"but the foot was on the rope!"

Disgraceful hardly any posts considering this guy is a bodybuilding icon too. Used to train with Arnold when he was in his prime. Total legend.



RIP

Sucks to be a wrestling fan tbh cuz you see these guys who are larger than life then they grow old and frail. Not that familiar with his work cuz he was before my time but heard him throughout the decades.

He was a grade a scumbag.

Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan On Superstar Billy Graham’s Legacy, Being Inspired By Him

Flair on Graham’s style: “His clothes were considered outlandish back then. He had the earring. He gave those incredible interviews. He had that body that was second to none. ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham influenced a whole generation of wrestlers, myself included.”

Hogan on being influenced by Graham: “He was decades ahead of his time. When I saw him, he was a bad guy, yet he drew you to him like a magnet. He looked like a superhero, but when the good guy put his fist up and acted like he was going to punch him in the face, Billy Graham would drop to his knees and start begging and pleading. I modeled ‘Hollywood’ Hogan after that. Watch Hogan-Sting from WCW, and you’ll see a lot of the way Billy Graham carried himself in the ring. Even as a babyface, I did that, too. He was really something special.”

Hogan on being inspired by Graham: “The first thing that connected with me about ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham was the physical aspect. I was eight or nine when my father started taking me to wrestling in Tampa. Years later, when I started playing in a rock-’n’-roll band and my dad had retired from working construction, I remember telling him, ‘You took me to the wrestling matches. Now I want to take you.’ We were so excited to see the matches in Tampa, which were in the [Fort Homer Hesterly] Armory. I still remember ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham standing on the second turnbuckle and doing the double bicep. That was the moment for me. I told my dad, ‘I want to be just like that guy.’ I was already a huge Dusty Rhodes fan, but ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham took it to a whole new level.”

Hogan on being a wrestling fan at the time: “I wasn’t even in the wrestling business yet, but I’d look for the wrestlers at the Imperial Room on Armenia Avenue. Every Tuesday night after the matches, all the wrestlers would go there because it was the best country Western bar in Tampa. Billy Graham would sit on one side with all the bad guys, and Dusty Rhodes, Mike Graham and Steve Keirn would be on the other side. I finally got the nerve one night to talk to Billy Graham. It lasted only a moment, but I can still remember my excitement.

“When I got into the wrestling business, I was there the night he had the bench-press contest against Jos LeDuc. I rode to the Bayfront Center, which was a venue in St. Petersburg, and I was in the car with Sir Oliver Humperdinck and Billy Graham. I was shaking like a leaf the whole time. Years later we became friends. We became close, though our friendship had its share of twists and turns over the years. We made peace after we both found God. He was a marvelous person, and I’m grateful I had the chance to know him.”

Flair on Graham’s legacy: “Look at the reaction following his death and the outpouring of love, that’s because of the impact he had on people. He certainly had that impact on me. For me, I thought he was the greatest thing going. Him and Dusty Rhodes were my two favorites. His look changed the whole perspective of the business. ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham—often imitated, never duplicated.”

What did he do?

RIP

Man 80 years old that's not bad for a steroid abusers. All those golden age guys seem to live a decently long time

I guess you really just can't take much more than test

In his superb book he talked about all the cons he did prior to wrestling to rip people off. Made up a story about seeing Pat Patterson abusing kids when the sex & drugs scandals hit & later admitted he did it just because he was salty about being let go in 1989-even though WWE bought him back in the mid 2000's Patterson would never speak to him.

Begged WWF/WWE for a job for years, they eventually made up some crappy job just to give him a payday after they put him in the HOF & he said how wonderful they were & then when he got cut again he went on rants about how scummy Vince & WWE are & sold his HOF ring.

Ran various cons over the decades to get money for his 'terrible health' where he was always at deaths door-as he started claiming he was in 1990 & one of them he ranted at his fans for not donating or not donating enough & saying he was going to block them if they didn't pay up within 24 hours. The thing with Jericho regarding Eddie's funeral etc. Just not a nice individual.

He got a liver donation in 2002-that like George Best he really didn't deserve, otherwise he probably wouldn't have made it to 60.

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– In a video posted on Substack, WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura paid his respects to the late “Superstar” Billy Graham, who he credited as a major inspiration for him starting a career in professional wrestling. Ventura stated on Billy Graham:

“He was the decade before me and Hulk Hogan and all of us in the ’80s. It was Superstar Billy Graham that was my inspiration that got me to become a pro wrestler.

If he wouldn’t have happened, there wouldn’t have been a Hulk Hogan, there wouldn’t have been a Jesse Ventura, there wouldn’t have been many people in the business. That was the impact that Superstar had. He was the first wrestler who brought a bodybuilder’s body, a physique of that level into the world of pro wrestling with the tie-dye trunks, the sunglasses, and the hip talk and all that.

His timing was perfect back then in the ’70s, and Superstar became the biggest star in professional wrestling for about three to four years when he defeated Bruno Sammartino for the then WWWF World Heavyweight Championship.

Well Patterson was the gay Harvey Weinstein of the wrestling business, so its not like he was saying anything that was far from the truth anyway.