Happy 59th Birthday, Hulk Hogan: Looking Back on a Legendary Career in the Ring

Aug. 11 means a lot to me personally. It is not only my 29th birthday today, but it is also the birthday of the man who is responsible for most of today's wrestlers getting into the business, Hulk Hogan.

Hogan is arguably the biggest name in the history of the business. Everyone who is a fan of wrestling knows him and most people who have never seen a match are familiar with him as well.

I thought today would be an appropriate day to look back and celebrate one of the greatest careers in all of sports by reflecting on what Hogan means to so many in and out of the business, including myself.

My first exposure to wrestling was in 1988 when I was five years old. I was watching some random show on Saturday when I stumbled across a wrestling show.

I do not remember exactly who was on the card, but I remember being enthralled. The idea that these real-life superheroes were on TV every week was something that would excite any kid at that age.

As time went on I began watching more and more and one thing became glaringly obvious to me: Hulk Hogan was the man.

He has the physique of Thor, the attitude of a more literate Tarzan and the love and respect of millions all around the world.

At that time he was partnered up with Randy Savage and the two created the team known as The Mega Powers. Together, they were better than peanut butter and jelly.

As the '90s rolled in Hogan was beginning to be joined at the top of the company by the likes of Savage, The Undertaker, The Ultimate Warrior and Ric Flair.

Knowing what I know now about the business does not change my fond memories of his matches against all of these people despite understanding that there were far better in-ring technicians.

Technical ability will take you a long way, but Hogan had the "It" factor that many try so hard to find and never do. He was a hero to kids and an icon to adults.

Around the end of this WWE run is when I began to become what many would dub a "super-fan." No, I am not talking about the Chris Farley comedic type of super-fan, as awesome as that is, I am talking about someone who is dedicated to learning everything they can about the sport.

I would go to the local Dollar Video store and look for anything on wrestling I could find. There were PPVs and match compilations galore, all of which I digested with eager enthusiasm.

I began to appreciate all of the greats like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Greg Valentine, Ric Flair, Buddy Rogers and Jerry Lawler during this time, but Hogan was still the man.

Right around this time in Hogan's career was when I was lucky enough to meet the man and get his autograph, something I still keep to this day in a frame.

All I had handy at the time was a piece of notebook paper, but the memento is still valuable to me personally.

It was not long after this that Hogan went south to join Ted Turner's rising WCW promotion.

Once he left for WCW I began watching both brands and I was introduced to the likes of Sting and Vader through shows like WCW Saturday Night, and they were just as big of personalities as Hogan.

As WCW gained ground due to Hogan's insane popularity, it became clear that there were about to be two top dogs in what had been a one-dog business for many years at this point.

It was not until his heel turn in 1996 did I truly begin to appreciate the depth of Hogan's personality and the extent of his talent.

He was the guy nobody ever expected to be the bad guy, and yet he turned into one of the most entertaining heels the business had ever seen.

As Hollywood Hogan, he stepped on anyone who tried to take away his precious World Title and he did it with the help of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and many others who contributed to the success of the NWO.

Unfortunately for Hogan, he was caught in the middle of Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff and Turner's television division in an ongoing struggle to regain ratings they had lost to WWE.

It was the day WCW closed its doors that I realized that Hogan would never be the "man" again. He had a short run with WWE following WCW's purchase by Vince McMahon, but he was starting to step aside and make room for the Batistas and the Triple H's to be the new powerhouse faces of the company.

Since leaving WWE, Hogan has been acting, wrestling on his own tour in Australia as well as being an important part in the current TNA product.

When people trash Hogan for one reason or another I do not get mad because everyone is allowed to have their own opinion on whatever they want, but I do not let anyone else's negativity affect my opinion.

Hulk Hogan is, above everything else, a human being and no human being is perfect.

No one makes it through this life without a few missteps along the way and because Hogan has lived the past few decades of his life in the public eye, his missteps are looked at as him falling flat on his face, but It doesn't matter.

Hogan has persevered throughout all the negativity, wrong paths, lawsuits, back surgeries and reality shows to find happiness with a new wife and a role in helping the next generation of superstars find their footing in a very unstable business.

His work both behind the scenes and in front of the camera has helped TNA gain some much-needed exposure as well as give Hogan the chance to give back in a way he might not be able to do in the McMahon-dominated WWE workplace.

There is no way to put a price tag on his level of experience and expertise in wrestling and the fact that he is probably taking less money to work for TNA than he could have gotten from WWE shows that he really is doing this for selfless reasons.

Whether you love him or hate him, you have to admit that no one person has done more inside that ring for the business of wrestling than Terry Bollea.

Happy Birthday, Hulk Hogan, and I hope we get to meet again some day.

On a side note. I only used videos of Hogan in NJPW because we have all seen him slam Andre a billion times and I wanted people who have never seen his work on Japan to see it.