The world of professional wrestling and sports entertainment has changed forever. The WWE ended its longstanding partnership between the USA Network and its staple ‘Monday Night Raw’ weekly television show. After over 1,200 episodes on the channel, Raw moved to Netflix on Jan. 6.
Netflix purchased the rights to Raw and other WWE archived content for a whopping $5 billion. WWE entered a new world where they weren’t constrained by time limits because there wasn’t another cable television show beginning right after that. The premiere was heavily hyped, and it felt like we got a mini WrestleMania on a Monday night.
While WWE was introducing its current stars to a new worldwide audience, several Hall of Famers and legends were also a part of the festivities at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The night kicked off with an appearance by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, later included a promo from John Cena as he began his year-long farewell tour and even saw the American Badass version of Undertaker ride out on a motorcycle giving his seal of approval to new Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley after her victory over Liv Morgan. WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan was also a part of the landmark event.
Hulk Hogan booed off stage in Los Angeles
Most of the appearances of WWE legends received huge ovations from the crowd, but the same can’t be said for Hulk Hogan.
The once-must-see Hulkster came out to cut a promo for his beer company, “Real American Beer.”
WWE has confirmed a multi year partnership with Hulk Hogan's Real American Beer pic.twitter.com/4ouQ4y8RZ6
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) January 6, 2025
‘ target=”_blank”>His company and WWE have entered a partnership, and he is the latest WWE legend to come out with an adult beverage, following Stone Cold Steve Austin’s “Broken Skull Beer.”
Hogan’s iconic music hit, and there was a brief pop from the crowd. It was very quickly replaced with overwhelming boos.
YIKES ? #HulkHogan got verbally body-slammed by a sea of booing fans as he tried to give a speech at #Netflix‘s “Monday Night RAW” event in L.A. https://t.co/N0ZZ5doNX9 (?: @TMZ_Sports) pic.twitter.com/DOMYxAH1to
— TMZ (@TMZ) January 7, 2025
It isn’t uncommon for crowds to boo heels (bad guys) to a deafening level. We know that Dominick Mysterio is super over as a bad guy because the second he touches a microphone, boos rain down from all corners of the arena, and he can barely get a word out. Hogan is supposed to be a face (good guy) and forced his way through his promo despite the boos. The irony is that he was thanking the fans for their support while those same fans were making him hard to hear by booing.
Some on social media highlighted the irony that Hulk Hogan turned his back on the fans decades ago when he turned heel and joined the New World Order in WCW. This time, it was the fans who turned their backs on Hulkamania.
Here’s why Hogan was booed on the premiere episode of RAW on Netflix.
Why was Hulk Hogan booed by sold-out crowd on Netflix?
WWE tries its best to paint Hogan in a positive light. They routinely show clips from his iconic feuds with Andre the Giant, Randy “Macho Man” Savage and the Ultimate Warrior. Hogan and his “Hulkamania” campaign are often credited with bringing the sport of professional wrestling to new heights, as it spread like wildfire among fans in the 1980s.
The WWE does a good job of staying true to the people who helped get them to where they are today, but it is often criticized for how much it involves legends in current storylines. However, Hogan’s alumni page on WWE.com was removed in 2015 because of controversial audio that had been released of Hogan referring to his daughter Brooke’s boyfriend at the time as the N-word.
WWE officially parted ways with Hogan shortly after the report, but they later brought him back in 2018. Once he was back, WWE would bring him back sporadically for appearances, and the cheers started to be mixed with boos.
But the boos were the loudest on Monday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. This election cycle, and the previous two in which Donald Trump was a candidate, Hogan has been outspoken with his support. He has spoken at the Republican National Convention several times, usually including a spot where he rips off his shirt like he did in his wrestling days, but to reveal a shirt supporting Trump. And few things are as divisive as politics.