The official cause of death for Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea was acute myocardial infarction. But by the time the Pinellas County (Florida) forensics team had released their report on the pro wrestling icon’s death, there were already conspiracy theories, rumors, and reports about what “really” killed the WWE Hall of Famer.
Hogan’s long-time friend and colleague Ric Flair recently added another to the list. Flair told the Doubl3 Coverage podcast that Hogan had been turning to illegal sources for pain medication his doctors would no longer prescribe him:
“I talked to him the day before he died. I shouldn’t say this, but what killed him was street drugs. When the doctor wouldn’t prescribe anymore, he was in so much pain. And he had that neck surgery and it got infected so back in the hospital.
“And then when the doctor would not prescribe any more pain medicine – they just couldn’t do it in all good conscience – so they went and got the drugs off the street. His body just said, ‘You know what? Bingo. I can’t do it anymore.’”
And while the Nature Boy has a reputation for being a little loose with the facts, in this case Flair said we’ll soon be hearing more about this from other sources:
“It’s all going to come out in the media in the next 30 days. You’ll read about it anyway. I just don’t feel free to talk about it.“
Flair attributed Hogan’s apparent addiction to medication for treatment of chronic pain to 50 years of doing the leg drop, and the 10 back surgeries that led to:
“You know what? You know what caused the back surgeries? Dropping the leg — dropping the legs, jabbed his bones. That’s what did it…
“But that made him the Hulkster.”
You can watch Naitch’s entire appearance on Doubl3 Coverage below. His comments on Hogan and “street drugs” come after the 40-minute mark.