Decades before content creators like Mr. Beast and PewDiePie captivated large audiences of kids, the youth of America looked up to different sorts of personalities that weren’t quite athletes, actors, models, or musicians.
I’m talking, of course, about professional wrestlers.
Pro wrestlers continue to play fictional characters, but the narrative building was much less nuanced in the 1980s than today. Most wrestlers played simple caricatures, and one of the most famous of them was Terry Bollea, better known by his nom de ring, Hulk Hogan. Before he turned heel (again) in the mid-90s, Hogan was a star-spangled hero who promoted America and told kids to train, eat their vitamins, and pray. It’s unclear if by “vitamins,” Hogan meant steroids because no one’s getting a set of 24-inch pythons by lifting alone or eating Flinstones chewables and praying.
