Technically speaking, this theatrical pair of mustard yellow leather wrestling boots was worn by Terry Gene Bollea, but it sounds a lot better and connects with more fans if we employ the more widely known ring name of Hulk Hogan. Then you're talking about millions of fans, which means millions of dollars, and a nod to arguably the most recognizable professional wrestler on the planet. Perhaps no other individual over the past 30 years has so effectively parlayed admittedly gargantuan athletic talents with a flair (lower case) for mixing up an entertaining brew of professional sports and theatre to produce a concoction that helped propel professional wrestling to a level of international sensation that defies imagination. Wrestling may have been on an arc headed to the billion-dollar entertainment behemoth that it has become through a recipe of ticket sales, television broadcasts, branded merchandise and home video, but the arrival of the 6-7, 300-lb. Hogan helped to put it all in high gear. Pro wrestling's dizzying expansion over the last 30 years has been instrumental in making pay-per-view a viable method of content delivery, with annual shows such as WrestleMania among the highest-selling pay-per-view programming.
With such an august background, these spectacular boots take on the cloak of cultural icon bridging the two worlds of sports and entertainment, a gaudy and ostentatious artifact from one of the most significant and enduring figures in pro wrestling. The boots, approximately size 12 with tagging inside of "Original Shoes - Kondou," a Japanese company, reveal enormous match use, charmingly attested to by Hogan himself on the side panel of the left shoe, where there's enough room to write a short story and Hulk took a stab at it: "These are my real boots with my real blood on them from MSG," and it is signed with a green marker flourish, "Hulk Hogan." And indeed, there is evidence of blood and heaven knows what else on these beauties, which are in superb condition and yet show all the markings of having been used precisely as he describes. There's even a rather substantial chunk, er wad, of bubble gum that has entangled itself in the upper laces of the left shoe. DNA testing is, of course, an option, but when Hulk Hogan uses the word "real" twice in a single, declarative sentence in his own hand, we are inclined to take his word for it.
This is simply a sensational relic from a figure known to millions worldwide. A photograph shows Hogan with "Macho Man" Randy Savage, known as the Mega Powers, wearing this style of boot at the first-ever main event SummerSlam I at Madison Square Garden in 1988 when the duo(aka the Mega Powers) squared off against Andre the Giant and Ted DiBiase (aka the Mega Bucks), with the eventual Governor of Minnesota, Jesse "The Body" Ventura", serving as the guest referee.
Comes with a Letter of Authenticity from renowned shoe collector, Bill Ficke, who received these beauties directly from his now deceased friend, Zane Bresloff, the long-time wrestling promoter.