Remembering wrestling icon Hulk Hogan locally.
Hogan died Thursday at the age of 71.
Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, was arguably one of the biggest star in WWE history. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for a number of years.
He won at least six WWE championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.
Scott D'Amore, President of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, says not many people have such an iconic look and reputation like Hogan did in the entertainment industry.
D'Amore did work with Hogan multiple times over the years when he worked for the World Championship Wrestling in the 1990's.
He says Hogan was the perfect face of wrestling.
"Hulk with his super dark tan, and his oversized muscles, his grunt voice, and his charisma was clearly the perfect choice because the talk is always that era took wrestling out of the smoke field theatres, and smaller sportatoriums and venues, and put it into areas and now stadiums around the world."
D'Amore says while working with Hogan, he advocated for the little guys too.
"My boss came up to me and said 'hey, we need your guys all the time, and congratulations, you're getting a raise', and when I thanked my boss he said, 'don't thank me, go thank Hulk', he goes, 'Hulk walked into the office and he said everybody here needs to be taken care of so that this machine moves right'. That to me is a positive memory."
He says it's important to remember him and his character.
"The entire wrestling landscape, the television landscape certainly looks different because of him. And people can debate about him as a human being overall, and his pros and his cons with time, but I think today, let's pause and let's celebrate the character, and what the character individual did for the industry directly with wrestling and entertainment in general."
Hogan was pronounced dead at a hospital after authorities in Clearwater, Florida, responded to a morning call about a cardiac arrest.
He was also a celebrity outside the wrestling world, appearing in numerous movies and television shows.
-with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides and CTV News