Hulk Hogan, WWE Icon, Dies at 71

Hulk Hogan passed away on Thursday at the age of 71, according to a report by TMZ. An ambulance picked the wrestling icon up from his home in Clearwater, Florida, and carried him out in a stretcher. First responders rushed to Hogan’s house when someone called 9-1-1, saying that he was going into “cardiac arrest.” He was pronounced dead at the nearest hospital. Hogan has had a few health problems in recent years, and has been plagued by rumors about his health as well, which his family denied. On Thursday morning, Hogan’s house was reportedly crowded with EMTs and police before he was carried out to an ambulance. Details on his cause of death are still not clear.

Hogan has had his fair share of health issues over the years, mostly stemming from injuries sustained while wrestling and training, but last month rumors began to circulate that he was dealing with something much more serious. Florida radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge claimed to have sources close to Hogan, who said that the wrestler was hospitalized in a coma, and was not likely to come out of it. Reps for Hogan denied this story at the time, telling TMZ that it was completely false.

Still, Hogan’s health has been a matter of public interest for at least three decades now, ever since he brought his issues into the courtroom. Hogan testified against WWE founder Vince McMahon in 1994, confirming that he and McMahon had received shipments of illegal anabolic steroids from the same doctor. Hogan admitted to using steroids for 20 years prior to that trial, but denied that McMahon had ordered him to do so.

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Hogan has also been in court over chronic injuries to his neck and back in the last decade. He sued a spinal surgery clinic for medical malpractice in 2013, claiming that doctors there had put him through “unnecessary and ineffective” treatments, and that some of them ultimately made his condition worse. The institute also allegedly used Hogan’s likeness in advertising without his permission.

Hogan’s career set the template for many of the other professional wrestlers who would break out into the entertainment industry later. After becoming the biggest star in the WWE, he launched his acting career in 1982 by playing Thunderlips in Rocky III. He would go on to star in several more action and comedy movies in the years that followed, along with some prominent TV roles on shows like The A-Team, Baywatch, and Walker, Texas Ranger.

In the early 2000s, Hogan pivoted naturally to the reality TV format with Hogan Knows Best, a series that followed his family. The series helped put the rest of his family in the public eye as well, helping launch the career of his daughter, Brooke Hogan. Both continued working in wrestling and entertainment until the time of Hogan’s death.

Hogan is survived by his daughter and his son Nick, as well as his two ex-wives and his widow, Sky Daily. Clearwater police will disclose more details on Hogan’s passing in a press conference on Thursday afternoon.