My Life Outside the Ring

What’s it about?: The life and times of former professional wrestler and reality television star Terry Bollea, known to the world as Hulk Hogan. It goes beyond his career as a wrestler and looks at his personal life.

My opinion: I didn’t have high hopes going into this, since the wrestling biographies I’d read previously were all bad (e.g. The Rock Says…). My Life Outside the Ring came as a pleasant surprise, written by Hogan in a post-fame, post-success point in his life, which would have allowed him to take a step back and make sense of his far-from-ordinary life. You often hear of famous people who started with nothing, and then rose to great heights in whatever it is they’re supposed to be famous for. Well, this book is one of those. From nothing, to wrestling, to the insane heights of fame. Then, of course, the much publicised collapse of it all. The divorce, the lawsuits, and the toll on his body over the years. It was gruelling to read about what he went through physically; I can only imagine what he felt.

His insights into the general attitudes of people in gyms, or the drug culture of professional wrestling, were eye-opening. As in, people being told not to bother showing up to the gym if they’re not juicing. Good on Hogan for blowing the whistle on all of this, because fuck ’em. What the hell. Like, you know all of this stuff goes on, but much if not all of that knowledge is abstract, so reading Hogan’s account of it all just grabs you.

Then it goes into Hogan’s reality television days, and it was during this time that his marriage to Linda Claridge fell apart. I never watched Hogan Knows Best, so I went into this not knowing much about this particular aspect of Hogan’s career, or what he was like in his personal life. But I knew of it. Divorce is rough, even at the best of times (so I hear), but the deteriorating relationship between Hogan and Linda was something else entirely. The breakdown between the two, and their son’s hospitalisation following a car accident, would have been hell.

But he managed to get his life in order, which he attributes mostly to faith, and reading The Secret. I don’t fully understand why this book of all things, but I have also not walked in Hogan’s shoes. And I’m not exactly religious (at least not in the way that most religious people are religious), he seems like one of those “cool Christians” who just has this energy about him. Maybe. That’s how he comes across to me. I’m glad he’s doing better, and if a particular book was a part of his journey, then good for him.

My Life Outside the Ring isn’t simply an account of what happened. Hogan digs deep and reflects on how everything affected him, what he felt, and what he learned from his experiences. Age and hindsight are on his side, and that’s what I like to see in memoirs. It’s what separates this book from the many other wrestling books out there. Part of this has to do with some solid co-authorship. I respect Hogan for telling his story, and his point of view is complimented very nicely by Mark Dagostino‘s writing. There’s no sense that the book is obviously some paint-by-numbers, ghostwritten celebrity memoir, because every page feels like a conversation with the Hulkster. Actually, that’s not quite true. It is a conversation, not just with the wrestler Hulk Hogan, but the man, Terry Bollea. Very cool.

I would have liked some more insights on Hogan’s colleagues in the wrestling business, but hey ho. It is mostly about his personal life beyond wrestling, so I’ll just have to keep reminding myself of that.

I would recommend this biography to wrestling fans mostly, but anyone looking for a story of an interesting life may want to check it out too.