Usually, I would watch WWE alone, and I’m cool with it. Yes, I eventually found a few friends who watch WWE or pro wrestling in general (casual or a die-hard fan like me), but I also accepted a long time ago that pro wrestling is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Whenever I do watch pro wrestling with other people, it’s even better. One of my bonding moments with my Father would be watching clips of WWE (old or new) on YouTube. Sometimes, my Younger Brother (the Kane to my Undertaker) would watch with me, too. Recently, when I was watching the recent edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event, my Younger Brother was surprised to see Goldberg in action. (I told him it was his retirement match, and he was battling Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship.)
But whenever I watch WWE with my lolo (Tagalog for “grandfather”), Lolo Ice, it’s a different situation—primarily because he doesn’t know it’s scripted, predetermined. If I did bring up the scripted fact to him, he would forget it, and he would still cheer for the faces (heroes) and jeer for the heels (villains)… and I love him for that. I can just enjoy watching the matches and moments with my lolo without analyzing them. This is why I called him my wrestling buddy.
And of all the times Lolo Ice and I watched any wrestling match or moment, he would always bring up one question about an important figure in pro wrestling, and I would always answer the same way.
Ice: “Buhay pa ba si Hulk Hogan?” (Is Hulk Hogan still alive?)
Dewey: “Yes po, lolo. Buhay pa po siya.” (Yes, grandpa. He’s still alive.)
Lolo Ice would always ask the same Hulk Hogan question until 2018, the year my lolo passed away. When I read the worst news through text during a date night, my heart shattered into pieces. I lost my lolo who liked to crack bad jokes and share life stories. I lost my lolo who looked like the good version of John Greer from Person of Interest. And most importantly, I lost my wrestling buddy—someone I can truly enjoy watching wrestling without being a smart mark.
Then, years later, on July 24, 2025, the subject of my Lolo Ice’s frequent question, “The Immortal” Hulk Hogan, passed away due to cardiac arrest. Suddenly, my lolo’s frequent question has a different and heartbreaking answer.
Honestly, I’m not a huge Hulk Hogan fan. If I were to pick my favorite wrestlers from the 80s (based on the old matches and moments I have seen anyway), I would choose “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Macho Man” Randy Savage over Hogan. And in recent years, Hogan became problematic due to his political alignment, his racist remarks (and his insincere apology about it), and his constant lying. Plus, don’t get me started with his history of backstage politics.
But I can’t deny Hogan as the charismatic face of the pro wrestling boom in the 1980s, the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Era. If it weren’t for him (a beloved hero and a true showman in the ring) and the aforementioned era, WWE wouldn’t be as mainstream as it is today, I wouldn’t have discovered it and become a fan in the process, and I wouldn’t be talking about pro wrestling here on The Diary. I can’t also deny the iconic matches Hogan was involved in—most especially Hogan’s match against The Rock at WrestleMania X8. If any wrestling match could be electric enough to power an entire country, the Hogan/Rock Mania match would be one of them.
What is also undeniable? How despicable he was when he became the third man in the original New World Order (nWo), one of the coolest factions in pro wrestling history. (This is my first introduction to the Hulkster and World Championship Wrestling [WCW]). The nWo would become an inspiration to another cool faction in New Japan Pro Wrestling that formed several years later: Bullet Club.
Hulk Hogan is a significant figure in pro wrestling, so as a fan of the business, I’m affected by his death in some way.
But more personally, I’m affected by Hulk Hogan’s death because he was constantly in my conversations with my Lolo Ice while we enjoyed watching WWE. My lolo (an important figure in my life) kept asking about whether Hogan (an important figure in wrestling) was still alive until his death, and now both of them are gone.
My heart is shattered all over again.
Rest in peace, Lolo Ice, Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper and Randy Savage. Thank you for the memories, and I’m sure Lolo Ice is watching Hogan, Piper and Savage wrestle the other greats in the afterlife.
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Header image: Ryan Lee of Pexels (for the vintage TV image). WWE (for the Hulk Hogan image.)
Updated on September 6, 2025.
The Diary of The Deranged Writer 