Terry Gene Bollea, higher generally known as Hulk Hogan, has been a global icon for many years. Together with his brash persona, flowing blond hair, signature mustache, memorable catchphrases, unprecedented in-ring success, and quite a few movie and tv appearances, Hogan's character is a fixture of the American psyche.
However what occurred in his life this week was no act in any respect.
>> Subscribe to Sports activities Spectrum Journal for extra tales the place sports activities and religion come collectively <
Whereas carrying a cross necklace, Hogan professed his religion in Christ and was baptized alongside together with his spouse Sky Day by day at Indian Rocks Baptist Church in Largo, Florida, close to the place he grew up in Tampa.
“Full give up and give up to Jesus is the best day of my life,” Hogan wrote on X on Wednesday. “No worries, no hate, no judgment…solely love!”
Complete give up and give up to Jesus is the best day of my life. No worries, no hate, no judgment… solely love! pic.twitter.com/gB43hTcLU6
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) December 20, 2023
The WWE Corridor of Famer first tried professional wrestling within the late Nineteen Seventies and rose to fame with the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) within the Eighties. Regardless of formally retiring in 2012, Hogan was nonetheless an energetic participant in numerous skilled wrestling occasions as of this January. Many wrestling historians contemplate Hogan to be maybe an important determine within the progress {of professional} wrestling.
“You possibly can't overstate his significance within the historical past of enterprise,” sports activities historian Dave Meltzer wrote on X three years in the past. “And he bought extra tickets to wrestling reveals than any man who ever lived, and I don't count on anybody to ever promote extra tickets than him.”
Hogan, now 70, says he accepted Christ at age 14. He has been extra vocal about his religion in recent times, telling TMZ in 2009 that Jesus “died on the cross and paid for my sins” and in 2015 saying that “The one factor that's actually actual is what lasts eternally : your religion and perception in God and realizing that after you’re a Christian and settle for Christ as your Savior, you’ll not perish, however you your self “could have everlasting life.”
He wrote on X this April that he’s “one with God”.
I accepted Christ as my savior at 14 and coaching, prayers and nutritional vitamins saved me going, however now that I’m one with God, the primary theme of give up, service and love makes me an actual primary occasion that may bang. any big of any dimension by way of the ability of my Lord… pic.twitter.com/SxcOJJwtRL
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) April 9, 2023
This August, Hogan — carrying a shirt with the well-known John 3:16 Bible verse — instructed podcast host Joe Rogan that he was raised within the church however strayed from the religion as a younger grownup. Solely in the previous couple of years has God labored in his coronary heart to indicate him the self-importance of glory and convey him again to Himself.
“Because the years glided by, I began to see issues occur,” Hogan stated after quoting John 3:16 and claiming Jesus as his Lord and Savior. “It bought me to the purpose the place I'm locked again in. … All the things else is a distant second to what's occurring round me.”
Hogan has been bigger than life to thousands and thousands of adoring followers for many years. Now that he has laid apart his previous self and been baptized into a brand new life, he is able to level all of them to the one one who can save.
RELATED STORIES:
– SS PODCAST: WWE HOF'er Jeff Jarrett on his daughter's redemption and baptism
– SS PODCAST: Ted DiBiase, The Million Greenback Man, WWE Corridor of Famer
– SS PODCAST: David Carr of Iowa St. in regards to the match for the viewers One, dwelling for Jesus
– SS PODCAST: Northern Iowa Wrestler Parker Keckeisen on Trusting God, Chasing Titles
– Penn St. wrestler Aaron Brooks after third NCAA title: 'Christ's resurrection is every little thing'