{"id":93106,"date":"2025-07-26T03:51:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T03:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/93106\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T03:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T03:51:10","slug":"wwe-delivers-emotional-hulk-hogan-tribute-at-smackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/93106\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE delivers emotional Hulk Hogan tribute at SmackDown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hulk Hogan\u2019s tribute to open WWE SmackDown<\/a> on Friday night was nothing short of a tear-jerker.<\/p>\n

The event in Cleveland was opened with loud applause and the crowd chanting \u201cHogan\u201d in unison to honor the late wrestler who died at 71 years old on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fellow wrestler Triple H led the tribute for Hogan.<\/p>\n

To start his speech, he said the WWE community \u201clost one of the biggest and most globally recognized icons in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA man I grew up watching, was fortunate to share the ring with, and, like so many of us, were honored to call a friend,\u201d Triple H, who now serves as the WWE\u2019s chief content officer, said.<\/p>\n

The WWE mourns the loss of Hulk Hogan during SmackDown at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on July 25, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. WWE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Triple H also said how Hogan \u2014 whose real name is Terry Gene Bollea \u2014 inspired millions of people over the course of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe captivated millions of people and inspired them around the globe,\u201d Triple H said.<\/p>\n

Dozens of the most prominent WWE members stood behind Triple H on stage, with an in memoriam banner of Hogan in the background.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would not be standing here right now, all of us together, if it was not for him,\u201d Triple H continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one, the immortal, Hulk Hogan,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

The WWE mourns the loss of Hulk Hogan during SmackDown at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on July 25, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. WWE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

A 10-bell salute for Hogan then followed, which met with roaring applause shortly after.<\/p>\n

The tribute then ended with a video montage going through Hogan\u2019s life and his long career in wrestling.<\/p>\n

Hogan\u2019s death Thursday rocked members of the WWE community, with many saying that it was unexpected.<\/p>\n

Jimmy Hart, Hogan\u2019s longtime manager and close friend, was in shock over his passing.<\/p>\n

The WWE mourns the loss of Hulk Hogan during SmackDown at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on July 25, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. WWE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI called [Hogan] on Wednesday night, and then Thursday morning is when everything took place,\u201d Hart told People Friday. \u201cSo just\u2026just overnight it all happened, but it was so positive the day before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hart also said he thought Hogan was doing well the last time he saw him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was great,\u201d Hart told People in regard to seeing Hogan for the final time about a month ago. \u201cHe had great food to eat that night. He was talking with the fans. He was just phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

First responders received an initial 911 call at around 10 a.m. on Thursday for a cardiac arrest<\/a>, according to audio obtained by TMZ.<\/p>\n

Hulk Hogan at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN in April 2007. George Napolitano \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

Hogan was then taken to a hospital near his Clearwater, Fla., home and died around 11:17 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Hogan] was experiencing a serious medical-related issue,\u201d the Clearwater Police Department told reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Throughout his life, Hogan had 25 surgeries and sustained numerous health problems due to steroid use and injuries during his WWE career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hulk Hogan\u2019s tribute to open WWE SmackDown on Friday night was nothing short of a tear-jerker. The event…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":93107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,59638,50,62,52,61559,8117,188,61560],"class_list":{"0":"post-93106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-hulk-hogan","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-triple-h","14":"tag-wrestling","15":"tag-wwe","16":"tag-wwe-network"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114917505998473941","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}