Hulk Hogan honored by son Nick during launch of late wrestler’s new venture

Hulk Hogan's son Nick paid tribute to his late father at the launch of his new wrestling venture, Real American Freestyle.

Speaking at the kick-off event, “RAF 01,” at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, Nick said, “Hulk, to me, is an icon, a mentor, my father, and my best friend. [He was] a force in the sports entertainment industry that will live forever.”

Before his death in July, the wrestling legend teamed up with former World Championship Wrestling executive Eric Bischoff to form the professional freestyle wrestling league to promote Olympic-style wrestling.

Fox Nation aired Saturday’s special, and a streaming deal also includes the league’s second event, scheduled to take place later in the year. They described the events as an “exhilarating experience, packed with action and an immersive show atmosphere”.

Hulk began his wrestling career in 1977 and achieved global fame in the 1980s with the World Wrestling Federation.

He won the WWF Championship six times, with his longest reign lasting a record 1,474 days.

Hulk also secured the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times, holding the title for a cumulative 1,177 days, the longest in WCW history.

His match against André the Giant at WrestleMania III in 1987 is iconic, where he famously body-slammed the 520-pound Giant before a crowd of over 90,000 fans.

The wrestler played a pivotal role in the formation of the New World Order (nWo) in WCW, revolutionizing wrestling storylines.

Hulk was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice – first as an individual in 2005 and later as a member of the nWo in 2020.