“He was a prototype of what Vince McMahon saw as a top wrestling attraction going forward,” Meltzer said. He gained his greatest fame with the then-World Wide Wrestling Federation (He traveled around the world as champion, wrestling such notables as Jack Brisco, Pedro Morales, Rhodes and Mil Mascaras. Graham died Wednesday at age 79, WWE said. Even Chael Sonnen in MMA would directly copy his interviews.” “Obviously, he was the prototype of the Hulk Hogan character, the Jesse Ventura character, but so many others like Dusty Rhodes copied his interview style and colorful dress, and they were the guys who carried the business. “Billy was the most influential wrestler of the 1970s,” wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer, author of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, said. “What you gonna do when the Superstar comes down on you?“ -Superstar Billy Graham If you closed your eyes and listened to prime Graham and prime Hogan, you could barely tell them apart. Using the word “brother” liberally in his interviews. Walking to the ring wrapped in a feather boa.

Hulk Hogan, probably the biggest wrestling star of all time, copied a lot of his persona from Graham. If you are a current pro wrestling fan and never heard of Graham, well, you actually have and just aren’t aware of it.

At the height of his popularity in the 1970s, Graham sold out Madison Square Garden, the original mecca of pro wrestling, 19 times. He was supposed to be a reviled rulebreaker, but after hearing him talk, fans never truly reviled him. When you discuss the hyperbolized figures in pro wrestling history, “Superstar” Billy Graham has to be in the conversation.

I’m sweeter than a German chocolate cake.

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