Hulk Hogan, one of the most iconic and influential figures in professional wrestling history, has died at the age of 71. TMZ Sports has confirmed that Hogan passed away Thursday morning following a cardiac arrest at his home in Clearwater, Florida.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the WWE Hall of Famer’s residence at approximately 9:51 AM, where Clearwater Fire & Rescue treated him on the scene before transporting him to a nearby hospital. Despite their efforts, Hogan was pronounced dead at the hospital. A press conference with additional details is expected from local authorities later today.
And while Hogan‘s wrestling legacy is solidified, he’s also got a pretty strange one in the world of metal – namely that he repeatedly said he either tried out for, or was asked to, play bass in Metallica.
The story first gained attention in 2009 during an interview with the Chicago Tribune while Hogan was promoting his memoir My Life Outside the Ring. He said that after Metallica‘s longtime bassist Jason Newsted left the band in 2001, he reached out and expressed interest in joining. “I heard they were looking for a bass player,” Hogan said, “and I called and never heard a word back.” He even went so far as to say he would have quit wrestling if the opportunity had materialized.
The claim resurfaced in 2012 when Hogan told The Sun that he and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich had been “big pals” in the past. According to Hogan, Lars had once asked him to play bass with Metallica in their early days — suggesting an even deeper history than his 2001 outreach. Around the same time, antiMusic reported on the story, confirming that Hogan had repeated the idea that Metallica had been in contact with him.
By 2013, Hogan clarified in an interview with Kerrang! that while he never formally auditioned, he had put together demo tapes and made multiple calls in an effort to join the band, but never received any response. “I was in England presenting Top of the Pops and asked if I could play bass with them at a gig,” Hogan said in the Kerrang! report. “I tried for two weeks to get a message to them. I even asked [Motörhead frontman] Lemmy to put me in touch with them. I got nowhere.”
Metallica, for their part, has consistently denied any connection to Hogan‘s claims. When asked about the story on The Howard Stern Show, Lars Ulrich said he had no recollection of Hogan ever reaching out or being considered. He joked that if Hogan had contacted the band, perhaps he had used a different name, because “Hulk Hogan” certainly didn’t ring any bells. In a separate interview from 2017, frontman James Hetfield was shown a photoshopped image of Hogan as part of Metallica, and responded bluntly, “Definitely not.”
Despite Hogan‘s repeated insistence that he tried to join the band — and that he may have even had a history with its members — Metallica‘s firm denial has cast serious doubt on the story.
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