Revealed: How WWE stars really felt about Hulk Hogan after wrestling legend's death at 71

While he is regarded by many as the greatest wrestler in history, the late Hulk Hogan divided opinion amongst his fellow WWE stars before his tragic death this week.

Hogan passed away at the age of 71 early Thursday morning after suffering a cardiac arrest at his Clearwater, Florida home, DailyMail.com confirmed later in the day.

Medics rushed to his property before taking him Morton Plant Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The sporting icon's passing has sent shockwaves across the world, with a host of high-profile figures - including wrestling superstars past and present - expressing their sadness at the news.

Yet Hogan did not enjoy positive relationships with all of his WWE colleagues over the years.

Some wrestlers failed to see eye to eye with Hulk behind the scenes, such as fellow legend Bret Hart.

Hart, who threatened to succeed Hogan as the face of the WWE in the early 1990s, was initially friends with his predecessor before their relationship deteriorated when the latter refused to drop the WWE Championship to him at SummerSlam 1993 in a proposed passing-of-the-torch moment.

The Canadian felt Hogan purposely tried to sabotage his career, including when he dropped the championship himself to Yokozuna at WrestleMania 9 months later.

After his loss, Hulk headed into the ring moments later and somehow walked away with the title himself - despite never being scheduled for a match.

In the years since, Hart has claimed that he was initially supposed to win his match against Yokozuna that night, only for WWE boss Vince McMahon to alter those plans at the last minute to appease Hogan by making him the champion again.

Bret recalled in his 2009 book: 'I was really thinking, 'Go ahead, Hogan, take from me what I worked so hard to get. We'll see just how long you last!''

Hogan and Hart only ever wrestled each other on one occasion, but it came when both were members of rival promotion WCW - where they also clashed heads over the former's level of influence behind the scenes.

In 2006, Hart is even said to have blanked his nemesis' offer of a handshake at a WWE Hall of Fame event, and the pair regularly trashed each other in the media up until Hogan's death this week.

Hogan said about Hart after appearing on Logan Paul's 'IMPAULSIVE' podcast last year: 'Bret Hart hates everybody. It's not just me - it's [Ric] Flair, it's Vince. You know, 'I'll never work for Vince again after what happened to my family,' and then he's back. It just never ends with him.'

Hart, meanwhile, had another dig at his rival earlier this year during an interview with combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani.

'When you watch a lot of the wrestlers today, you don't see anybody imitating Hulk Hogan or Ultimate Warrior,' he claimed. 'You see a lot of wrestlers today really trying their best to capture my style, or some of the guys that I worked with, like Dynamite Kid, or Curt Hennig, my brother Owen [Hart] and stuff like them. 

'Yeah, they're wrestling my style, and that's the biggest compliment I can get from today's generation is that.'

Since the news of Hogan's passing, Hart is yet to pay tribute to his former adversary.

Another WWE great who had a complicated relationship with Hogan over the years is 'The Heartbreak Kid' Shawn Michaels.

Michaels shared the ring with his fellow Hall of Famer at SummerSlam 2005, a match he lost as part of an agreement for him to go on and win a future contest between them.

However, Hogan is believed to have gone back on that agreement prior to the match at SummerSlam, which infuriated 'HBK' and led to his comedic overselling - when wrestlers dramatically overexaggerate reactions - during their SummerSlam clash.

WWE bosses were said to be unhappy with his antics that night, but Michaels' performance went down so well with fans that he was quickly let off the hook. Hogan refused to entertain a rematch and that proved the only time two true icons of the sport collided.

'We were going to do a best of three, and in the last minute, [Hogan] backed out,' Michaels recalled in 2014. 'So that day [at SummerSlam] - and I will admit this - I poked the bear all day. I already knew what I was gonna do, I was gonna go out there and do business, but I was gonna make him earn it, just to be a pain in the butt all day. And that was something I did just for my own enjoyment.'

Despite their fallout back in 2005, Michaels and Hogan repaired their relationship and were on good terms before the latter's death, with HBK posting on Thursday: 'A legend. A larger-than-life presence. Hulk Hogan didn't just work in this business… he transformed it. Rest in peace, Hulkster.'

