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Why Hulk Hogan Was Booed on Raw—and What His WWE Role Was

Hulk Hogan’s January 2025 Raw appearance promoted Real American Beer and drew reported boos. Hogan offered possible explanations, but the crowd’s individual motives are not established.
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Hulk Hogan was booed during his January 6, 2025 appearance on Raw, which marked the show’s Netflix premiere in Los Angeles. He appeared with Jimmy Hart to promote Real American Beer. Reports described some cheers when Hogan’s entrance music played, followed by louder boos and expletive-filled chants as he spoke. Hogan later said he had expected a negative reaction, citing his Hollywood Hogan persona, politics and his history of racist comments as possible factors. Those are explanations he offered, not proof of what motivated each fan.

His documented role in the segment was promotional, not a confirmed WWE staff or executive position. Hogan died on July 24, 2025, aged 71. WWE paid tribute to him on Raw on July 28, 2025, with a 10-bell salute. He therefore has no current role with WWE.

What happened during Hogan’s January 2025 appearance?

Hogan appeared alongside manager Jimmy Hart on the January 6, 2025 episode of Raw, held in Los Angeles to mark the program’s move to Netflix. The segment was meant to celebrate the WWE–Netflix partnership and promote Real American Beer. TheWrap reported that Hogan spoke about WWE and Netflix as partners. The occasion was a major platform for the show: it was the first Raw broadcast on Netflix, and the segment brought together the show’s new distribution home, a familiar wrestling figure and a consumer brand.

The reception changed as the segment went on. TheWrap reported that some fans initially cheered when Hogan’s entrance music played, but that louder boos and expletive-filled chants followed once he took the microphone. That description captures a reported reaction in the arena; it does not establish that every person present booed, or quantify how many did. It also matters that the reaction was described as shifting: the initial response to the music was not the same as the response once Hogan began speaking.

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The moment drew attention partly because a celebratory, promotional appearance did not receive an uncomplicated welcome. But a crowd sound is not a poll: it can show that a reaction was audible without revealing the beliefs or reasons of each person in the audience. No attendance count, percentage or other statistic in the cited coverage measures the boos or identifies their cause. The available reporting describes what could be heard, rather than providing a survey of attendees or a breakdown of their views.

Why was Hulk Hogan booed?

There is no independently established single explanation for the Los Angeles crowd’s response. Hogan later discussed it in an interview on The Pat McAfee Show, as recounted by Sports Illustrated on February 3, 2025. He said he expected to be booed: “Oh, I did [expect to get booed].” He offered several possible reasons, but his account cannot tell us what any particular fan was thinking. The distinction is important: Hogan’s comments are evidence of how he interpreted the reception, not independent confirmation of the motives of the people in the arena.

Hogan’s Hollywood Hogan explanation

Hogan suggested that Los Angeles fans may have associated him with Hollywood Hogan, the villainous version of his wrestling character. He recalled that Los Angeles had last seen him in that role. Wrestling audiences respond not only to a performer’s real-life reputation but also to the character and story being presented. A wrestler’s entrance music can prompt cheers even when the character is meant to be a villain; a later response to the person speaking may be different.

This is context Hogan supplied, rather than evidence that fans in the arena were booing because of a particular storyline. The reports do not survey attendees or otherwise separate reactions to his character from reactions to his public life. Nor do they establish that the audience understood the appearance primarily through wrestling storylines. Hollywood Hogan is one plausible part of the context he cited, not a settled explanation.

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Politics and public reputation

Hogan also said politics had a lot to do with the reception and alluded to his own history of racist comments. TheWrap reported that WWE removed him from its Hall of Fame in 2015 after racist language became public, then reinstated him in 2018. TheWrap also noted his support for Donald Trump. Those facts help explain why the appearance could carry associations beyond wrestling, and why coverage discussed more than storyline dynamics.

The Hall of Fame timeline is relevant background, but it does not amount to evidence about the views of the people who booed in Los Angeles. WWE’s removal and later reinstatement document how the organization’s relationship to Hogan’s public history changed over time; they cannot establish what an individual fan had in mind on January 6, 2025. Similarly, the fact that Hogan cited politics does not establish that all, or even most, of the boos were political.

They do not prove that politics was the decisive cause of the boos. Hogan’s remarks were his own interpretation, and the available reporting does not establish how much weight different audience members gave to his political associations, past comments, wrestling persona or other factors. It is more accurate to describe these as possible contributors than to claim that the crowd acted for one uniform reason. The evidence types should be kept separate: the segment’s commercial purpose is documented, Hogan’s explanation is attributed to him, and individual fans’ motives remain unknown.

Wrestling reactions can change with character and setting

Hogan’s career also illustrates how context can shape a wrestling crowd’s response. The Associated Press’s career account noted that he had been booed during a change in character and audience tastes in WCW, while Toronto fans cheered when his villainous Hogan faced The Rock in 2002. A character may be received differently in different places and at different moments. In professional wrestling, cheers and boos can respond to an on-screen persona, a storyline, a performer’s reputation or a combination of those things.

