Superstar Billy Graham

   In 1977, I remember flipping through the tv stations on a Saturday morning and seeing a large, muscular blond man with a receding hairline flexing his biceps with a much smaller man with a turban on his head gazing at him with a look of admiration on his face.

I turned to my father and asked "Just what IS this?"

His response was "Oh, that's the stupid fake rasslin'".

I wouldn't become a wrestling fan for another two years but I never forgot the big blond man and when I did become a wrestling fan, that wrestler wouldn't be seen on television for another three years-and when he did make his return, it would not be the same as he was an almost emaciated looking bald man using "martial arts" moves that looked weak even to the hardest of hard-core believers in pro wrestling.

That man was Superstar Billy Graham with his diminutive manager the Grand Wizard, and even though when I saw him wrestle, he was well past his prime, there was still a charisma to him that most wrestlers would have killed to have possessed.

Graham's death at the age of 79 brought the Superstar back to the mainstream as tributes flowed to arguably the most imitated wrestlers by other wrestlers ever.

Noted as the man that may have influenced the largest number of pro wrestlers of his age, such as Hulk Hogan, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Scott Steiner, and lord knows how many others, it was Billy Graham that was first with the rap and with muscles far beyond anyone in pro wrestling of his time.

Graham was never a strong performer in the ring but his interviews and muscles brought people to the building as a star through the seventies and both during and even after his run as WWWF champion as the first "heel" champion in the territory to hold the title for more than a few weeks.

Graham upset Bruno Sammartino in Baltimore (Chosen in order to avoid a riot in New York, where the title usually changed hands) using his feet on the ropes for leverage, on April 30, 1977, and held the title until February 20, 1978, with a title reign that worked for two reasons- Graham himself and that so many of the region's fans favorites that would never receive title shots against Sammartino were suddenly able to have their chance for the world title.

Dusty Rhodes, Ivan Putski, Tony Garea, Mil Mascaras, and Chief Jay Strongbow could never challenge Sammartino but they could try Graham, and fans of those wrestlers paid their money to see if their man could be the man to upset Graham for his title.

As a headliner at the company's unofficial home- New York's Madison Square Garden, Graham sold out nineteen of the twenty times that Graham was in the main event and the Graham title reign is noted by many as the one reign before the "Hulkamania" times that could have been extended and even more successful as Graham been turned "babyface" as both Graham and Bruno Sammartino suggested.

Instead, Vince McMahon Sr. honored his word and kept his commitment to Bob Backlund to dethrone Graham as Graham had been told would happen well before Graham's title win.

Graham would continue to sell out arenas for the remainder of his time with the WWF for rematches against Backlund, along with matches against Bruno Sammartino and Dusty Rhodes, with both men avenging "controversial" defeats or disqualification wins against Graham when he was the champion.

Graham's career changed after that run, seldomly wrestling for periods of time, and appeared in CBS's World Strongest Man contest, finishing seventh with a shaved head look that he would use in his 1982 return to the WWF for the rematch series with Backlund with the martial arts gimmick that is so often panned by Graham fans that would see Graham destroy the championship belt on television with Backlund crying, which is credited as the start of the fan backlash against Backlund.

Graham returned to the massive muscular look after leaving the WWF, keeping the shaven head but never quite returned to the top of the card status in runs in Florida and for the Mid-Atlantic/JCP territories before a touted return that never really panned out as his body was breaking down from injuries as well as various illnesses.

Graham spent some time after his wrestling career ended as a awful commentator which was a surprise considering that Graham was such a great talker but this happens frequently as some people are great at talking about themselves but not so great when talking about others.

Graham was off and on the good side of Vince McMahon and the WWF/E through the last thirty years or so as Graham would periodically appear in the news with criticism of McMahon and then reconcile, most notably when the WWE was promoting a career DVD about Graham and his autobiography and his entry into the company's Hall of Fame.

I have two personal memories of the Superstar in the ring, with the first of these with Graham in the main event of the first WWF card in Hagerstown in years against Ivan Putski.

I've mentioned often that I always rooted for the "bad guys" as a younger fan and I was one of few, if not the only, fan rooting for Graham on this particular evening- Until my mom decided she didn't like Putski for something "foul-mouthed" he must have said and begin cheering for Graham, which was really odd because she was never a huge wrestling fan, especially at that time.

Putski won by disqualification but I remember that night more for my mom cheering for Graham than anything in the match, which makes sense as neither Graham nor Putski's ring work would remind you of anyone noted for great matches!

Graham would return for another Hagerstown card in a main event that (by name anyway) seems to be much too big for a spot show in Western Maryland as Graham teamed with Magnificent Muraco against Andre the Giant and Pedro Morales.

I believe this may have been Andre's only match in Hagerstown and I remember my dad running late to take me to the match, which resulted in us standing for the entire card!

I think the end saw Andre pinning Graham after his big boot to the face and big splash onto the prone Superstar but I don't remember for sure.

Graham references this match in his autobiography, Tangled Ropes,

Superstar Billy Graham may have been referenced by some as a lovable rogue and I'm sure that there was something of a confidence-man to him as the wrestling business both attracts and creates people that are able to stretch the truth a bit as most salesmen do but I'm not sure that Graham hurt anyone other than himself and his wife Valerie, who comes out of Graham's book as the true hero of the story.

In the ring, Graham was a little below average but with his look, ability to speak, drawing power, and his influence on so many stars that came along after him and built on the foundation of his character, Superstar Billy Graham would be a deserving member of any wrestling Hall of Fame.

After I started working on this tribute to Superstar Graham, the greatest running back of all time, Jim Brown, passed away.

I want to work on a tribute to Brown this week but this was already in progress and I didn't want to stop halfway through.