Hulk Hogan's friend and WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart reveals late pro wrestler's health deteriorated "overnight"

The wrestling world is mourning the loss of Hulk Hogan. His sudden passing at 71 shocked not just fans, but those closest to him — including longtime friend and manager Jimmy Hart. The two had spoken just hours before Hulk Hogan's death, and Hart says that the next morning, the news hit like a punch to the gut.

“I called [Hogan] on Wednesday night, and then Thursday morning is when everything took place,” Hart told People Magazine in an exclusive interview. “So just… just overnight it all happened, but it was so positive the day before.”

Hart said he didn’t speak to Hulk Hogan directly but spoke with his assistant instead.

“He was doing great,” Hart recalled the assistant telling him. “Well, tell him I love him,” Hart said in response.

He remembered thinking at the time, “this is great” news — never expecting that just hours later, Hulk Hogan would suffer cardiac arrest and be pronounced dead.

Officers from the Clearwater Police Department responded to the emergency call, and Hogan was taken to Morton Plant Hospital, where he died shortly after.

“It just hits so fast,” Hart said. “It was like, ‘Oh my God.’ We thought he was doing so well, you know? We didn’t go to see him at the house and didn’t go to see him at the hospital, because we wanted to make sure that he didn’t get any infections or anything else, like if anybody had a cold or brought anything in. So, that’s what we all did.”

“He was really a big softy,” says Jimmy Hart

While Hulk Hogan projected strength and bravado as the face of professional wrestling, Jimmy Hart says the man behind the muscles had a big heart and a deep love for the sport that made him a household name.

“He loved wrestling,” Hart said. “He loved it. And he missed being able to do it because his body had been broken up so badly through the years. He had a shoulder replaced. His hip was replaced. He had two knee replacements, just so much stuff. And that’s why, when he went in the hospital, he was feeling numbness in his fingers, and that’s why he went to get that little neck surgery to help him out.”

Hart also recalled the outpouring of love Hulk Hogan continued to receive from fans right up until the end.

“It was like traveling with Elvis Presley,” he said. “It was just unbelievable. The fans just came out of the woodwork for Hulk. I mean, no matter where we went, it was insane.”

“Now he’s happy because he’s free of pain,” Jimmy Hart says of Hulk Hogan’s afterlife

As difficult as it’s been to accept the news, Hart says he finds comfort in imagining Hulk Hogan reunited with the wrestling legends who went before him.

“Hulk loved this business more than anything,” he said. “And now he’s happy because he’s free of pain where he’s going. And then once he’s where he’s going, up there in heaven, he’s going to be with all his friends. He’s going to be with Andre the Giant. He’s going to be with The Wild Samoans, Sika and Afa. He’s going to be with Dusty Rhodes, who was his mentor."

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He further added,

"He’s going to be with Randy Savage, who he and Hulk, they were so tight back in the day down in Tampa, and so many more of our people. He’s gonna be with Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon, and he’s gonna have one more interview with Mean Gene where he can come out and say, 'You know, Mean Gene, whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania and all the little Hulkamaniacs run wild on you?'"

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