Bruce Prichard Recalls Learning Of Hulk Hogan’s Passing, Vince McMahon Speaking At The Funeral

The wrestling world sadly lost Hulk Hogan on July 24 at the age of 71. Hogan’s official cause of death was a heart attack.

WWE ran multiple tributes to Hogan following his passing, honoring his legacy as a wrestler, entertainer, and pop culture figure.

Speaking on Something To Wrestle, Bruce Prichard recalled learning of Hogan’s passing.

Bruce noted that he had been in contact with Eric Bischoff, who told him the night before Hogan’s passing that Hogan was doing better and had turned the corner after battling health issues following surgery. Bruce sent Hogan a text letting him know he was thinking about him.

“The next morning, Eric called me on the way in to the office and said, ‘Bruce, I just got word that they are taking Terry by ambulance to the emergency room. He had cardiac arrest.’ ‘What the fuck happened between last night and now?’ ‘I don’t know, I’m trying to find out.’ Hung up, called Paul Levesque, and while I was on the phone with Paul, he says, ‘Hold on, Bruce. I just got a text that he’s gone.’ ‘What do you mean, gone?’ ‘He passed.’ He read me the text. ‘Can you confirm or deny? Can you find out for sure?’ I called Eric back and told Eric. Eric is trying to get a hold of people and he came back and said, ‘Bruce, he’s gone,'” he recalled.

“Went into the office. The teams were all in one room. Went into the room and was like, ‘Unfortunately, it’s true, Hulk passed this morning.’ Once I said it out loud with a group of people, that was the first time it me and I cried. It didn’t seem real. It all became real, and it sucked. Now, you go into, what do you do now? You have to figure out what the show is going to look like. Now, you have to think business. You have to put that hat on and decide what we’re going to do. I called in a couple of people and we have to recognize and do something that is worthy of him. That’s what we did,” he said.

Bruce noted that he had multiple photos of himself and Hogan in and around his office. WWE held a moment of silence to open episodes of SmackDown, Raw, and NXT following Hogan’s passing.

A funeral service was held on August 5th, which was attended by Bruce and Conrad Thompson. There was an RSVP list for the service as a member of the President’s Cabinet was in attendance and Hogan was a celebrity.

“It was a beautiful service, and I thought that it remembered him the way he would have wanted to be remembered. It’s still surreal,” said Bruce. “You think it’s somebody else and you wait for them to walk through the door, and he’s not. It was hard. We flew in and out the same day. Got there late, unfortunately. As far as funerals go, it was a beautiful celebration of life. I thought the folks that spoke did a great job. Kept it short and sweet. I think Hulk would’ve been happy, but too soon. Too early. I certainly wasn’t ready. I’m sure his family definitely wasn’t ready for him to leave. It was a sad day. I’m not at a loss for words a lot, but I was at a loss for words. I felt so sorry for Nick, his son. My heart goes out to his kids and family. Hulkamania will live forever. It truly will. In his passing, it will continue to grow, each and every year. The legend of Hulkamania will live on.”

Conrad added, “When Vince came out on the stage, I hadn’t seen him there, so I didn’t expect him, but what a fitting tribute he gave to ask people to give Hulk Hogan one last ovation. Doing the cupping of the years and the whole deal. No matter what has been written and said about their relationship, the idea that Vince was there, I thought he hit it out of the park, and how fitting of a tribute it was that he gave to [Hulk].”

Bruce called Vince’s speech classy.

Fans can read Vince’s comments on Hogan’s passing here.

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