Former Best Friend Brutus Beefcake Says He Was Afraid to Visit Hulk Hogan and Now He’ll Regret It Forever

Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake is opening up in the most emotional way yet following the death of his longtime best friend, Hulk Hogan.

During a conversation with TMZ Sports, the wrestling legend revealed he came painfully close to visiting Hogan just days before he passed—but didn’t go through with it, and now deeply regrets the decision. Beefcake was asked if he had recently tried to see Hogan. What followed was a raw and vulnerable reflection that only someone with decades of friendship behind them could share.

“I was going to try to go to his house a couple days ago and I—you know, my wife said, ‘You should just go over there.’ And I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, but if I go to the house and they say, no, you—you can’t come in,’ I would have—it would have crushed me. So I didn’t. And now I wish maybe that I had tried to get in and tried to get to see him before he passed.”

The regret hits even harder knowing that Beefcake and fellow friend Jimmy Hart were aware Hogan’s condition was serious.

“Yeah, absolutely. I—I… Jimmy and I, like I said, we’ve been friends for 45, 50 years. And Jimmy and I have talked every day, and Jimmy told me that, you know, he was doing okay, but that the things were not good. And so this did kind of catch us off guard.”

Just before speaking on that regret, Beefcake was asked what he would say to Hogan if he had one final moment to speak with him. His answer was as simple as it was powerful.

“Um… I love you, brother, you know? And we truly are friends to the end. And I, um, you know—I don’t even know what else to say about that. I know he—his family and—and mine were close for many years, and I wish the best for them. And they’re having—I know they’re having a horrible, difficult time. And, um, I just want to say to them, keep your chins up, and—and he would have wanted us to fight on and—and move forward. And, uh, that’s—that’s hopefully what we’re all going to do.”

While the love was clearly still there, the truth is Hogan and Beefcake hadn’t been as close in recent years. Their longtime friendship hit a rough patch sometime in the 2010s, after public disagreements and miscommunications drove a wedge between them. At one point, Brutus went on record claiming Hogan had “cut him out” of his life and even accused him of blocking the release of his book. Hogan, for his part, remained mostly quiet on the fallout, though he reportedly felt betrayed by some of Beefcake’s actions and interviews.

Despite the distance, Brutus made it clear in the interview that the bond they once shared never truly left his heart—and the regret of not reconnecting in time is now something he’ll carry forward.

Brutus Beefcake’s tribute wasn’t about the costumes or catchphrases. It was about the real-life bond two men shared long before—and long after—they became household names.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.