The Hulk Hogan Death Rumors Feel So Eerie Now

WWE Hall of Famer and perhaps the most iconic wrestling legend in history between the ropes, despite his numerous controversies outside of them, Hulk Hogan died at the age of 71 on Thursday after rumors of "The Hulkster" being in poor health following neck fusion surgery swirled for weeks. Those rumors were perpetuated by Bubba the Love Sponge, whose real name is Todd Clem, the radio host involved in Hogan's 2012 sex tape scandal.

When the tape was released, Hogan filed a lawsuit against both Gawker Media, where a clip from the tape was posted, and Clem himself. Clem apologized and was subsequently dropped from the lawsuit. Hogan and Clem have not been friends, at least not publicly, since. However, Clem began to stir up rumors through his radio show, and online, beginning in June, that Hogan was on his deathbed and in a coma after suffering heart failure, and "he might not make it." At the time, Clem went as far as to say that Hogan's family members were being called to go say their goodbyes.

Over the following weeks, the rumors became so rampant that Hogan's wife, Sky Daily, took to Instagram on July 11 to clarify what her husband was going through. Daily said that Hogan was still recovering from neck fusion surgery, something his Real American Freestyle business partner Eric Bischoff confirmed in May, which she called "an intense surgery with a long healing process." She wrote that Hogan had been through a lot over the previous six weeks, but he was "definitely not in a coma" despite being in and out of the hospital.

"His heart is strong, and there was never any lack of oxygen or brain damage... none of those rumors are true," Daily clarified in her post to her Instagram stories, which has since expired.

The rumors regarding Hogan's health slowed for a few weeks following Daily's social media statement, but Clem once again ramped up his reports about Hogan around July 18. Clem stated that his sources claimed that Hogan's surgery caused permanent damage, including to his vocal cords and esophagus. Clem stated that he was hearing "just so many reports coming back that he may never, ever be the Hulk Hogan that we knew," though he no longer claimed Hogan was near the end of his life or in a coma.

On July 21, Clem said that Hogan had been transported back home from the hospital in the middle of the night under "Michael Jackson-level" security measures. He seemed to backtrack a bit, however, and said that it didn't seem as though Hogan needed to be as close to emergency facilities, and "The Hulkster" was stable enough to be home.

It was legendary wrestling manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart to provide the next Hogan update after Clem's claims. Hart took to X (formerly Twitter) and said that Hogan was "doing great, doing phenomenal!" and he had recently been at Hogan's restaurant with Hulk's son, Nick, for karaoke night. Hart did not say in the post that Hogan was with them.

In the afternoon of July 24, Hogan's death was first reported by TMZ. "The Hulkster" reportedly died of cardiac arrest, though details about his death are still coming out. Those across the wrestling world continue to pay tribute to Hogan on social media, including Paul "Triple H" Levesque, Sting, Kurt Angle and even former WWF/WWE chairman himself, Vince McMahon, but thus far, the X account of Bubba the Love Sponge has stayed quiet, outside of sharing his statement he made to TMZ about his one regret, not being able to apologize to his former friend.