Hulk Hogan

When I was growing up Hulk Hogan was THE star in professional wrestling. Being younger I was hooked on the soap opera like storylines and larger than life characters in professional wrestling, and Hulk Hogan was the man!

In this autobiography Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan lays it all on the line in an honest, sometimes searing account of his life, including the more recent tragedies that have befallen him and his family.

The Hulkster talks about his life growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood in Tampa with his prospects in life mostly being laboring on the docks or a similar profession. He became enamored of the local pro wrestling scene and did everything he could, well almost, to become part of the action. He started in the lowly local circuits and through his personality and character driven storylines, he made the climb to the top of the wrestling world.

His retelling of the early days of his pro wrestling career, literally sleeping in his car, and later traveling non-stop from one locale to another, were quite an interesting insight into the early days of pro wrestling at the lower end of the totem pole. And he not only admits to steroid use but talks about how steroids were part of the entire package of being a pro wrestler. As Hogan aged and injuries from the constant pounding in the ring took their toll he began the slow descent into an occasional wrestler and main attraction.

More recent events in Hogan’s tabloid life are what most people today will be familiar with. In his hit reality TV show Hogan Knows Best, we don’t see the utter turmoil his marriage and life had become. He tells his side of the story in the ugly divorce from his wife Linda and his struggles to keep up the lavish lifestyle that his riches had bestowed upon him. And more tragic yet, his son Nick was driving when he had a car accident that put a family friend into a coma with head injuries that he will make him an invalid for life. Nick was allegedly both intoxicated and racing another car at the time. Eventually he was convicted of a felony in the matter and was jailed for about six months. Somehow the tabloid media got a hold of a recording of a phone conversation Hogan had with his son while in jail that sounds like he is being callous and uncaring about the injuries to the passenger. Hogan gives a believable explanation of the conversion as being taken completely out of context.

The final chapters talk about how Hogan sank into a deep, deep depression with all the turmoil in his life – a son in jail, an ugly divorce, a falling out with this daughter over the divorce, financial problems from his lavish lifestyle, and a lawsuit for an enormous sum of money filed by the family of the injured passenger, all took their toll. He finally turned around his life and is telling his side of the story in this hard to put down autobiography.

Hogan’s ghostwriter, Mark Dagostino does an outstanding job of organizing the material into a coherent, well written account of the life and travails of Hulk Hogan. The only real drawback to the book is the first half keeps using the phrase “you know,” just like I am sure Hogan does in real life. It certainly gave an authentic tone to the book, but it sure got extremely annoying after a while. Thankfully he knocked off this colloquialism about half way through the book. Otherwise the writing and organization of the book are superb.

Finally, the reader must ask, how honest or true is the book? I am sure Hogan believes it is honest and true. The tone and unveiling of the good and the bad in Hogan’s life makes what Hogan says ring true. I, frankly, believe what he has to say, although I am sure there are other sides to the story as well.
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I've been a wrestling fan my entire life. Well, almost as far back as I can remember anyway. I was 6 years old when I saw my first match - it was Hulk Hogan defending the World Wrestling Federation Championship against The Ultimate Warrior in front of almost 70,000 screaming fans in Toronto's SkyDome. From that moment on, I was hooked. Fast forward 20 years and I recently finished an autobiography of sorts completed by one of the two competitors, the immortal Hulk Hogan.

In "My Life Outside The Ring", Hogan takes you on a very broad journey through his life from his early years to the recent events of his son's jail time and the divorce from his wife, Linda. While there's a lot of information to be found here, Hogan seems to paint his personal life in a way that does not make you envy him, despite the amount of fame and fortune the man has garnered in his 30 year career. His marriage with Linda is told as if it was a journey through Hell. Hogan admits that he still loves his wife Linda - that there were still some good times to be found if you dug deep enough in their relationship, however, it just doesn't seem to be there.

While I did enjoy some of this book - I just was not prepared for the amount of time he spent on his marriage. With a book titled "My Life Outside The Ring", I should've seen that coming (his WCW career spans a total of 3 pages). I guess I should go back and read his WWE produced book from a few years earlier if that's what I'm looking for (although reviews of that particular edition are far from favorable).

Hogan does end the book in a positive light; as if he turned his life around. How could he not? The events that hit this man in a span of 2 years are just awful. While it comes across as inspiring, sometimes it's hard to take seriously. Hogan has so much mud slung his way over the course of his professional wrestling career; you often wonder which Hogan you're seeing in this book. Is it a fabricated version - or the real man himself? The wrestling industry is one that is notorious for lies, backstabbing and the philosophy of "putting yourself before others" - and you need to do that to stay at the top sometimes. It would not surprise me if some of this book is embellished.

That being said, I think that Hogan is mostly truthful here. What does he have to loose? The divorce is settled, he's no longer a "top dog" in any company and his active wrestling career is pretty much dead. The one thing I did not get an answer to - that I really wanted - is the story of the hatred between the man himself and Randy Savage. Apparently these two dislike each other on a massive scale although nothing has really been said other than the odd internet rumor.

Although I did like it - I'd be hesitant to recommend it to anyone just because of the lack of time spent on his career. By all means, read this if you're interested in his problematic marriage and family life, you'll get a decent story there - but if you're expecting anything substantial regarding is time spent as a professional wrestling, you're out of luck.… (más)