Brutus Beefcake On Hulk Hogan’s Passing: We Were Truly Friends To The End

Brutus Beefcake reflects on the life and legacy of Hulk Hogan.

There was perhaps no one more closely associated with Hulk Hogan on-camera than Brutus Beefcake. Hogan’s only non-singles match at WrestleMania saw him team with Beefcake against Ted DiBiase and IRS for the WWE Tag Team Championships at WWE WrestleMania IX. Beefcake also emerged in WCW alongside Hogan, and while they briefly feuded, he would also become a disciple of Hogan’s in the nWo. Beefcake was frequently referred to as Hogan’s “Friend to the End”

Hulk Hogan passed away on Thursday, July 24, 2025. Brutus Beefcake commented on Hogan’s passing and discussed his legacy during an interview with TMZ. Beefcake said that he feels he owes Hogan for what he was able to accomplish in his wrestling career and gave one last message to his longtime friend.

“Here’s the thing, when he said to me, ‘You’re going to be a wrestler kid,’ and I was like, ‘Holy cow.’ I used to go watch wrestling when I was a kid, but nothing I ever thought about getting involved with. He and I became so close starting together and coming through the trenches and training. There’s so much that nobody knows about, really, our beginnings, our past. I owe him everything. I’m grateful to have known him, to have been there many times for him, as he was for me.”

Asked what he would say if he could give one more message to “The Hulkster,” Brutus Beefcake took one more chance to express how much he loved Hulk Hogan and say that they truly were friends to the end.

“I love you, brother, and we truly are friends to the end. I don’t even know what else to say about that. I know his family and mine were close for many years, and I wish the best for them, and they’re having a horrible, difficult time, and I just want to say to them, keep your chins up. He would have wanted us to fight on and move forward.”

He also said he regrets not seeing Hulk Hogan one more time. He says that he and Jimmy Hart were talking frequently and that Jimmy Hart said he was doing okay, but things “were not good.”

“That’s hopefully what we’re all going to do. I was going to try to go to his house a couple days ago, and my wife said, ‘Just go over there. I was thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ But if I go to the house and they say, ‘No, you can’t come in,’ It would have crushed me. So I didn’t. Now I wish maybe that I had tried to get in and tried to see him before he passed… Jimmy Hart and I, like I said, we’ve been friends for 45-50 years. Jimmy and I have talked every day. Jimmy told me that he was doing okay, but that things were not good. So this did kind of catch us off guard.”

Fans can read more tributes to Hulk Hogan here.

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