Hulk Hogan Took a Daily Dose of Fentanyl That Should Have Killed Him

In one of his final interviews before his death in July 2025, wrestler Hulk Hogan detailed the shockingly high dose of fentanyl that he took for pain as he neared the end of his wrestling career.

"I went to the pharmacy. He goes, 'You should be dead. We have never seen a human be taking this much fentanyl,'" Hogan recounted (quote via People).

The WWE legend opened up about his fentanyl use in the new Netflix docuseries Hulk Hogan: Real American, which premieres on Wednesday (April 22).

How Much Fentanyl Was Hulk Hogan Taking?

Hogan said he was taking "80-milligram fentanyls, two in the morning, stuffing them under my gums here."

"I had two 300mg patches of fentanyl on my legs and they gave me six 1500mg fentanyl lollipops to eat," the wrestler continued.

Why Was Hulk Hogan Taking So Much Fentanyl Near the End of His Wrestling Career?

Hulk Hogan signed a deal with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in October 2009. In the months leading up to that deal, Hogan was "in the darkest, most devastating part of his life," according to wrestling executive Eric Bischoff, who helped orchestrate the TNA deal.

"Hulk was reluctant to go, but he needed the money," Bischoff added.

His dire financial straits were due in part to his divorce from Linda Hogan, which had been finalized that July.

Hogan said he "gave her everything to get rid of her." He was forced to continue wrestling because he was "broke," he explained.

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But Hogan was also in steep chronic pain after years of wrestling. He said he "couldn't sleep in my bed."

"I had to sleep in a chair, and if I just twitched my finger like that, my whole back would spasm and torque," he remembered of that time.

TNA producers quickly realized that he couldn't physically wrestle, even though doing so was part of his contract.

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"I would literally have to go to his hotel and help him get out of bed and get into the shower to get ready to go to the shoot," Bischoff says, saying "There were times I felt really s--tty about myself for making him do that."

"Your wife's divorcing you, your doctors are giving you fistfuls of pills that would kill a horse and you're chasing that down with a quart of vodka a day," Biscoff describes of Hogan's situation at the time.

How Did Hulk Hogan Die?

Hulk Hogan died on July 24, 2025, after going into cardiac arrest at his home. He was 71 years old.

READ MORE: Hulk Hogan's Cause of Death + A Shocking Cancer Revelation

• His cause of death was later confirmed as an acute myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack.
• Documents regarding his cause of death also revealed that he had been battling leukemia CLL, a form of cancer that affects the white blood cells.
• He also had a history of atrial fibrillation (AFib), a heart condition that causes the heart to beat irregularly.