The complicated legacy of WWE star Hulk Hogan

The late American star Hulk Hogan, who made professional wrestling a global phenomenon, wasn't necessarily admired by his peers but there was something endearing about him during his peak, says Auckland University of Technology researcher Sharon Mazer.

Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, died aged 71 in Florida on Friday. 'The Hulkster' transcended professional wrestling to become a global sensation in the 1980s and '90s, and had famous feuds with Andre The Giant, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, The Rock, and Vince McMahon.

Later, Hogan starred in a reality TV show, Hogan Knows Best, alongside his family, and he then threw his weight behind Donald Trump's MAGA cause whilst becoming embroiled in legal cases.

Mazer, who has written numerous books about professional wrestling, told Nights the intriguing thing about wrestling was its cross-disiplinary aspect.

"It's very theatrical, but it's not theater. It's like sport, but it's certainly not sporting. It is a bit of a con-game, of course, but it's absolutely truthful at some fundamental level ... it's a way of telling a story."

Hogan was a master of the art, Mazer said.

"I think he wasn't necessarily admired as a wrestler per se. He didn't have great moves, he only had a few signature moves, he wasn't particularly graceful, shall we say, but he knew his audience and he worked the audience and he loved the audience and they loved him."

She recalled watching him at multiple events in New York during his height, back in the '80s.

"The night would be well and truly over and he would still be in the centre of the squared circle, posing for kids and fans who had stuck around, as the staff in Madison Square Garden hustled to pick up the chairs and prepare the room for the next night ... he just would stay until the last fan had gone. He'd pose, he'd sign T-shirts, he was just so into it at his peak.

"There was something really endearing, almost - and I hate to say that about someone who wasn't necessarily a dear person - but there was something extraordinarily endearing about the Hulk Hogan of the '80s and his relationship to his fans, especially his young fans."

Mazer herself didn't start out with any particular interest in wrestling - she was studying for a PhD at Columbia University in Middle English drama, when she caught her first glimpse of it on television.

"All this virtue and vice thing that I've been writing about with these people who've been dead for hundreds of years. And there's wrestling where somebody's proclaiming virtue and somebody's proclaiming vice, and they're going at it every night and the audience is with them. And it was everything that I've been researching, only in the present."

While beloved by fans, Hogan was not particularly well-liked by his peers, Mazer said.

"I think a lot of wrestlers felt that he hadn't paid his dues in the proper way, that he'd been pushed by Vince McMahon into stardom and that it had gone to his head really fast.

"Hulk Hogan really thought of himself as the greatest wrestler of all times, and I think other wrestlers beg to differ. Professional wrestling is a cooperative art form ... in order to make the show itself work they have to support each other, they have to give and take, everybody has to have a moment where they're losing, even if they're the one who's going to win on the night."

As the years went on, other controversies began to swirl.

"He's just passed so let's be kind to the man, but certainly in recent years, especially if you take into account his racism, expressive racism, the whole Gawker trial and everything that was around that and ... of course, the fact that he could take on Gawker was funded by Peter Thiel, who's not necessarily someone we're going to stand up and applaud at the moment, his support of Donald Trump," Mazer said.

"There was some great deal of unpleasantness behind the scenes, but that's true of professional wrestling all around."