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Post by DanTheMan on May 18, 2023 1:03:09 GMT
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Lawlermaniac
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Post by Baker on May 18, 2023 1:13:50 GMT
Haven't seen much of the Superstar. Really just his 87 run when I was a little kid first getting into wrestling. But his influence cannot be denied. No Superstar means no Hogan, Ventura, or latter day Scott Steiner. Even Ric Flair grew up idolizing the Superstar.
RIP Superstar Billy Graham
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Legend
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Post by Ness on May 18, 2023 1:15:45 GMT
All I see is taken off limit support. But I suppose that's inevitable. Never saw much of him, may have watched the docu portion of his DVD since WWE was just giving away that content for a while.
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Legend
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Undisputed 2020 Poster of the Year
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Post by c on May 18, 2023 1:33:53 GMT
Graham basically came 20 years too soon. He saw the future, but wrestling was not ready yet.
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Senior Member
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Post by Shootist on May 18, 2023 1:42:07 GMT
A true innovator, along with all the proto Hogan influence he was also the first long term heel champion for the WWWF. By the end of his title run he was getting more support and was on the verge of a babyface turn. If only they had a little more foresight....
WWWF also didn't miss a beat selling out the Garden after Bruno wound it down with Graham as champion, he feels very underrated as an all time great.
RIP
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Post by Kilgore on May 18, 2023 2:40:59 GMT
Kind of a contradiction. A man of his time, but also ahead of his time. Got to the top, but not as a high as he deserved. Watching the WWWF audience so clearly choose him over Backlund basically poisoned my perception of Backlund. It'd be like when the Mega Powers exploded if most of the audience rooted for Macho. Unfathomable for an Ace to be that outshined by a heel foe (until the Cena years). Kind of precursor to Stone Cold's initial anti-hero run, getting over as a heel, by doing heel things, simply on the strength of being too cool to root against.
A few weeks back, I saw a Superstar promo on Twitter where Vince asked him how he was preparing for a big match, and Superstar was like, "I'm going to take so much anabol!" And I was just rolling. Need more heels bragging about taking PEDs. What could be more heelish than that?
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Who do you think you are? I am!
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Post by Leper Messiah on May 18, 2023 15:59:31 GMT
I remember Billy mentioning in the documentary "350 Days" that he was able to get a liver transplant, which would give him about another 10 years of life, so I knew at some point he was going to pass on quickly (from the time of the documentary).
Billy was a bit a head of his time, and a real larger than life figure in wrestling (dare I say, someone whose wrestling persona might have influenced Hulk Hogan's).
One of the all time greats, and may he rest in peace.
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Rookie Member
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Post by spladle125 on May 18, 2023 17:14:01 GMT
A man named Eldridge Wayne Coleman living the life of someone else.
thx
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Legend
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Post by c on May 19, 2023 0:25:02 GMT
Kind of a contradiction. A man of his time, but also ahead of his time. Got to the top, but not as a high as he deserved. Watching the WWWF audience so clearly choose him over Backlund basically poisoned my perception of Backlund. It'd be like when the Mega Powers exploded if most of the audience rooted for Macho. Unfathomable for an Ace to be that outshined by a heel foe (until the Cena years). Kind of precursor to Stone Cold's initial anti-hero run, getting over as a heel, by doing heel things, simply on the strength of being too cool to root against. A few weeks back, I saw a Superstar promo on Twitter where Vince asked him how he was preparing for a big match, and Superstar was like, "I'm going to take so much anabol!" And I was just rolling. Need more heels bragging about taking PEDs. What could be more heelish than that? He was the foundation for everything that came after. If it was like he was the first guy to really get the TV era that was coming. And it was a problem as some of the stuff he was doing they were not ready for yet. Being that cool heel for instance. Saw the steroid thing too, that was fucking edgy as hell.
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God
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Post by Ed on May 22, 2023 23:41:37 GMT
c is right. I believe that SBG may have not been the perfect fit but he was the necessary bridge between Bruno & Bob. I think Vince SR. should have given Billy another year. 6 years of Bob as champ is crazy town!
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