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 a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.