Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan reportedly has been left without feeling in his lower body after his latest surgery.
Hogan, 69, a six-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion who spent 35 years in the organization, stands 6’7” and weighed roughly 300 pounds when he wrestled. His friend Kurt Angle revealed Hogan’s condition on his podcast.
“Hogan had his back surgery again. He had the nerves cut from his lower body. He can’t feel his lower body,” Angle stated, according to the Toronto Sun. “So let’s use his cane to walk around. I thought he was using the cane because he had pain in his back. He doesn’t have any pain. He has nothing at all. He can’t feel anything.
“So now he can’t feel his legs,” Angle continued. “So he has to walk with a cane which is, you know, that’s pretty serious, man. … I mean, I really feel for Hogan. He put his heart and soul into the business and it ate him up.”
“He’s the guy that revolutionized pro wrestling. I have so much respect for him,” Angle concluded.
In 2021, Brooke Hogan, Hogan’s daughter, spoke of the ordeal he had gone through over the previous ten years, saying, “We counted how many surgeries he’s had in the last 10 years and I think we’re at 25. He’s had both shoulders scoped and he had his whole bicep and his bursa sac and everything tied up in his shoulder last year. That was a disaster. He got MRSA and it was like a big thing. So we had to go back and undo tons of physical therapy. He’s had both of his knees replaced multiple times, I think twice on both. He’s had his hips done. He’s had his elbow scope.”
Hogan, who was nicknamed “The Immortal”, famously walked out to the ring to the song “Real American” inning in 1985. The first WWE match included nine professional wrestling matches. The main event featured Hogan and Mr. T defeating Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper. Hogan’s most famous wrestling move was his leg drop.
As far back as 2005, Hogan said:
I can’t work every night because at 51 years old, you just don’t recover that quickly any more. I left the building in Anaheim the other night and I woke up the next morning anticipating feeling something really weird, but when I woke up in my hotel room the next morning, I was fine. I told Vince McMahon, when I woke up I was still smiling. It was unbelievable to get past that hurdle of the leg drop.
I thought when I dropped the leg they were going to have to break out the old dustpan. But to drop the leg and for my hip not to break and my back not to be in a million pieces, my whole back is screwed up, but physically, I’ve been training as hard as I can and I think it’s helped a lot that I keep my body tight. I’m 51 years old and I look as good as some of the young guys, so I’m just really excited to keep going and see how far I can go with this thing.