WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart has revealed that he called Hulk Hogan just hours before the wrestling legend died aged 71.
Hart was Hogan’s manager and a close friend. Until recently, they would watch wrestling together several nights a week and they last met up around a month ago.
On Wednesday, Hart rang Hogan but spoke only to his assistant. The 81-year-old was told that the wrestling legend was ‘doing great’. ‘Well, tell him I love him,’ he told Hogan’s assistant.
‘And then Thursday morning is when everything took place,’ Hart told PEOPLE. ‘So just overnight it all happened, but it was so positive the day before.’
Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, passed away following a cardiac arrest. The 71-year-old was the most iconic figure in professional wrestling.
Hogan and Hart also used to do karaoke with Hogan’s son, Nick, on Monday nights at the family’s bar, Hogan’s Hangout, in Clearwater, Florida.
Jimmy Hart (R) has revealed that he called Hulk Hogan just hours before the wrestling icon died
Hart was Hogan’s manager and, until recently, they regularly watched wrestling together
Remembering their last meeting, Hart said: ‘He was great… he had great food to eat that night. He was talking with the fans. He was just phenomenal.’
But they did not see each other between Hogan’s neck surgery and his death on Thursday.
‘It just hits so fast,’ Hart told People. ‘It was like, “Oh my God.” We thought he was doing so well.
‘We didn’t go to see him at the house and at the hospital, because we wanted to make sure that he didn’t get any infections or anything else.’
During Hogan’s career, Hart helped spread ‘Hulkamania’ and he compared the late wrestler’s ‘insane’ support to ‘traveling with Elvis Presley.’
‘Now he’s happy because he’s free of pain where he’s going,’ Hart added.
Hogan’s grief-stricken widow, Sky Daily, was spotted being comforted by loved ones hours after her husband died.
Then on Friday morning, the widow and mother-of-three was seen pacing outside a friend’s home while speaking on the phone.
The Hogan family went through a bitter feud in the months leading up to the wrestler’s death at his Florida home.
Brooke Hogan was reportedly able to tell her father that she loved him in their last conversation
But according to TMZ, Brooke Hogan was able to tell her father that she loved him in their last conversation.
Brooke and Hulk were estranged for a number of years and it’s said she first learned of his death when her brother, Nick, texted Brooke’s husband – NHL star Steven Oleksy – to share the news.
Oleksy and Brooke married in 2022 and on Thursday evening, the former hockey player broke his silence on the death of his father-in-law. Responding to a friend’s tribute to Hogan, he wrote on Instagram: ‘Thank you for the love and support for my beautiful wife.’
TMZ reported that the wrestling legend and his daughter last spoke to each other in September of 2023 – two weeks before Hogan married his third wife, Sky.
