Danny Duggan delivers his variation of the “rock bottom” to Chad Daniels. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nick Nielsen

Remembering a legend

Canadian wrestling promoter mourns death of Hulk Hogan

Jul 30, 2025 | 12:57 PM

The news of Hulk Hogan’s passing rocked the world last week, and one of the people who was inspired most by the wrestling icon is a man well-known to fans in Saskatchewan.

Canadian Wrestling’s Elite’s (CWE) Danny Duggan believes the wrestling business wouldn’t be what it is today without the likes of Hogan.

“He definitely skyrocketed professional wrestling into a mainstream narrative that captured all of our imaginations and all of our childhoods for those that were growing up in the 80s and early 90s, and as a result, it spawned a whole new generation of professional wrestlers that are doing it today,” Duggan explained.

Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, was 71 when he passed away July 24. The cause of death has been connected to a cardiac arrest. Details about his funeral and memorial arrangements have not been publicly released.

Professional wrestling was a popular form of entertainment before Hogan came along and but many have attributed his popularity as helping to bring it to the masses. He appeared in the main event of the first Wrestlemania that was held in 1985 and the subsequent eight events that followed.

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Before the likes of wrestling super power companies like WWE and WCW came along to bring wrestling to national TV screens, wrestling companies typically stuck to territories, only putting on shows in certain cities rather than touring entire countries.

If it wasn’t for Hogan being such a big draw, Duggan doesn’t know what the business would look like today.

“You can play different scenarios out on what would happen if the big boom didn’t happen. Will there still be regional wrestling? Would there still be territory wrestling? Or would there be a professional wrestling industry at all? So when it comes to what we do with the touring company across Canada, it’s definitely a testament to the popularity of pro wrestling in the 80s and the early 90s in that big boom because that’s what first captured the world with the world of professional wrestling on a grand scale,” Duggan said.

In Duggan’s opinion, what separated Hogan from the rest of the field in his time was his ability to work a crowd. Hogan’s gestures to the crowd, his ‘Hulking Up’ when it was time to stop messing around and put his foe down. Hogan was great at telling a story in the ring without saying anything, but instead acting it out in front of your eyes.

“The Hulk Hogan presentation really set the standard for ‘sports entertainment’, and that will be argued by experts if it’s better or for worse when you’re talking with pro wrestling purists. But in terms of drawing big crowds and drawing big money, it was that transformation of that style of professional wrestling that really took off in a way that had never been seen before, and Hulk Hogan, he’s probably the pioneer of it.”

Duggan himself has a closer relation to Hogan than most other professional wrestlers in the way that he presents himself. Duggan’s in-ring character is one that shows an overbearing pride in being from the United States, even carrying a flag to the ring.

While Duggan’s character takes the patriotism towards an obnoxious degree to be an evil ‘heel’, he doesn’t deny the similarities between the ‘heel’ Duggan and the ‘babyface’ Hogan.

“When you look at the political climate now, it’s kind of interesting to say because when you look at the ‘heat’ that the Hotshot Danny Duggan character receives today, it’s because of the pulverizing, tension between Canada and the US right now. When you look at Hulk Hogan and when he first came to the forefront in America on the grand scale, it was national pride then too. So there’s definitely a lot of parallels and things that are drawn from each to be successful.”

Canadian Wrestling Elite is going to be starting their Cruel Summer tour on August 14, and will makes stops in Big River First Nation on Aug. 25; Lac La Ronge on Aug. 26; Saskatoon on Aug. 27; and Prince Albert on August 28 at Plaza 88.