Hulk Hogan’s Honest Comments About His Serious Health Problems Before Death

Hulk Hogan struggled with a variety of serious physical ailments due to his 30 years in the professional wrestling ring.

The WWE legend died at age 71 in July 2025, mere weeks after a source exclusively told Us Weekly that he was recovering from “pretty serious heart surgery.” While Hogan was at the peak of physical fitness in his 1980s heyday, his final years were riddled with back, neck and knee problems that limited his mobility. He underwent total back fusion as well as multiple knee and hip replacement surgeries.

“I had a physical therapist ask me, ‘If you could be out of pain or you could have a perfect championship walk, what would you rather have?’” he recalled in a 2024 interview with Chris Van Vliet. “I said, ‘I’d rather have the walk.’”

Hogan estimated in a September 2024 appearance on Logan Paul’s “IMPAULSIVE” podcast that he’d had “l​​ike 25 surgeries in the last 10 years” in hopes of improving his mobility, though he’d only experienced marginal pain relief.

Keep scrolling for a look back at Hulk Hogan’s honest comments about his health problems.

A Lifetime of Injuries

Hogan walked TMZ through his long list of injuries, including multiple knee surgeries and a litany of back procedures.

“My knees are fake, the hips are fake, my back is full of metal and part of my face is full of metal,” he revealed. “I didn’t get the memo about the ‘fake wrestling.’ It’s predetermined, we know who’s going to win and lose, but what people don’t understand is that it’s very physical.”

He then declared, “Back in the ‘70s, when I started, I’ve still got teeth marks on my finger [from where an opponent bit me]. I had my eye reconstructed a few times … from getting hit in the face, nose broken 13 times, all these fake teeth have been knocked out six times. It’s been a wild ride.”

Physical Toll

During his 2020 appearance on TMZ, Hogan claimed to have actually gotten shorter from his peak height of 6-foot-7 due to his various injuries.

“I was 6-foot-7 before the Rocky movie [in 1983],” he recalled. “[Now] I’m 6-foot-4 and a half … Fast forward 35 years later, dropping a leg drop every night on my spine, two knee replacements, two hip replacements, nine back surgeries. When you get older, you kind of crunch up a little bit anyway. All of those things added up, so it’s very physical.”

Career Regrets

While speaking to Ariel Helwani on the “MMA Hour” podcast in 2023, Hogan blamed some of his health issues on pushing himself too hard in the ring. The 12-time World Heavyweight Champion singled out his signature wrestling move — the Atomic Leg Drop — as being particularly damaging to his long-term health.

“After everybody says, ‘Would you do anything different in your wrestling career?’ Everybody always says no. I would have done something completely different,” he confessed. “When you’ve got ‘the largest arms in the world,’ why are you dropping the leg every night for years and destroying your back? Why wouldn’t you put people in the sleeper with the largest arms in the world? Why wouldn’t you use the sleeper?”

Hogan went on, “Back in the day, the ring, sometimes the concrete was easier to land on than these old-school rings. If you go to the Baltimore Civic Center, they had a boxing ring. If you fell down in the ring, you would be paralyzed.”

‘25 Surgeries’

Hogan admitted to Paul in their podcast interview that he should have listened when his in-ring rival Andre the Giant warned him about taking too many physical risks. (Andre died at age 46 from congestive heart failure in 1993.)

“I’ve had like 25 surgeries in the last 10 years. 10 of them were back surgeries.” Hogan explained. “Nobody told me this gimmick stuff was fake. I’ve had 10 back surgeries, both knees and both hips replaced, shoulders — everything.”

He went on, “At the end of the day, the equipment back in the day when I started wrestling in ’77 was a little different than the rings and stuff you guys are working in now. [Andre the Giant] used to tell me, ‘Boss, don’t fall down. You won’t get back up.’ It was like a 22-foot boxing ring that had lumps in it, boards sticking up — it was horrible.”

Mobility Problems

Joe Rogan asked Hogan during a 2023 podcast interview whether all of his surgeries — including complete back fusion — had significantly alleviated his pain.

“I don’t have the movement back,” Hogan admitted. “The thing is, my knees and my hips are so old now because I had the left knee scoped three or four times, the right knee three or four times, then I had them replaced. Then, I had the hips replaced. They’re all over 20 years old.”

Daily Pain

After more than 30 years in the ring, Hogan confessed to Chris Van Vliet in 2024 that “everything hurts” on a daily basis, including performing simple tasks like brushing his teeth.

“If I’m going to brush my teeth, I can’t lean on the counter and push away,” he said. “When I’m done brushing my teeth, I have to lean in … and pull back. I can’t push a glass door open. Everything in the gym is short strokes. I can’t straighten my arms out. It’s the same with my knees, my back, my hips and my neck.”

‘Wrestled Too Long’

Hogan acknowledged that another factor in his myriad of health problems is that he “probably wrestled too long.” The Hulkster had his first match in 1977 and last stepped into the ring for TNA Wrestling in January 2012.

“I [told my wife Sky Daily] I’m in pain all the time but I’m used to it,” he told Van Vliet. “My go-to in the morning, just to get me rolling is two cups of coffee and two Tylenol. That’s it. That’s as far as I go, as far as the pain pills go.”

Hogan also confirmed that he also took edible marijuana to help with his sleep issues.

“I don’t like not to [not feel] normal and clear-headed,” he added. “If I can’t sleep or I have a hard time sleeping [I’ll take an edible] and it knocks me out like a baby.”