WWE Hall of Famer Brutus Beefcake has shared an emotional tribute following the death of his longtime best friend, Hulk Hogan.

TMZ.com first reported on Thursday that Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, had passed away at the age of 71. Beefcake, who was a close friend and frequent tag team partner of Hogan both in and out of the ring, spoke to TMZ about the loss and expressed his deep sorrow.

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

Beefcake then reflected on a missed opportunity to see Hogan before his passing, sharing:

“I was going to try to go to his house a couple of days ago. My wife said, ‘you just go over there’ and I was thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ If I go to the house and they say, ‘No, you can’t come in,’ 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.”

He also revealed that fellow WWE legend Jimmy Hart had been keeping him updated on Hogan’s condition in recent days.

“Jimmy Hart and I had been friends for 45, 50 years. Jimmy and I have talked every day, and Jimmy told me that he was doing okay, but that the things were not good. And so this did kind of catch us off guard.”

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