Ric Flair on Hulk Hogan’s death: ‘What killed him was street drugs’
Ric Flair says that he believes street drugs led to Hulk Hogan’s death.
During a recent interview with the Double Coverage podcast, Flair said that Hogan would purchase drugs off the street after his doctors wouldn’t prescribe him any more medication.
Flair said on the show:
“I talked to him the day before he died. I shouldn’t say this, but what killed him was street drugs. When the doctor wouldn’t prescribe anymore, he was in so much pain. And he had that neck surgery and it got infected so back in the hospital.”
“And then when the doctor would not prescribe any more pain medicine – they just couldn’t do it in all good conscience – so they went and got the drugs off the street. His body just said, ‘You know what? Bingo. I can’t do it anymore.’”
He later added, “It’s all going to come out in the media in the next 30 days. You’ll read about it anyway. I just don’t feel free to talk about it.”
Flair also spoke about Hogan having needed 10 back surgeries and how he’d always joke with him that if he didn’t drop all those leg drops during his career, he’d be walking around fine.
“But that made him the Hulkster,” he continued.
Hulk Hogan passed away at 71 years old on July 24, 2025. According to a report from ABC News, his death was due to an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), and he also had a history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Flair’s comments about Hogan buying street drugs when he wasn’t able to get more prescribed by his doctors come in around the 40-minute and 35-second mark of the interview (cued in the video below.):
Ian Carey is the editing manager at F4WOnline and a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His work has appeared in award-winning publications including NOW Magazine and The Huffington Post. He joined the F4WOnline team in 2019 and moved into the editing manager role in the summer of 2026. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Ian has covered professional wrestling for more than 15 years.