Hulk Hogan’s Memorable Moments from ‘Hogan Knows Best’

America got to know Hulk Hogan in a different light when the WWE Hall of Famer took on reality TV.

The VH1 reality series, Hogan Knows Best, aired for four seasons from 2005 to 2007. The reality series shared what life was like inside the family of one of professional wrestling’s biggest figures.

Born Terry Bollea, Hulk was seen in his life outside of the ring as a husband to his then-wife, Linda Hogan. Fans enjoyed seeing Hogan’s unconventional relationship with his children, Brooke and Nick. The show also documented his preparations to return to the WWE for SummerSlam 2006 after a time away from the ring.

The show premiered in 2005 to what was VH1’s biggest reality premiere at the time. It continued filming into 2007, catching surprisingly candid moments from the family that the wrestler would later say were “soft-scripted.”

Hogan has faced multiple controversies in recent years, including criticism of his speech in support of President Donald Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention; leaked audio of a racist rant, which he later called “unacceptable” in 2015; and a sex tape that was leaked online in 2012. Backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, Hogan sued Gawker over the tape for more than $100 million and settled for $31 million in 2016

Here are some of Hulk’s most memorable moments from Hogan Knows Best.

Hulk agreed to the show to launch his daughter’s career

As The Osbournes was coming to an end, Hulk believed his family could fill the void in America’s reality TV viewing. The wrestler had first been pitched a TV series in 2002, but declined. He changed his mind when he believed that it could help Brooke launch the pop career of her dreams, inspired by The Ashlee Simpson Show, on which he appeared in 2005.

“I was offered lots of [reality] shows when I was making my career comeback against The Rock, but I kept saying no. But years later, it was my daughter’s career and son’s racing career that we were thinking about,” he told Fox News.

“We saw the Ashlee Simpson show and Jessica Simpson’s and Lindsay Lohan on the big screen, and we just didn’t [have] a vehicle to compete,” he said. “But I considered it, because this time it was about the Hogan family rather than Hulk Hogan; they all wanted to do it and I tried to warn them about what they were in for.”

Brooke’s entering the world of music and performance became the focus of the show and its spinoff series, Brooke Knows Best, which would also share the family’s shifting dynamic following Hulk and Linda’s 2007 split.

The wrestler was excited for people to see another side of him

Hulk believed there was a quieter version of himself outside the ring that people couldn’t see beyond his bawdy wrestling antics.

“People are locked into this one-dimensional view that Hulk Hogan is just a wrestler with a bald head that screams and body-slams people,” he said in one of the series’ early episodes.

“(They) don’t realize that I go to soccer games, play frisbee, watch The Lion King and start crying.”

Hulk was an overprotective parent

The reality show put the wrestler in the role of overprotective dad, as illustrated in moments like his questioning of daughter Brooke’s boyfriend and following the teen’s whereabouts via a GPS tracker he stuck to her car.

The protective streak continued when Brooke looked to learn choreography for a music video. When the nearly 18-year-old performed the moves in front of her dad, he demanded a more PG show, telling her choreographer, “I’m not afraid of another lawsuit.”

Hulk raps along to Jeezy’s “I Luv It”

A fan-favorite moment from the reality series was when the wrestler hopped in his car and played Jeezy’s “I Luv It,” rapping along to the song’s intro. Fans didn’t expect the wrestler, then in his early 50s, to be listening to contemporary hip-hop. Viewers learned that it was Hulk’s attempt to find more in common with Nick.

The moment was later looked at through a different light when the wrestler came under fire for his use of racist language. In 2015, the WWE terminated his contract and scrubbed the pro from their website for a racist slur used years prior. In 2018, after he completed an apology tour and spent countless hours volunteering with kids, the WWE reinstated him in its Hall of Fame.

“Eight years ago, I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language. There is no excuse for it, and I apologize for having done it,” Hulk said in a statement to PEOPLE at the time.

The retired wrestler explaining to his family why it was hard to stay away from the ring

Linda, Nick and Brooke each offered Hulk different ideas on hobbies he could use to pass the time after alleging he was done wrestling for good. He can be seen riding Segways with Nick, going antiquing with Linda and doing Pilates with Brooke. As expected, the suggestions all seemed to fall flat.

The pro told his family, “When you’ve sold out Madison Square Garden 56 times, it’s hard to do normal things.”

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The tension in the family was brought back into the spotlight after Linda shared an emotional video to her Instagram Stories on Wednesday, March 26. “It’s been 15, however long years since I left Hulk Hogan, and my family is the worst mess,” a tearful Linda said in the clip. 

The couple was married from 1983 to July 2009, when their divorce was finalized. After Hulk and Linda divorced, he married his second wife, Jennifer McDaniel, in 2010. They later divorced in 2021. He then tied the knot with wife Sky Daily in September 2023.

Pro wrestling’s 12-time world champion and TV personality, who helped transform the WWE into the behemoth it became, died on Thursday, July 24, at age 71, the WWE confirmed.

In a statement shared with PEOPLE, the wrestling company said, “WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans.”

TMZ was first to share the news, and said that medics were sent to Hogan’s home in Florida after he reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest. The outlet said he was taken out on a stretcher.