Not all of the WWE stars who feuded with Hogan over the years fell out with him due to wrestling issues, nevertheless.

In 2015, the all-time great encountered one of the most high-profile scandals of his career when a leaked audio caught him using a racial slur when discussing his daughter Brooke's dating life. 

The outrage forced the WWE to terminate their contract with him. The organization also removed all references to him from their website, his merchandise from the official shop and his entry to the Hall of Fame page.

'Eight years ago I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it,' Hogan said at the time in a statement to PEOPLE. 

And despite pleading for forgiveness over his offensive comments, which eventually got him back into the Hall of Fame, Hogan's scandal was too hurtful for some of his peers to ever forget.

Former WWE star Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), who now competes under the All Elite Wrestling banner, referred to Hogan as a 'racist' when discussing controversy surrounding wrestling icon Triple H last year. 

MVP denied calling Triple H, who is now the WWE's chief content officer, a racist despite claiming he provides less opportunities for 'talent of color'. And to argue his point he said: 'My opinion on how he [Triple H] books talent of color, that's a different conversation, but I never said the man was racist. Hulk Hogan is racist. He said it himself, "I'm a little bit racist." He said that. As far as Triple H, I don't know that he is.'

Earlier this year the two-time WWE United States champion doubled down on his criticism of Hogan, calling for him to be removed from any hypothetical Mount Rushmores over the controversy.

'There are many people that would make the case that Hulk Hogan should be on it,' he said when asked to name his own Mount Rushmore of wrestling legends. 'I think he's disqualified in my opinion, because… he's who he is. Self-admitted, unapologetic, so that's that.'

In January of this year, Hulk was booed during a surprise appearance at Monday Night Raw in Los Angeles - which retired WWE hero Mark Henry was far from surprised by.

Henry revealed in an interview with TMZ shortly after Hogan's hostile reception that he had offered to try and help him repair his fractured public image in the wake of the racism scandal, only for it to fall on deaf ears.

'He never wanted to go forward and fix it,' he claimed about Hogan. 'That's what happens when you think that everything is gonna go away. It's not gonna go away. He thinks it's gonna go away. That it's not gonna be that dark cloud over his career.'

'I offered,' Henry continued, 'to say 'Hey let's do a tour of the black colleges, law schools, and explain what happened.' He didn't want to do that.'

The Undertaker, meanwhile, admitted he had little sympathy for Hogan after he was brutally jeered by fans in LA. 

When asked if he felt bad for Hulk on his 'Six Feet Under' podcast, The Undertaker laughed: 'No.'

He then added: 'I got feelings. I got feelings for people. [But] sometimes in life, things come back.'

He has also had run-ins with the likes of CM Punk, who branded him a 'piece of s***' back in 2021, but Hogan was also supported by a number of wrestling stars who called for him to be forgiven.

Wrestling royalty Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson said in 2015: 'I've known [Hulk Hogan] for a lot of years. My dad helped train him in Florida in the '70s when he was breaking into the business. My uncles helped train him as well. So I'd not known him to be racist.

'I was pretty disappointed with what I heard, like all of us, by the way,' Johnson added. 'Pretty disappointed.

'It's funny, it's one of those things where, and not justifying what he said, but we've all talked trash, especially in private. He said what he said and he's paying the price.'

WWE icon Booker T also insisted his good friend deserved a 'second chance' after begging for forgiveness. 'Everybody deserves a second chance,' he argued. 'It's what life is all about.'

Despite his subtle remark about the 2015 scandal, The Undertaker also paid tribute to Hogan following his death on Thursday.

'The wrestling world has lost a true legend,' he wrote on Instagram along with a photo of one of their earlier matches together. 'His contributions to our business are immeasurable and for that I am appreciative. Thank you, Hulk Hogan.'

Hogan's long-lasting legacy in the sport and the many friendships he formed means he was largely adored in the wrestling community, though he also encountered his fair share of controversy over the years and irked some of his colleagues in the process.