Hulk Hogan again appears to be in the center of controversy.
World Wrestling Entertainment might have completely severed ties with Hogan, and it’s still not exactly clear the reason. Hogan’s name has been removed from the website, he’s no longer listed as a host for WWE’s “Tough Enough” TV show, and all of his merchandise has been pulled from the WWE’s online store. Furthermore, Hogan’s name has been removed from the WWE’s Hall of Fame website, too.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer, considered one of the top pro wrestling/MMA insiders in the business, tweeted early Friday morning that the website was told “a few hours ago” to remove all Hogan references. That was all Meltzer could report at the time.
Again, the reason for this sudden change still is unknown. However, WrestleZone.com points out that rumors have surfaced there might be audio or video of Hogan going on some sort of racial tirade. A YouTube video was published Friday morning with audio from a Hogan interview from an unknown time in which the former wrestler uses the N-word in conversation. It’s unclear if that’s what led to him being removed from the WWE website.
Hogan has yet to comment directly on what’s going down, but he did send this rather cryptic tweet shortly before the news started to break.
[tweet https://twitter.com/HulkHogan/status/624448337094307840 align=’center’]
A WWE source told the Wrestling Observer that current WWE superstar Curtis Axel — whose gimmick is to impersonate Hogan — will drop that act immediately.
Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bolea, also is in the midst of trying to sue the website Gawker for publishing a sex tape featuring him in 2012.
UPDATE (10:05 a.m. ET): WWE has terminated Hogan’s contract, it told ABC News.
Thumbnail photo via David Richard/USA TODAY Sports Images
