During his long and impressive wrestling career, Hulk Hogan drew hordes of fans (dubbed Hulkamaniacs) not just with his charisma and physical prowess, but with a blue-collar, everyman appeal (Vince McMahon gave him the clearly “Irish” name Hogan for this very reason). This was always on display on Hogan Knows Best, the Hulkster's heartwarming VH1 reality show.

But some recent ugliness, when juxtaposed with the Hogan’s picture-perfect onscreen life, lends credence to the notion that there’s nothing real about reality TV.

Hogan Knows Best was a way for Hogan to stay relevant - and promote his daughter Brooke’s burgeoning music career. Hulk was predictably overprotective of Brooke, which quickly became one of the show’s running themes. But her blonde hair and nubile form, coupled with his imposing stature, made it more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than a real concern

While shooting Hogan Knows Best in 2007, Hulk cheated on his wife of 24 years with one of Brooke’s friends. Fans and scores of yellow journalists expressed greater outrage over the age of Hulk’s mistress than the tryst itself. And that may be because of the widespread belief that, tryst or no, the marriage had been over for a while.

(Hell hath no fury like a woman in a male-sized midlife crisis: Shortly thereafter, Linda herself began dating a 19-year-old.)

Things got worse from there. Much worse.

Seventeen-year-old Nick was sentenced to 8 months behind bars after a drunken street race in his old man’s 1998 Toyota Supra. The passenger was 22-year-old John Graziano, a friend and former Marine, who was left in a permanent vegetative state after the car hit a curb, spun out, and flew headlong into a palm tree.

Any remorse on the part of the family was cast in serious doubt when prison tapes of phone conversations between Nick and the Hulk were made public. Many of their discussions centered not on deep regret, but on how the fiasco could be spun for their own gain. At one point, the idea of a reality show -- which Hulk suggested they call The New Nick -- is floated. Nick tells his father he wants whatever vehicle will allow him to “make the most money.”

Hulk claimed on Larry King Live that the chatter was idle -- aimed only at calming his newly incarcerated and clearly shaken son -- but most aren’t buying it.

Today, Nick is out of jail and rumored to be living in California -- far from his bad memories of Florida, where the family once lived under one roof. Brooke has been given a spinoff reality show of her own -- with the uninspired title Brooke Knows Best -- that heavily promotes her music career. Linda is all but estranged from her ex-husband and children. She recently put out a press release attacking Brooke, taking her to task for her questionable talent and obvious breast augmentations.

As for Hulk, he has to be wondering if he would have been better off leaving the entertainment business when he left the ring.