Hulk Hogan embracing Trump and MAGA showed politics and wrestling are the same
Credit: NYT
Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, aka Hollywood Hulk Hogan, aka Mr. America, is dead.
The internationally famous wrestler, actor and media personality passed away on July 24, which already constitutes this column being “old news” to most people.
Unfortunately, what I want to talk about in this will be relevant even after we’ve buried his grandchildren, I fear.
As with any celebrity passing (much like the superior Ozzy Osbourne only a couple of days prior), Hulk Hogan was the main story across every single social media outlet.
Many mourned his passing, while seemingly more celebrated it.
Which camp did I fall in? Neither. I didn’t know the man. The only celebrity death that has actually made me feel something is Robin Williams, and I think I share that with most people.
What I found most interesting about the people who took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to lament the death of The Hulkster is how many felt the need to preface their poorly written eulogies with phrases such as “love him or hate him …” or “say what you will about Hulk Hogan, but …” because it implies that they are firmly aware of Hogan’s racist comments and attitudes, but they feel the need to brush that aside because they had a stuffed Hulk Hogan pillow buddy as a kid (as did I; they were awesome).
Hogan’s ripping his shirt off at the RNC was an ‘aha’ moment
What’s more strange is the comments section under posts lambasting “Mr. Eat Your Vitamins!” Someone would post something, such as, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t act like Hulk Hogan wasn’t a terrible person just because he’s dead,” which would result in hundreds of comments like:
Credit: Handout
“Wrestling wouldn’t be anything without Hulk Hogan!”
Or:
“Hulk Hogan made millions of dollars! What have you done?”
And that there is the example of where we are culturally that I fear we may never come back from: The only thing that matters is “winning.”
Hulk Hogan coming out as MAGA, supporting Trump and ripping his shirt off at the 2024 Republican National Convention finally put the bow on something that has been brewing for a long time but is now fully out in the open.
American politics and professional wrestling are now identical.
It doesn’t matter what you actually believe; it just matters that you say the right things to get a big pop from the crowd, and if someone tries to call you out on it, you maintain “kayfabe” until the day you die.
In wrestling, fans and observers are in on the joke
Credit: AP
If you don’t know what kayfabe is, congrats on having a stable job, a family and a brain that operates higher than an eighth-grade level – or you know, the opposite of me!
I love wrestling so please understand I’m not making fun of the industry, though it is ridiculous. In the wrestling business, kayfabe is the code that says, “Even if it’s a work, we treat it like it’s real.”
“Work” means “fake” essentially, but fake is a taboo word to wrestlers, as it should be. If it were all “fake,” Owen Hart wouldn’t have died doing a stunt during a World Wrestling Entertainment event in 1999.
So, kayfabe is the sacred oath between a wrestler and the audience (the “marks”): “This may all be pretend, but I’m gonna sell it to you as if it isn’t.”
That right there is modern politics in a nutshell.
Trump wasn’t the first politician to adopt kayfabe, but he is certainly the first politician to pull it off as if he were a WWE Hall of Famer (oh wait, he literally is).
He walked into politics like it was Bash at The Beach 1997 and started tossing out career politicians like they were jobbers from Memphis.
Sorry, I meant “worker” cause “jobber” is also a pejorative … though I don’t think anyone cares if you call Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz one.
Corey Ryan Forrester is a comedian from Chickamauga. He is the co-author of “The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin’ Dixie Outta the Dark” and “Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies (Yes, That’s a Thing.)” and a co-host of the podcasts “wellRED” and “Puttin’ On Airs.”
About the Author
Corey Ryan Forrester is a comedian from Chickamauga, Ga. He is the co-author of “The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin’ Dixie Outta the Dark” and “Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies (Yes, That’s a Thing.),” and a co-host of the podcasts “wellRED” and “Puttin’ On Airs.”