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That history is useful background, not a direct explanation of the 2025 Los Angeles reaction. The WCW response and the Toronto match show that Hogan’s reception was not fixed across his career; neither provides a measurement of the Raw audience’s views. A past crowd’s response cannot establish what motivated a later one, just as a reported chant cannot reveal the private reasoning of everyone who joined it.

What was Hogan’s role with WWE?

For the January 6 segment, the documented role was guest and promoter of Real American Beer. TheWrap reported that WWE announced a multi-year partnership with the beer brand that day, that the brand’s logo appeared in ring-mat advertising, and that WWE took an ownership stake in the brand. These are reported details of the arrangement at the time of the premiere. TheWrap’s reporting does not establish the partnership’s present terms or status, so they should not be treated as a description of a current deal.

The reported partnership does not show that Hogan had a formal WWE job. The cited coverage does not document him as a WWE employee, executive or creative decision-maker. The careful description is that he appeared to promote his beer brand in a segment tied to a WWE partnership. A commercial relationship involving the brand is distinct from a personal appointment at WWE: the reporting about the partnership explains why the beer was featured, but does not announce Hogan as a member of the company’s staff or leadership.

That difference answers a common question about whether Hogan was “still working for WWE.” The appearance alone is not proof of employment. The reporting supports a guest promotional appearance linked to the brand agreement; it does not support calling Hogan a WWE executive, current employee or person responsible for creative decisions. Likewise, his Hall of Fame status was recognition of his wrestling career, not evidence of an active job. Hogan was a WWE Hall of Famer, but that status should not be confused with a staff role.

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Hogan died on July 24, 2025, aged 71, according to the Associated Press. WWE’s official results page for the July 28, 2025 episode of Raw records a 10-bell salute in his honor. The tribute came four days after his death. Because Hogan is deceased, he has no current role with the company; the July appearance remains a historical promotional segment rather than an ongoing assignment.

How to read the reaction without overstating it

The available accounts establish that boos were reported and that Hogan later expected them. They provide relevant context—the beer promotion, his wrestling character, his political associations and his public history—but they do not establish a definitive motive shared by the crowd. Keeping those distinctions clear avoids turning an audible reaction into a claim about every fan’s views.

It is useful to distinguish four questions that can otherwise get blended together. First, what happened? Reports describe initial cheers for the entrance music and louder boos and expletive-filled chants after Hogan spoke. Second, what was the segment for? It promoted Real American Beer during the Netflix premiere and was tied to a reported WWE partnership. Third, what did Hogan think caused the response? He said he expected boos and named several possible factors. Fourth, what did each attendee actually think? The available coverage cannot answer that last question.

  • What is established: Hogan appeared with Jimmy Hart on the January 6, 2025 Raw Netflix premiere in Los Angeles, and reports described boos after he began speaking.
  • What Hogan said: He expected boos and suggested his Hollywood Hogan past, politics and his own history of racist comments could help explain them.
  • What the record does not establish: The proportion of the audience that booed, the reasons of individual attendees, or one definitive cause for the reaction.
  • What his WWE role was: The appearance promoted Real American Beer in the context of a reported WWE partnership; the cited reports do not establish a formal WWE position for Hogan.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Why did WWE fans boo Hulk Hogan on Netflix?

TheWrap reported that some fans initially cheered Hogan’s entrance music at the January 6, 2025 Raw premiere, followed by louder boos and expletive-filled chants as he spoke. Hogan later said he expected that response and suggested his Hollywood Hogan persona, politics and history of racist comments could be factors. The reporting does not establish the motive of each fan or a single definitive cause.

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Did everyone in the arena boo Hogan?

The reports describe some initial cheers and then louder boos as Hogan took the microphone. They do not say that every attendee booed or provide an audience count, percentage or survey. It is safest to describe the reaction as reported and audible, not unanimous or quantitatively measured.

Was Hulk Hogan still a WWE employee or executive?

The cited reporting does not establish a formal WWE staff, executive or creative role for Hogan. His January 2025 appearance was promotional, featuring Real American Beer in connection with a reported multi-year WWE partnership with the brand. Hogan died on July 24, 2025, so he has no current role with WWE.

What was the WWE and Real American Beer deal?

TheWrap reported that WWE announced a multi-year partnership with Real American Beer on January 6, 2025, displayed the brand’s logo in ring-mat advertising and took an ownership stake in the brand. Those details describe the arrangement as reported at the time; TheWrap’s reporting does not confirm its current terms or status.

Did WWE honor Hulk Hogan after his death?

Yes. Hogan died on July 24, 2025, aged 71. WWE’s official results page says Raw held a 10-bell salute in his honor on July 28, four days later.

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The Bottom Line

Hulk Hogan was booed by some fans during the January 2025 Raw Netflix premiere, but reports do not establish one reason shared by the crowd. Hogan said he expected the reaction and pointed to his wrestling persona, politics and past racist comments as possible factors. His appearance promoted Real American Beer under a reported WWE partnership; it was not evidence of a formal WWE job. Hogan died in July 2025, and WWE later honored him with a 10-bell salute.

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