Famed Racist Hulk Hogan Booed While Shilling Beer on WWE's Netflix Debut

Occasionally, people will ask me who I think is the most popular wrestler in modern society. It’s a tough question to answer, not because there aren’t examples. Plenty of folks know who John Cena is. Dave Bautista has become a bit of a household name. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t know Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. It’s hard because those folks aren’t particularly known for wrestling. When you want an example of someone who gained and maintained their success primarily because of their time as a wrestler, the prime example is still Hulk Hogan.

It’s hard to contemporize just how popular Hogan was. He was the pinnacle of pro wrestling when it was at its peak. The media landscape was smaller, and he dominated it. Yes, he would appear in film and television, but his stardom came from wrestling. His aura and popularity came from wrestling. The love that he received, in and out of the ring, came from wrestling. So, when I use the phrase “Ugh, how the mighty have fallen,” believe that I am saying it with my whole chest.

Did Hogan rise up the ranks to become (arguably) the most well-known wrestler in the world? Yes. Did he do so while being a backstabbing racist who was more than willing to throw his fellow wrestlers under the bus? You betcha! A lot of wrestling fans knew how s***ty Hogan was, but a lot of his behavior was shielded from public consumption. That changed when a sex tape of Hogan was leaked, showing him aggressively using the n-word like it was his job.

The star was erased from the WWE after this incident, only to return a few years later as a co-host of Wrestlemania. He was paired with Titus O’Neil, an African American wrestler, to host Wrestlemania in 2021. He was booed relentlessly. Wrestling fans wanted nothing to do with Hogan! Since then, he’s only gotten worse, appearing at Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden as well as pumping up the crowd at this year’s RNC. He made a racist “joke” about Kamala Harris. Hell, he even fired an influencer from promoting his new beer after finding out she was Black! That happened in 2024!

Regardless, WWE shuffled Hogan out on a global stage last night: Their Netflix debut. The logo for Hogan’s newest venture, Real American Beer, was plastered on the ring all night (the ring looked ugly as hell). Then, the former star’s music hit, and the rejection was immediate. He came out with his former manager and only friend, Jimmy Hart, who was waving an American flag. The boos were the strongest reaction from the crowd during the entire night. Hogan tried to fight through them, but it was no use.

WWE’s Netflix premiere was stuck in the past, much to its detriment. Dwayne Johnson came out and gave slow, bizarre promos. The Undertaker rode out on his motorcycle, looking like he would fall while stealing the thunder of new women’s champion Rhea Ripley. Hogan’s entrance capped it off, showing that the former champion is not welcome anywhere, not even in the house he helped build. For a while, it seemed the company had learned its lesson when it came to this behemoth racist and his stupid handlebar mustache. Maybe they’ve learned their lesson this time, but I doubt it.