Who Was Bigger, Hulk Hogan Or Lou Ferrigno?

The late Hulk Hogan may have been among the most famous wrestlers to ever walk the face of the Earth, but it doesn't change the fact that a lot of claims made by the Hulkster over the years could be construed as dubious. In fact, there is a laundry list of lies Hogan reportedly told over the years, from simple stuff like him claiming he barely used his creative control clause in his WCW contract, to the actively outrageous, like Hogan saying he was once in contention to be Metallica's bassist or that he was offered Mickey Rourke's role in "The Wrestler," something publicly denied by the film's director Darron Aronofsky. But there is one claim over the years about Hogan that some people have actually believed. What is that claim you ask? That Hogan was actually bigger than the man who once played The Incredible Hulk on TV, Lou Ferrigno.

Of course, like most things with Hogan, the origin of this claim appears to have come from the man himself. In his 2009 book, "My Life Outside the Ring," Hogan tells the story of appearing on a talk show with Ferrigno while Hogan was wrestling in Memphis for the Continental Wrestling Association. As the story goes, Hogan and Ferrigno were standing next to each other when the host declared that Hogan was much bigger than Ferrigno was. This would result in Hogan being gifted the nickname "Hulk" by Mary Jarrett, wife of CWA promoter Jerry Jarrett, and he would soon go by Terry "The Hulk" Boulder, a precursor to him being given the name Hulk Hogan when he debuted in WWE. Naturally, because this story comes from Hogan, it's easy to dismiss at first. However, Ferrigno himself has confirmed the talk show appearance happened, and that Hogan was taller, though not more muscular. And thanks to Ferrigno opening the door, it becomes a fair question to ask whether Hulk Hogan or Lou Ferrigno was the bigger man in the 1980s?

Assuming one isn't going off the weight Hogan was listed as playing Thunderlips in "Rocky III," (7'0, 390 lbs), a quick search for the height and weight of both men would seem to suggest the results are inconclusive. In height, the advantage would go to Hogan, who most places list at 6'7, while Ferrigno is listed at 6'5. Things are also complicated when it comes to weight; while Hogan is commonly listed at being between 290 and 302 lbs, Ferrigno's peak weight, in 1992, has him listed at 315 lbs, though he is listed at being around 284 lbs during a bodybuilding competition in 1975. That means that, at times, Hogan weighed more, and at times, Ferrigno weighed more. As such, the only conclusion one could reasonably make from all this data is that it was a wash, and neither man was truly that much bigger than the other.

The caveat to this whole thing is that this concerns both Hulk Hogan and pro wrestling, a wrestler who loved to make up tall tales, and a business known for exaggerating both the height and weight of its competitors to make them seem larger than life. So while Hogan certainly was tall and carrying muscles on top of his muscles during his glory years, it stands to reason that he was probably not quite 6'7 or 300 lbs, and thus was probably not as big as Ferrigno. Whether he was or wasn't didn't seem to matter between the two, however, as Hogan and Ferrigno seemed to share a close friendship, with Ferrigno even paying tribute to Hogan after his death. As such, the curious case of whether Hogan or Ferrigno was the bigger man seems to matter more to the fans out there than it does to Ferrigno.