How Hulk Hogan’s Heel Turn Changed Everything

Professional wrestling is built on promises it can’t keep. The biggest one—­the one it sells to kids, advertisers, and occasionally itself—­is that its heroes are immortal. That these athletes are gods, that the guy who taught you what right and wrong looked like will still be there when you come back years later, unchanged, muscles intact, morals preserved in amber. It’s an odd point of tension in pro wrestling; a lot of pro wrestling’s historical antecedents—­theater, mythology, fables—­are timeless in a way that its most straightforward precursor—­legitimate wrestling, or boxing, or real sport in general—­is absolutely not.