Brian Damage
‘Superstar’ Billy Graham is arguably one of the most influential individuals in all of professional wrestling. His look, his promos and overall style were all imitated by both wrestlers and promoters. Graham changed the trajectory of pro wrestling and made it “cool” to be a heel in the business. Today on the blog, we celebrate the life and career of one of the all time greats and a true Superstar in Billy Graham.
“I’m the man of the hour, the man with the power, too sweet to be sour.“
As a youngster, Eldridge Wayne Coleman wore many hats…he played pro football in Canada, competed in the Golden Gloves of boxing, was a shot putter in school, competed in strong man competitions and most importantly, was a competitive bodybuilder. Coleman started out his journey into pro wrestling in Calgary, Alberta, Canada being trained by Stu Hart. Coleman had a vision to incorporate his passion for bodybuilding into professional wrestling. He made his pro debut in January of 1970 initially under his real name. It wasn’t until he started traveling and wrestling in the United States where he met wrestler Jerry Graham that Coleman’s career began to really take off. He formed a tag team with Jerry Graham and renamed himself Billy Graham (Jerry’s kayfabe younger brother). Coleman chose the name Billy Graham as a homage to the world famous minister of the same name due to his strong Christian faith and background.
Billy Graham would gain valuable experience by working all over the various territories of the NWA like Florida, California, the Carolinas, Texas, Hawaii and Japan. When he finally joined Verne Gagne’s AWA, he had become a refined wrestler and introduced the nickname of ‘The Superstar’ to the world of pro wrestling. Graham used his passion for weightlifting to be added to AWA shows where he would challenge various wrestlers to weightlifting and arm wrestling competitions. Vince McMahon Sr took notice of all the interesting things Graham was doing in the AWA and invited him to the then WWWF.
It was in the World Wide Wrestling Federation where the Superstar truly became a huge superstar. The bright lights of competing in the country’s biggest territory based in New York City was the perfect match up. Graham was nothing ever seen before with a chiseled and tanned physique, the long bleach blonde hair, the long side burns, the outrageous outfits and sunglasses and most importantly his talent for cutting salacious promos. It was Graham who popularized the term “brother” in pro wrestling. Graham credited his time working in the Christian ministry in the 1960’s where everyone was called a brother or sister as inspiration. His promo abilities also stemmed from his Christian faith where he would learn to speak in public conducting sermons to the faithful.
All of this…the body, the clothing, the electric charisma made Graham into perhaps professional wrestling’s first “Cool Heel.” Despite being categorized as a villain, fans cheered for the Superstar like no other bad guy before him. Graham is credited for selling out Madison Square Garden 19 out of 20 times he was the headliner. He was handpicked by Bruno Sammartino to be WWWF world champion ending Sammartino’s 2nd reign and even though Graham knew it was only transitional from the start…his ever growing popularity with fans made Graham fight to be turned into a babyface and remain world champion. Vince Sr being an old school promoter, already had a handshake agreement to make Bob Backlund the new champion and refused Graham’s offer. After almost 10 months as world champion, Graham lost the belt to Backlund much to his chagrin.
Graham would ultimately leave the WWWF and for a spell leave pro wrestling as a whole. Graham became addicted to hard drugs and would lose his home, his wife to divorce and his passion for wrestling. In 1981, Gorilla Monsoon, who had a newspaper column in a Philadelphia based newspaper erroneously reported that Billy Graham died from cancer. Graham in a deep depression, thought the report was somewhat accurate because he felt somewhat dead inside, but called the newspaper to say he was not dead. Despite that, Monsoon refused to issue a retraction on the report.
Billy Graham would be invited back to the WWF in 1982, by Vince Jr who was growing in power behind the scenes. The younger McMahon envisioned Graham to return with all of his old gimmicks in tow, however, that is not what Graham came back as. Instead, Graham used a karate gimmick and no longer looked the part of the superstar. Graham admitted that he knew he wouldn’t get back the world title from Backlund, so he purposely came up with a very drab, boring gimmick. The highlight of Graham’s WWF return was him destroying Backlund’s world title.
Graham would bounce around from the AWA to the NWA for a few more years with varying results. In 1986, Graham would once again return to the WWF as a wrestler and with him his old Superstar look as a babyface feuding with Butch Reed. By this time, however, Graham’s body began to deteriorate from years of drug and steroid abuse. He would transition from wrestler to manager where he led a babyface Don Muraco and then also dabbled as a color commentator for a bit.
After leaving the WWF in 1989, Graham became a loud voice against the McMahon family on the issues of steroids and sexual misconduct. It became a love/hate relationship for several years. In between all of that, was Graham’s health issues. He battled hepatitis C, cirrhosis of the liver, pneumonia, heart failure and infections in his hip and skull, surviving through all of it.
The fact of the matter is that while there was many good and bad points in Graham’s life, no question of his influence in the wrestling business. He is credited by many legends as being an inspiration to their careers such as Ric Flair, Triple H and Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura. There would be no Hulk Hogan as we all know him if not for the Superstar’s influence. No Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner, no use of the term “Superstars” when referring to WWE wrestlers. Graham’s look, his demeanor changed the way fans viewed professional wrestling.
Fun fact: ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes was godfather to Billy Graham’s only son and Arnold Schwarzenegger is godfather to Graham’s granddaughter.
‘Superstar’ Billy Graham, a true wrestling icon, was 79 years old.
“I am the sensation of the nation. The number-one creation.”
