What I’m Reading: Wrestling the Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes

Wrestling the Hulk, a 2011 biography written by Linda Hogan, Hulk Hogan’s former wife of more than twenty years, is a sad yet uplifting story of love, family and betrayal. Terry “Hulk” Hogan and Linda originally met in 1978 at a nightclub named the Red Onion in California. Linda recognized “Thunderlips” from the Rocky movie, but unlike the other girls at the club that night, had little interest in the huge actor from Minnesota. However, Terry “Thunderlips” Hulk Hogan had lots of interest in Linda, and hotly pursued the then-twenty-two year-old Valley girl. Linda refused to give him her phone number the night of their meeting, but he tracked her down at the nail boutique where Linda was working at the time.

Linda eventually fell for Terry and became a huge asset to the up-and-coming wrestler. Hulk, continuing his hot courtship of Linda, insisted on taking her to his wrestling matches where his prowess in the ring impressed her. Soon Linda and Terry embarked on a passionate years-long relationship that involved Linda, a SoCal girl, flying to see Terry’s matches all over the country.

In 1983 Terry and Linda finally married, and as with any successful, healthy young couple, the future seemed bright. And their future was bright–until Hulk Hogan became corrupted by the success and the people surrounding him. Soon Linda found herself feeling trapped, living with their two young children in Florida to a man she barely knew. The respectful, hopeful boy Linda met at the Red Onion in 1978 who had been so smitten with her now seemed cold and estranged.

By the time Hulk Hogan and Linda Hogan were starring in a family reality TV show they had only been going through the motions of marriage for years and their relationship was dysfunctional at best. Still, Linda had hope for their family and assumed that the cheating had stopped after her husband remarried her in front of her family within a few years of being married the first time. Unfortunately, Linda soon learned that Terry had a second life he was living outside of her and the family that involved deception, adultery, and insanity.

BOTTOM LINE: This biography is an oddly upbeat hopeful take on how to survive divorce from a corrupted, deceptive, super-successful partner. It is Linda’s happy hopeful nature that protects her from the pain and misery most people would experience going through what she had to endure from her marriage. Ultimately Linda Hogan learns that the man she married no longer exists and, like a scene out of Alien, has been replaced by a selfish, predatory creature who causes chaos and confusion wherever it roams. Luckily, Linda and her children survive the disaster of Terry “Hulk” Hogan with a sense of humor and hope intact.