerte from Saints Row: The Third, a Mexican-American former luchadore turned criminal.
Hogan was also the star of Hulk Hogan’s Main Event, a non-WWE-affiliated wrestling game for the Xbox Kinect. The game was critically panned, and remains one of Panic Button’s only original releases.
In all likelihood, 2K Games will celebrate the career of Hogan in the next edition of WWE 2K.
