A study published this week in the Journal of Sports Medicine confirms that the only person to suffer any injury from Hulk Hogan’s leg drop is Hogan himself.
“Not a single bruise, contusion or fracture has ever been reported by wrestlers who have been on the receiving end of the Hulkster’s leg drop,” reads the report.
“Hogan, on the other hand, has been utterly devastated by the maneuver.”
The report was created by a team of Harvard kinesiologists who watched hundreds of Hogan’s leg drops in slow motion, measuring every conceivable variable. What they discovered was a fact many wrestling pundits have known intuitively for decades: Hogan’s leg drop delivers almost no discernible impact to its “victims.”
Because the bent inner crook of Hogan’s knee comes down onto his opponents upper chest, there is little-to-no momentum or impact behind the move.
All the concussive force of Hogan’s 305-pound frame is instead absorbed by Hogan’s tailbone and lower back when his buttocks hit the mat.
Hogan has had a series of back and knee surgeries in recent years, most to repair the damage done by years of delivering his flashy but ineffectual leg drop.
Of his hundreds of opponents over the years, precisely none has required surgery due to the effects of the leg drop.
The study failed to explain, however, why Hogan was able to win so many matches with the innocuous maneuver.
“It’s almost as if Hogan’s opponents had, prior to the matches, agreed to be pinned after the leg drop,” says the report. “But that would just be silly.”
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