Hulk Hogan Was Booed Out Of The Building On WWE’s Raw On Netflix Premiere, But Don’t Let People Tell You It Was Just About Politics

WWE’s star-studded debut on Netflix was filled with celebrities and famous faces from the history of professional wrestling. Most got huge ovations when they made appearances or were shown on the jumbotron, but one legend very notably did not. The first Monday Night Raw of the streaming era went well for just about everyone except Hulk Hogan, who was booed loudly and aggressively by the nearly 20,000 fans in attendance. The negative reaction was, of course, a huge talking point on social media, and many pointed to the Hulkster’s MAGA politics and the event’s Los Angeles location to explain what happened. The truth is it’s a lot more complicated than that though.

I’m not saying politics didn’t play a role in what happened last night. I’m sure the reception he got would have been less negative if it were in a more conservative part of the country, but the wrestling community’s relationship with Hulk Hogan has been complicated for more than thirty years. There is perhaps no one, in the history of the business, who has done both more good and more bad for the sport than the Hulkster.