PRO-WRESTLING legend Hulk Hogan is about to start the fight of his life but this time he’s swapped the squared circle for a Florida courtroom.

The sporting icon has filed a hefty lawsuit against gossip website Gawker over their 2012 decision to publish excerpts from a sex tape showing him in the act with his friend’s wife at the time.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, is seeking US$100 million (A$129 million) in damages, which would almost certainly send the company into bankruptcy. Gawker founder Nick Denton told The New York Times he doesn’t have the money to pay if the company loses but remains defiant in their right to publish the material.

The court case is set to begin on July 6, and short of sending the defendants into financial oblivion, the result could have lasting implications for future cases involving celebrity privacy rights.

The website reportedly received a DVD of the footage in the mail back in 2012. Unbeknown to Hogan at the time of the act, the vision was caught by a security camera at the home.

The footage shows Hogan having sex with Heather Clem — the then wife of his close friend and radio shock jock known as Bubba the Love Sponge.

TMZ had previously broke the news of the tape, but Gawker was the first to publish the video and posted a “highlights reel” of the 30 minute clip along with a detailed description which remains today.

“Right now there’s an ‘anything goes’ mentality when it comes to publishing information about celebrities. If Gawker loses, we might begin to see some rethinking of that mentality,” legal expert Eric Goldman told Fusion in regards to the upcoming case.

He believes the result will either intimidate or embolden online publishers who deal with questionably obtained material.

The staff at Gawker reportedly talk about the case “in apocalyptic terms” and are very aware that it could put them out of a job.

According to Capital New York, Mr Denton faces a judge and jury who are “sceptical of, if not outright hostile to” his celebrity-focused website.

Hogan’s lawyers will likely paint Mr Denton as a New York gossip monger while the former pro-wrestler is a beloved Florida native who lives just minutes away from the courtroom where the battle will take place.

The case has seen a number of twists and turns in the past few years and after filing the lawsuit in Federal court in 2012, Hogan then dropped it after a judge refused a preliminary injunction forcing the site to take down the material.

Since then the two sides have gone back and forth, and at one point Gawker was forced to remove the post, but the judgement was later reversed.

The July 6 trial date represents the beginning of the end of this legal battle for both the plaintiff and the defendant. But if Hogan gets his way, it could also mean the end of Gawker.