The reason Vince Sr planned so far out ahead with start and stop dates for the guys was so that the other promoters like Eddie Graham could plan how to work their talent leaving for the a run in the WWF and then coming back. Bill Watts also said that when he cooperated with Vince Sr, Vince would reward him with Andre The Giant dates. Austin Idol also copied Superstar Graham.
And then Hulk came with a slightly better version of his gimmick and went to the fucking stratosphere. That must not have helped Graham's psyche at all.
"The Philadelphia newspaper". Actually there always had two. As for the letter, when Graham came back in 1982, he sold out vs. Backlund in MSG, Boston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, but never Philadelphia. I guess The Spectrum did not get such a hot feud was because the mentality was the letter hurt Graham's draw.
Gorilla wrote for the Philadelphia Journal, which went belly up around '82, as did the Bulletin around the same time. Im not sure if Superstar ever had a Philly match with Backlund in '82. I know for sure it wasn't at the Spectrum, might have been in December at a smaller arena. Superstar had two matches with Pedro, which likely figured into it..
1) Bruno, Pedro and Gorilla all appeared for AJPW in its early years. When McMahon made the deal with NJPW in 1976, Bruno wouldn't play along because he hated Inoki and wanted nothing to do with him. Graham was loyal to IWE going back to their alliance with and Graham's tenure in the AWA. They needed not only someone who would tour as champion with NJPW, but also someone who wouldn't lose the belt in a shoot. 2) Dave Meltzer reported at one time that Graham disappeared from the business because he had cancer, I believe in 1984 or 1985.
It’s so fascinating Jim Cornette is fascinating I love listening to him talk it never gets old. Well a little bit sometimes but not very much very little does it get old...he’s good he’s real good.
According to the common story, Keirn was never actually "in the running." Eddie Graham tried to convince McMahon that he should take him on, but McMahon was set on Backlund and they made a gentleman's bet over whether he could get over.
I watched old matches from him against bruno and mil mascaras from 1977 on the network he was a fuckin huge star he had the look the promos and truly was hulk hogan before hulk hogan and his matches were pretty decent lol don't know why jim shits on his matches anyway if you have the network look it up it's great footage
Graham was over huge, but he exaggerates his drawing power. A big reason he sold out the Garden was because fans thought Bruno was getting the belt back when they wrestled. Then the fans thought Dusty might get the belt. Then they thought the rule was changed to allow masked wrestlers so that Mil Mascaras could be champ. Point is, fans want to be present to see a title change and that helped sell tickets to see Graham.
Lol yo this is so true . I was at the spectrum when they asked us to stand up and have a moment of silence for superstar billy graham had died .. remember it like it was yesterday . Until this day rite now .i never ever understood why they said he died n here , it was n article in our daily paper ..lol..wow i gotta call mom and let her know bcuz we always debated if that moment of silence in the spectrum happened bcuz gary micheal capetta said superstar had died . Funny . N then he came back as karate gimmick and jim is so rite bcuz in philly we thought he was n imposter
And graham said in a shoot interview how stupid it was giving the belt to backlund he sounds upset to this day backlund is a great wrestler but boring as the champ maybe they should of turned billy graham baby face
Lol. If you actually zoom in on the picture of the Gorilla Monsoon angle and actually read the original story it will surely make you laugh. I'm not sure that Gorilla was the best person to be writing columns for papers. The grammar is absolutely atrocious and I thought when you were writing for a paper or whatever that you weren't supposed to reference yourself in the way he did. Like "I saw this" or "well I think that". Lol. Gorilla should have stayed away from the writing I feel.
this is only a few months after i moved to Phila suburbs and started watching wrestling. man time plays tricks on your brain. i remember the Phila Inquirer, Phila Daily News, and Phila Bulletin, not the Phila Journal this was published in. i also (mis)remember a sports columnist publishing Superstar Billy Graham's obituary and Gorilla Monsoon having to correct them. for the life of me i don't remember it like this yet there it is in black and white. 1981 is old school but not the dark ages. i can't believe they could not confirm someone's death before publishing it. didn't the same thing happen with Abe Vigoda and People Magazine about the same time? when you watch clips of tie dye long blond hair muscular 1970's Billy Graham in WWWF it is clear he loved what he was doing. bald headed flabby karate gimmick early 1980's Billy Graham was going through the motions for a payday
The reason Vince Sr planned so far out ahead with start and stop dates for the guys was so that the other promoters like Eddie Graham could plan how to work their talent leaving for the a run in the WWF and then coming back. Bill Watts also said that when he cooperated with Vince Sr, Vince would reward him with Andre The Giant dates.
Austin Idol also copied Superstar Graham.
billy graham got over selling rest holds. thats a good worker in my book.
I remember this very well.
And then Hulk came with a slightly better version of his gimmick and went to the fucking stratosphere. That must not have helped Graham's psyche at all.
Secular Scot that was cornette's point is that if they turned Graham baby face, he would have been Hogan before Hogan.
@@ReflectionOfPerfectionjust like David Schultz was stone cold before stone cold
"Long story short...Too Late" Classic Jimmy Cornette :)
Eddie Graham pushed for Steve Keirn and Muchnick was behind Backlund. amazing the politics back in the day.
Skinner could have had a 5 year run with the belt?
Jim cornett knows more about wrestling than anyone .
