Billy Graham (Wrestler)

Old Wayne Coleman
Data
Ring name	"Superstar" Billy Graham
height	191 cm
Fighting weight	118 kg - 126 kg
birth	Phoenix , Arizona September 10, 1943
Announced from	Paradise Valley; Arizona
Trained by	Stu Hart
debut	1969

Eldridge Wayne Coleman (born September 10, 1943 in Phoenix , Arizona ), better known by his ring name "Superstar" Billy Graham , is a former American wrestler . Coleman is a former WWWF World Heavyweight Champion and now a member of the WWE Hall of Fame . During his active time, he significantly influenced the further development of wrestling into sports entertainment.

Career

Beginnings

Coleman grew up in Arizona and was a very good athlete in high school. He even trained for participation in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico in the disciplines of discus and shot put . Due to problems at school, however, he did not qualify.

After high school, Coleman had no career prospects. He moved to Los Angeles , where he played American football , powerlifting, and bodybuilding with average success . Financially, he kept himself afloat with odd jobs, such as being a "bouncer" in clubs. In 1969 he met Bob Lueck, a wrestler and former player on the Calgary Stampeders football team , who suggested that he try his hand at wrestling. Coleman went to Calgary , where he was trained as a wrestler by Stu Hart . Because of his impressive physique, Coleman was initially given a wrestler's gimmick that offered $ 1,000 to the viewer who beat him in an arm wrestling .

Superstar Billy Graham

In 1970 he met the established wrestler Jerry Graham , who offered him to compete as part of a stable , the Graham Family . Coleman agreed and named himself from now on after the famous evangelist Billy Graham . Furthermore, Eddie Graham and Luke Graham belonged to this group. In July 1971 he finally received the NWA World Tag Team title along with Pat Patterson . In 1972 he added the prefix Superstar to his ring name, after the musical Jesus Christ Superstar and to prevent confusion with the evangelist. Coleman was a completely new figure in wrestling: He wore brightly colored ring outfits with feather boa, sunglasses, various hats, etc. and had an extremely muscular physique (built up from steroids). He was also a specialist in promo interviews, in which he often emulated his role model Muhammad Ali and spoke in rhymes.

His best-known recurring phrase was: "I'm the man of the hour, the man with the power, too sweet to be sour." There hadn't been anything like that in wrestling until now. This style and appearance of Coleman would influence many followers, such as B. Jesse Ventura , Scott Steiner and especially Hulk Hogan .

Also in 1972 the AWA noticed him and hired Coleman. There he feuded with Baron von Raschke , Horst Hoffman and Ric Drasin . Incidentally, the latter was Arnold Schwarzenegger's training partner , as was Coleman at times. The owner of the AWA, Verne Gagne , was very much oriented towards traditional wrestling from a technical point of view, which Coleman did not necessarily like. So he didn't feel comfortable there. In 1975 the opportunity finally came to change.

World Wide Wrestling Federation / National Wrestling Alliance (1975–1982)

Vince McMahon Sr. hired Coleman to find a replacement for Bruno Sammartino . Coleman and Sammartino fought several sold-out bouts against each other, and on April 30, 1977 Coleman's big hour came. He was allowed to take the title from Sammartino (with the unauthorized help of the ring ropes) and was WWWF World Heavyweight Champion for the first time . Heels usually never held a title for long and only acted as short transition champions, but Coleman held the title for 296 days, making him the longest heel champion in wrestling history. But heel was the wrong term to describe his status, as fans were intrigued by his ring presence. Therefore Coleman is considered the first tweener .

Between 1977 and 1982 Coleman also competed for the NWA , where he had a title fight against the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race and won a draw. On February 20, 1978 Coleman finally lost his WWWF World Heavyweight title to the new workhorse of the WWWF, Bob Backlund . Coleman took a break from wrestling following a feud with Dusty Rhodes . In 1980 he took part in a strongman competition , but was only seventh due to an injury.

World Wrestling Federation (1982-1983)

Coleman came back with a new martial arts gimmick. He shaved a bald head, grew a mustache and only wore black. He feuded with Bob Backlund , but never received the title. The Graham name still attracted viewers, but the new gimmick didn't work properly. In addition, there were health problems due to years of steroid abuse.

Florida / National Wrestling Alliance (1983–1986)

After Coleman briefly ran for Kevin Sullivan in Florida and was a member of his Army of Darkness , he discarded the martial arts gimmick and returned to the original superstar gimmick. Here again parallels to the later Hollywood Hulk Hogan can be seen, even Coleman's beard (blond walrus beard in front of a black chin beard) was to be found again at Hogan. He moved to Jim Crockett Promotions , a territory of the NWA, where Dusty Rhodes worked as a booker . There he feuded with Jimmy Valiant, he also spent some time in the AWA, where he competed against Wahoo McDaniel and Ken Patera .

World Wrestling Federation (1986–1988)

In 1986 Coleman came to WWF one last time, this time as Face . After a while, however, he was diagnosed with needing an artificial hip due to his steroid abuse and underwent the procedure. The operation was televised and his rehab was shown as a promotion for his return.

In 1987 he returned and began a feud with Butch Reed . But Coleman's hips and ankles were no longer suitable for the loads. His last match was a cage match against Butch Reed. Then One Man Gang Coleman was retired storyline-wise with a big splash . Don Muraco came to Coleman’s aid and took the former superstar as the new manager. Coleman was originally intended to compete in the first Survivor Series , but has now been replaced by Muraco. From then on he worked as a commentator and occasionally as a manager of Muraco. In 1990 he had to stop completely for health reasons.

2004 Coleman was of Triple H into the WWE Hall of Fame added.

After his active time

health

Since his retirement, Coleman has had more health problems, primarily resulting from his steroid abuse. In 1990 he had ankle problems again, a second operation on the same leg in 1991, a liver transplant in 2002 and an intestinal obstruction in 2006. In total, Graham has lost 10 centimeters in height due to spondylarthrosis and now six hip operations and has to spend most of the time sitting.

Steroids

In 1990, Graham began an education campaign about the dangers of anabolic steroids. In 1992 he publicly accused the WWF of knowing the risks, but continued to allow wrestlers to take them, even more so, of selling them to them. He also attacked Hulk Hogan because he had denied the use of steroids. Hogan later admitted steroid use. This created a deep crack in the formerly friendly connection that could only be repaired after more than ten years.

Private

Coleman is married to Valerie for the second time and has two children from his first marriage. He now works as a preacher and in 2005 he hosted Eddie Guerrero's funeral .

He brought out an autobiography in 2006 called Tangled Ropes . In the same year WWE produced a DVD showing a retrospective of his career entitled 20 Years Too Soon: The Superstar Billy Graham Story .

Title history

• 1 × CWA World Heavyweight Champion
• 2 × Florida Heavyweight Title
• 1 × Florida Tag Team Title
• 1 × IWA World Heavyweight Champion
• 1 × NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Title
• 1 × NWA Southern Heavyweight Title (Florida version)
• 3 × NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Title
• 2 × NWA World Tag Team Titles (San Francisco version)
• 1 × WWWF Title (WWE Championship)

Web links

• WWE Hall of Fame Profile