Hulk Hogan was an American icon. The wrestler, who died on July 24, adopted his public persona thanks in large part to his most famous WWE entrance music, “Real American.”
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The song that came to be so associated with him wasn’t the first music Hogan ever walked out to, though. During a 2025 appearance on the Try That in a Small Town podcast, Hogan recalled choosing Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” as his first walk-out music.
“The cool thing about it was, they told me no music. So I went to the sound guy. I said, ‘The hell with this. ‘Eye of The Tiger,’ crank it.’ I gave him 500 bucks,” Hogan said. “When that music started, that [hums guitar riff] the roof of the place blew off.”
The response even prompted Hogan to take credit for popularizing the idea of entrance music in the WWE.
“Vince [McMahon] picked up on it real quick,” Hogan said, “and it just took off and then everybody wanted entrance music.”
The Story Behind “Real American”
It was around that time that the WWE decided to produce The Wrestling Album. The compilation of songs was intended to make wrestlers into more well-known stars.
However, “Real American” wasn’t initially written for that project. In MEL Magazine‘s 2020 oral history of the track, writer Rick Derringer revealed that, in 1984, he and his writing partner, Bernard Kenny, set out to “write the most patriotic song of all time.”
“That was the whole objective behind it when we sat down — a few hours later, the song ‘Real American’ was born,” he said. “After it was written, we actually played it, and it brought us to tears. We knew we had done such a good job, and it was destined to be a hit.”
When Derringer was approached about The Wrestling Album, “We had the whole thing put together and really organized, and we still hadn’t used ‘Real American’ anywhere yet, so we thought this would be a good use of it.”
Drummer Jimmy Bralower noted, “It was the only song on the album done by a professional group of people and had nothing to do with wrestlers performing on it. So ‘Real American’ was more an assembly thing than it was a kinetic magic moment in the studio.”
Hulk Hogan Claims “Real American”
Hogan wasn’t the first wrestler to be paired with the tune, as it initially went to U.S. Express. When that tag team departed the WWE shortly thereafter, though, Hogan stepped in to claim the theme song. In doing so, Hulkamania commenced.
“Before Hulk, it didn’t have the earmarks of becoming as iconic as it did,” Bralower said. “… This song was the beginning of making wrestling super showbiz-y, and it just so happened that with MTV, wrestling was becoming nationalized, so it was getting pumped into a huge audience.”
“Plus, at the time, there was a Russian dude who was a bad guy, and there was the [Iron] Sheik,” he added. “So Hulk, the American dude, rose to superstardom by battling them, and that song was so perfect for those battles. Everything aligned so perfectly.”
Derringer agreed, stating, “Hulk used it everywhere! Every time he went in the ring he used it as his theme song. Every time he did a television appearance he played the song. He created videos.”
In the years after Hogan’s prominence, “Real American” became a popular song choice for politicians on both sides of the aisle.
“We’re very excited in general that it’s a great wrestler’s theme song, but that it’s become almost a new national anthem in some points of view,” Derringer said. “It remains one of the most heard and recognized songs that’s never been released as a single.”
Hogan went on to align the song with his public persona in many ways. He launched Real American Beer in 2024 and co-founded wrestling league Real American Freestyle in 2025.
Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images
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