WWE Hulk Hogan legend by cardiac arrest follows years of health problems

WWE superstar, Hulk Hogan, 71, died Thursday after a reported cardiac arrest.

Although there was no confirmation of what led to the fatal event, the famous wrestler would have faced several health problems in the months and years preceding his death.

In an appearance on Jake Paul’s “ImpaulSif” podcast in September 2024, Hogan admitted that he had undergone 25 surgeries in the past 10 years.

Hulk Hogan professional wrestling icon died at 71

This included 10 return surgeries, procedures on both shoulders and knee and hip repairers on both sides.

Hogan called the difference between today’s combat rings and the dangerous equipment of the 1970s, which he described as a 22 -foot ring with “lumps” and “boards that stuck”.

Hulk Hogan was suffocated in a match in a scene from the film “No Holds Bard” in 1989. The late wrestler made the difference between today’s combat rings and dangerous equipment of the 1970s. (Tristar / Getty images)

“It was horrible,” he said. “The equipment and jump and drop the fucking leg for 40 years, when I had the most important weapons in the world – I should have used” the sleeper “.”

He added: “I should probably have left earlier, but I loved doing it – and the money was just crazy.”

Regardless of the physical consequences of his years in the ring, Hogan said he had “no regret”.

Dr. Marc Siegel: Hulk Hogan health and times

In March 2025, TMZ Sports reported that Hogan had undergone surgery of the neck to relieve the pain, which was a “quick turnaround” which required little recovery time, according to a representative.

Earlier this month, Hogan’s wife Sky Daily crushed rumors on social networks that her husband was in a coma after recent surgery.

She noted in an Instagram post that “her heart is strong, and there was never a lack of oxygen or brain damage”.

The legend of the struggle, Hulk Hogan, salutes the crowd during the card remuneration of the WWE Crown Jewel at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyad on November 2, 2018. “I should probably have left earlier, but I loved doing it – and the money was simply crazy,” said Hogan. (Fayez Nureldine / AFP via Getty Images)

Every day revealed in his article that Hogan had recovered from a “main cervical discectomy prior to four levels and Fusine (ACDF), which is an intense surgery with a long and layer healing process.”

She wrote in an article: “If you look at him, you will see what the last six weeks have involved … not only for her spine, but also for her vocal cords, and the food / respiratory tubes that are tight during surgery. We were in the hospital and outside to support this recovery.”

Years of “physical tension”

In an editorial this week for Fox News Digital, Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News principal medical analyst, shared that even if Hogan will not remember his struggles and health surgeries, they were certainly present.

These included everything, from “its use of steroids admitted in the 1990s, to replacement surgeries of several knees and hip, to shoulder surgeries and on several occasions, and finally an operation of fusion of the neck which, according to many accounts, was followed by a slide in his health, leading to a deadly cardiac arrest”, wrote Siegel.

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The doctor also pointed out that Hogan came from a group of professional wrestlers who had a “high impact” of consumption of steroids and drugs, suicide and heart disease.

A recent study by East Michigan University said that wrestlers between 45 and 54 were almost three times more likely to die prematurely than those of the general American population.

Hogan puts a strangulation on the neck of the Utah Karl Malone basketball star in an à la carte struggle match on July 12, 1998 in San Diego. (APTO Photo / Lenny Ignilzi, File)

“And these figures increased, the faster the wrestler,” added Siegel. “Many of these men did not even arrive in the 1970s.”

He added: “Keep in mind the physical tension to have a large bulky setting slammed several times, combined with frequent trips and emotional stress of being both an athlete and an artist.”

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In 1994, Hogan would have admitted under oath – during the trial of the president of WWF, Vince McMahon, who had been accused of distribution of steroids – that he had used steroids “for more than a decade” before stopping.

“Hulk Hogan has lived in pain for decades, but that hasn’t prevented him from being a continuous model for many, including in recent years,” said Siegel. “He came to embody physical and spiritual vitality, and that is why it will really be recalled.”

What’s going on during cardiac arrest?

Dr. Bradley Serwer, interventional cardiologist and Vitalsolution chief doctor in Maryland, told Fox News Digital that without first-hand knowledge of Hogan’s medical history, the exact cause of cardiac arrest suddenly reported “remains unknown”.

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“It was reported that he knew good health until he collapsed,” said Serwer. “This presentation is common enough for a heart attack with a sudden cardiac arrest.”

The most common cause of sudden cardiac arrest is a heart attack or ischemic heart disease, the cardiologist said.

The most widespread cause of sudden cardiac arrest is a heart attack, according to a cardiologist. (istock)

“When a heart attack occurs, the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen, causing the death of muscle tissue,” said the doctor. “This condition predisposes the heart with abnormal heart rhythms, such as ventricular fibrillation (VFIB).”

The VFIB is characterized by “a rapid and irregular electrical activity which causes ventricles (to be trembled and be ineffective,” said Serwer.

The result is the inability of the heart to pump blood towards the body, causing rapid death.

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Cardiac arrests that occur outside a hospital have a “significantly low” survival rate of around 10%, according to Serwer.

For those who receive a cardiac arrest response, such as RCR and defibrillation, survival increases up to 40%.