WrestleMania 42 came and went this past weekend, but in 1985, there was WrestleMania 1 and Hulk Hogan. Netflix began its partnership with WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) in January 2025 and is releasing a new four-part documentary, Hulk Hogan: Real American, directed by Bryan Storkel (It’s Florida, Man).
I think, for myself, I got into the WWF—World Wrestling Federation (when it was called that)—sometime after WrestleMania 2. I was introduced to Hulk Hogan through his cartoon and also when NBC would air Saturday Night’s Main Event. I watched when his longtime friend André the Giant betrayed him, which led to their match at WrestleMania 3. There was only pay-per-view back then, and I wasn’t going to be able to convince my parents to order it, so I eagerly waited to hear from my friends—or on the next episode—what the outcome of the match was. As I got older, I became more of a casual fan of wrestling, but I always kept up with Hulk Hogan. I read his first biography and saw his run as a bad-guy wrestler, and later I even watched his reality show. The Hulkster would always come back to wrestling, and after a while, it got old—just like he did. But I’ll say this: no matter what, if he showed up, I was always interested, good or bad.
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I have seen a lot of different biographies and stories about Hulk Hogan, many centering on the creation of the New World Order (NWO) and its demise, as well as the downfall of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). So when Netflix advertised a Hulk Hogan documentary, I was 50/50 about it. However, this would be the last time he was interviewed before his untimely death.
When I got to speak with director Bryan Storkel, who put the documentary together, I learned some interesting things. He told me that the longest he had spent on a subject for a documentary interview was about 12 hours. In Hogan’s case, he spent over 25 hours spread across five days. By the end, he told me he couldn’t even say whether he addressed him as Terry, Hulkster, or Hulk.
As I watched the documentary, there were some standout moments. First, Storkel was given “hundreds of thousands of wrestling archival” footage. The footage from Hogan’s early days was great to see. It doesn’t even stop with the WWE archives, as his first wife, Linda Hogan, documented a lot with a camcorder. Speaking of Linda Hogan, I had read a lot in gossip magazines about their divorce, and I was surprised she was willing to sit down for an interview. She was integral to the documentary, as the two had spent his best career years together. Hogan’s son, Nick Hogan, makes an appearance, but unfortunately, we don’t see his daughter, Brooke Hogan, as the two had been estranged. That might have added a bit more to the documentary, but Linda was the most informative. Hogan, overall, was an open book. One area that he shut down pretty quickly was talking about his brother—I don’t even remember him having one.
I guess because I have seen so much over the years about the wrestler Hulk Hogan, I found episode 4 to be the best. This part of his life covers the dissolution of his marriage and the flaws of Terry Bollea, the man. Hogan’s divorce is so difficult that he has to get back in the ring to pay bills, and the controversy doesn’t stop there.
Whether you are a Hulk Hogan fan or not, I can honestly say that this documentary covers about as much of the man as I have learned over the years. I binged all four parts and enjoyed every single episode.
Hulk Hogan: Real American streams on Netflix April 22, 2026.