He's probably forgotten more 5han most will ever even know. 🐐 Of wrestling knowledge 🤩
Vince Sr. DID kill superstar's career. Simple as that.
ROFLMAO
" ,but Vince Jr. "
"The Philadelphia newspaper". Actually there always had two.
As for the letter, when Graham came back in 1982, he sold out vs. Backlund in MSG, Boston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, but never Philadelphia.
I guess The Spectrum did not get such a hot feud was because the mentality was the letter hurt Graham's draw.
Gorilla wrote for the Philadelphia Journal, which went belly up around '82, as did the Bulletin around the same time.
Im not sure if Superstar ever had a Philly match with Backlund in '82. I know for sure it wasn't at the Spectrum, might have been in December at a smaller arena. Superstar had two matches with Pedro, which likely figured into it..
1) Bruno, Pedro and Gorilla all appeared for AJPW in its early years. When McMahon made the deal with NJPW in 1976, Bruno wouldn't play along because he hated Inoki and wanted nothing to do with him. Graham was loyal to IWE going back to their alliance with and Graham's tenure in the AWA. They needed not only someone who would tour as champion with NJPW, but also someone who wouldn't lose the belt in a shoot. 2) Dave Meltzer reported at one time that Graham disappeared from the business because he had cancer, I believe in 1984 or 1985.
Graham's work was good for the WWWF at that time..
BILLY GRAHAM TO THIS DAY IS THE ONLY WRESTLER TO SELL OUT THE SPECTRUM IN PHILLY AND THEY TURNED AWAY 12,000 PEOPLE WHICH CAUSED A NEAR RIOT.
thanks for the great storys
It’s so fascinating Jim Cornette is fascinating I love listening to him talk it never gets old. Well a little bit sometimes but not very much very little does it get old...he’s good he’s real good.
Steve Kiern was also in the running to be picked as a all American boy because of father being a POW but Vince Sr went for Backlund.
According to the common story, Keirn was never actually "in the running." Eddie Graham tried to convince McMahon that he should take him on, but McMahon was set on Backlund and they made a gentleman's bet over whether he could get over.
A WWE Legends with Billy Graham would have been great.
davidmreyes77 there is a DVD out. WWE released it years ago
Vince Jr wanted Graham to turn face and become Hulk Hogan before Hulk Hogan but his dad would not let him.
I watched old matches from him against bruno and mil mascaras from 1977 on the network he was a fuckin huge star he had the look the promos and truly was hulk hogan before hulk hogan and his matches were pretty decent lol don't know why jim shits on his matches anyway if you have the network look it up it's great footage
Graham was over huge, but he exaggerates his drawing power.
A big reason he sold out the Garden was because fans thought Bruno was getting the belt back when they wrestled.
Then the fans thought Dusty might get the belt.
Then they thought the rule was changed to allow masked wrestlers so that Mil Mascaras could be champ.
Point is, fans want to be present to see a title change and that helped sell tickets to see Graham.
Yeah, 19 out of 20 times.. against different opponents, including once with Ivan Koloff for the Tag Team Titles.. do your research.
Wasn't actually a year and a half more like 10 months but still a great listen.
Shut up Cook. You think Gorgeous George was a bigger draw than Lou Thesz 😂
Lol yo this is so true . I was at the spectrum when they asked us to stand up and have a moment of silence for superstar billy graham had died .. remember it like it was yesterday . Until this day rite now .i never ever understood why they said he died n here , it was n article in our daily paper ..lol..wow i gotta call mom and let her know bcuz we always debated if that moment of silence in the spectrum happened bcuz gary micheal capetta said superstar had died . Funny . N then he came back as karate gimmick and jim is so rite bcuz in philly we thought he was n imposter
And graham said in a shoot interview how stupid it was giving the belt to backlund he sounds upset to this day backlund is a great wrestler but boring as the champ maybe they should of turned billy graham baby face
Lol. If you actually zoom in on the picture of the Gorilla Monsoon angle and actually read the original story it will surely make you laugh. I'm not sure that Gorilla was the best person to be writing columns for papers. The grammar is absolutely atrocious and I thought when you were writing for a paper or whatever that you weren't supposed to reference yourself in the way he did. Like "I saw this" or "well I think that". Lol. Gorilla should have stayed away from the writing I feel.
Meltzer does that all the time.
this is only a few months after i moved to Phila suburbs and started watching wrestling. man time plays tricks on your brain. i remember the Phila Inquirer, Phila Daily News, and Phila Bulletin, not the Phila Journal this was published in. i also (mis)remember a sports columnist publishing Superstar Billy Graham's obituary and Gorilla Monsoon having to correct them. for the life of me i don't remember it like this yet there it is in black and white. 1981 is old school but not the dark ages. i can't believe they could not confirm someone's death before publishing it. didn't the same thing happen with Abe Vigoda and People Magazine about the same time? when you watch clips of tie dye long blond hair muscular 1970's Billy Graham in WWWF it is clear he loved what he was doing. bald headed flabby karate gimmick early 1980's Billy Graham was going through the motions for a payday
Nobody called him?
I thought billy was a dam good wrestler.
I heard Eddie Graham suggested Steve Keirn over Backlund, but Vince Sr preferred Backlund
Now I see why he is so bitter towards Bob Backlund
Fake News before it was cool lol
One trick pony