CLEVELAND: Nick Hogan, son of the late wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, paid an emotional tribute to his father at the launch of a new wrestling promotion, RAF 01, held at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio, for a Fox Nation special.
The event marked the debut of Real American Freestyle (RAF), a promotion founded by Hulk Hogan before his death earlier this year at the age of 71 from a heart attack.
“Hulk, to me, is an icon, a mentor, my father, and my best friend,” Nick Hogan said at the ceremony. “[He was] a force in the sports entertainment industry that will live forever.”
The promotion is a collaboration between the late star and former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) executive Eric Bischoff. Fox Nation described the inaugural show as an “exhilarating experience, packed with action and an immersive show atmosphere.”
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A wrestling icon
Hulk Hogan, born Terry Bollea, began his professional career in 1977 and rose to global stardom in the 1980s as the face of World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He won the WWF Championship six times and went on to claim the WCW World Heavyweight Championship a record six times, holding the title for a cumulative 1,177 days — the longest reign in WCW history.
He was also instrumental in the formation of the New World Order (nWo) in WCW, a faction that transformed professional wrestling storytelling in the 1990s.
For his contributions, Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice — once individually in 2005 and again in 2020 as part of the nWo.
