Netflix’s new “Hulk Hogan: Real American” documentary is mostly a very positive look at the wrestling legend’s life, but also is as raw a dive into his major highs and lows as we’ve ever had.
We hear Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, get too emotional to talk about his brother’s suicide —regretting not taking him with him instead of just giving him the money he needed — and the one time he contemplated it himself.
This is the most we have heard from Bollea, at peace with no longer needing to protect the persona of Hulk Hogan as he may have in the past. We see inside the Bollea family and him as a dad through never-before-seen home movies and hear of the pain his divorce from his first wife, Linda, caused him, as he was also dealing with the physical pain from his back injuries. It sent him into a bit of a downward spiral that his third wife Sky pulled him out of before his death at the age of 71 in July.
In the documentary, Hogan expresses regret multiple times for not manning up and immediately taking responsibility for his mistakes and failures later in life instead of trying to play spin doctor and make excuses to save his image — which ended up doing almost as much harm as the actions themselves. It will be up to the individual viewers to believe and forgive him or not.
