The rumors regarding Hogan’s health slowed for a few weeks following Daily’s social media statement, but Clem once again ramped up his reports about Hogan around July 18. Clem stated that his sources claimed that Hogan’s surgery caused permanent damage, including to his vocal cords and esophagus. Clem stated that he was hearing “just so many reports coming back that he may never, ever be the Hulk Hogan that we knew,” though he no longer claimed Hogan was near the end of his life or in a coma.

On July 21, Clem said that Hogan had been transported back home from the hospital in the middle of the night under “Michael Jackson-level” security measures. He seemed to backtrack a bit, however, and said that it didn’t seem as though Hogan needed to be as close to emergency facilities, and “The Hulkster” was stable enough to be home.

It was legendary wrestling manager “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart to provide the next Hogan update after Clem’s claims. Hart took to X (formerly Twitter) and said that Hogan was “doing great, doing phenomenal!” and he had recently been at Hogan’s restaurant with Hulk’s son, Nick, for karaoke night. Hart did not say in the post that Hogan was with them.

In the afternoon of July 24, Hogan’s death was first reported by TMZ. “The Hulkster” reportedly died of cardiac arrest, though details about his death are still coming out. Those across the wrestling world continue to pay tribute to Hogan on social media, including Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Sting, Kurt Angle and even former WWF/WWE chairman himself, Vince McMahon, but thus far, the X account of Bubba the Love Sponge has stayed quiet, outside of sharing his statement he made to TMZ about his one regret, not being able to apologize to his former friend.