Review: Hulk Hogan Tells His Story

My Life Outside the Ring by Hulk Hogan with Mark Dagostino
St. Martin's Press 2009
ISBN 13: 978-0-312-58889-2

When I was growing up, Hulk Hogan was professional wrestling. As a youngster, I was hooked on the soap opera like storylines, the larger than life characters, Hulk Hogan.

In this autobiography, Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, lays it all on the line in an honest, sometimes searing account of his life, including the more recent tragedies that have befallen him and his family.

The Hulkster talks about his life growing up in a lower-middle class neighborhood in Tampa with his prospects in life mostly being laboring on the docks or a similar profession. He became enamored of the local pro wrestling scene and did everything he could, well almost, to become part of the action.

He started in the local circuits and through his personality and character driven storylines, he made the climb to the top of the wrestling world.

His retelling of the early days of his pro wrestling career— literally sleeping in his car, and later traveling non-stop from one locale to another—were quite an interesting insight into the early days of pro wrestling at the lower end of the sports totem pole.

And he not only admits to steroid use, but talks about how steroids were part of the entire package of being a pro wrestler. As Hogan aged and injuries from the constant pounding in the ring took their toll, he began the slow descent into an occasional wrestler and main attraction.

More recent events in Hogan's tabloid life are what most people today will be familiar with. In his hit reality TV show Hogan Knows Best , we don't see the utter turmoil his marriage and life has become. He tells his side of the story in the ugly divorce from his wife Linda and his struggles to keep up the lavish lifestyle his riches had bestowed upon him.

More tragic yet, his son Nick was driving when he had a car accident that put a family friend into a coma with head injuries that will make him an invalid for life. Nick was allegedly both intoxicated and racing another car at the time. Eventually he was convicted of a felony in the matter and was jailed for about six months.

Somehow the tabloid media got a hold of a recording of a phone conversation Hogan had with his son while in jail that sounds like he is being callous and uncaring about the injuries to the passenger. Hogan gives a believable explanation of the conversion as being taken completely out of context.

The final chapters talk about how Hogan sank into a deep, deep depression with all the turmoil in his life—a son in jail, an ugly divorce, a falling out with this daughter over the divorce, financial problems from his lavish lifestyle, and a lawsuit for an enormous sum of money filed by the family of the injured passenger—all of which took their toll.

He finally turned around his life and is telling his side of the story in this hard to put down autobiography.

Hogan's ghostwriter, Mark Dagostino, does an outstanding job of organizing the material into a coherent, well-written account of the life and travails of Hulk Hogan. The only real drawback to the book is the first half keeps using the phrase "you know," just like I am sure Hogan does in real life.

It certainly gave an authentic tone to the book, but becomes extremely annoying. Thankfully he knocked off this colloquialism about half-way through the book.

Finally, how honest or true is the book?

I am sure Hogan believes it is honest and true. The tone and unveiling of the good and the bad makes what Hogan says ring true for the reader. I believe what he has to say, although I am sure there are other sides to the story as well.

Hulk Hogan's My Life Outside the Ring