Hulk Hogan honored by WWE stars in poignant tribute at Friday Night SmackDown

WWE stars have paid tribute to wrestling legend Hulk Hogan who died suddenly aged 71 this week.

Hulk Hogan spent his final weeks battling severe health issues and making peace with estranged loved ones before dying of cardiac arrest. The wrestling icon,whose real name is Terry Bollea, died on Thursday morning after suffering a cardiac arrest at his Clearwater mansion in Florida.

During a press conference on Thursday, Major Nate Burnside of the Clearwater Police Department explained: "The Clearwater Police Department is conducting a medical investigation, which is standard in these types of cases. There are no signs of foul play or suspicious activity related to this call for service at this time."

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Hogan had been in and out of hospital in the months before his death. In June, he underwent a four-level Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion – a complex neck surgery. His wife, 45-year-old Sky Daily, told fans on Instagram at the time he was recovering from the “intense surgery with a long and layered healing process”.

In the first live event since his death, the WWE remembered Hogan in a poignant memorial before kicking off SmackDown on Friday night. Wrestling great Triple H, who now works as the company's chief content officer, paid homage to his former colleague before a traditional 10-bell salute was held in his memory.

Triple H, whose real name is Paul Levesque, said: "Ladies and gentleman, yesterday we lost one of the biggest and most globally recognized icons in the world."

A number of WWE figures looked visibly emotional during the 10-bell salute, including his former manager Jimmy Hart, who was seen wiping away tears. The likes of Randy Orton, Logan Paul, Charlotte Flair and Cody Rhodes were also seen paying their respects to Hogan on the stage, reports MailOnline.

SmackDown then ran a heartwarming montage of Hogan's greatest WWE moments, which featured some touching words from a number of his fellow wrestlers.

Hogan, whose career transformed wrestling into a mainstream phenomenon in the 1980s, was estimated to be worth around £18 million at the time of his death.

He is survived by his third wife Sky, Brooke and son Nick, 34, from his first marriage to Linda Claridge and two grandchildren. Hogan’s turbulent personal life often made headlines alongside his wrestling stardom. He divorced Claridge in 2009 following a high-profile split and married Jennifer McDaniel in 2010. That marriage ended in 2021.

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