For general gameplay mechanics, see the Boomer commentary

Hawk (who is very clearly Terry Gene Bollea/Hulk Hogan) ranks 3rd in terms of overall strength, but for a speedrun his striking throw creates a major disadvantage. Other characters can repeatedly strike throw bosses for 18 damage, but Hawk's normally 40 damage headbutt does a lousy 4, and can even just be blocked. Additionally, his attacks are not notably fast or far-reaching, and he has an odd property that his finishing kick attack pulls enemies to him instead of pushing them away, which removes the primary strategy used to fight Missing Link. Finally, his elbow drop against grounded enemies is extremely slow. It makes up for its speed by doing 6 damage instead of 2, but the DPS isn't any better overall due to its speed, and missing it due to an enemy standing during the animation puts Hawk in a great deal of danger. Hawk's main advantage is simply that his headbutt allows him to clear normal enemies instantly when other characters may have to do a bit more to get rid of them, but it doesn't make up for his lack of damage on bosses.