Superstar Billy Graham's wrestling topic

Say hello to the "Superstar"​

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I am the man of the hour, the one with the power, too sweet to be sour​

Bios:​


Billy Graham truly was a trail blazer in the sport of wrestling. From the look, the feathered boas, the tye-dye outfits, the mic skills, to the very persona, The Superstar is the very definition of the old cliche "often imitated, never duplicated".​

It is well documented that Graham's look was later copied by the likes of Jesse Ventura and Hulk Hogan. Graham's fast talking, slick approach to promos was used by Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair and countless others. Quite simply Superstar Billy Graham was the embodiment of what would become today's "sports entertainment".​

Superstar Billy Graham reached the very pinnacle of wrestling when he became the man to dethrone Bruno Sammartino, finally ending title reigns that had accounted for seven of the previous ten years. Graham would hold that tilte for just a shade under a year before dropping it to Mr. Bob Backlund.​

During his title reign and chase, Graham repeatedly sold out Madison Square Garden, in fact Graham has been known to boast selling out MSG at a higher ratio than any other wrestler ever, a staggering 19 of the 20 times he main evented.​

Sadly, all of his success came at a very heavy toll. In order to develop his Herculean physique, Graham had abused steroids. Claiming to have relied on the drugs for the better part of three decades; the steroids would eventually lead to Graham needing a liver transplant, two hip-replacement surgeries and both of his ankles to be fused causing the man to literally shrink from 6'4 to 6'0.​

The psychological effects of the drugs were prevolent in Graham too, causing him to turn against Vince McMahon at one point and testifying against McMahon in federal court.​

Today all has been forgiven though, Graham is now a member of the WWE Hall of Fame and exists as a reminder of the horrowing effects of steroid abuse .​
 
alot of older wrestlers are dealing with that. hell even if you didnt use roids the wear of the road and the schedules of that time messed up alot of people. personally i dont think it matters of people use them its your body and your choice and in many sports its not like people dont know or cant tell if someone is using them. but if you do use them then you have to be responsible for the effects of them and how you act when youre on them.

i think the biiger problem in wrestling is that wrestlers need to be taken care of by the company that uses them. theres nothing worse than seeing wrestlers die young or living beyond the ring and ending up with wrecked bodies they can barely use. not to mention when people get hurt in the ring theyre let go.

vince should be forced to set aside health care for wrestlers at his own expense as well as retirement funds. your time in wrestling becomes shorter and shorter due to the lack of time off as a wrestler and the extremes they go to in the ring. for peopel who give their bodies to make him rich and many of those who dont make the high 6 figure salaries the top tier wrestlers do he should be forced to do the right hing and make sure theyre taken care of when wrestlign ends.

that way alot of these older guys dont need to keep coming back when their bodies cant keep up. they also need to rotate lineups so that way peopel can get time off or actually have a few months in the year set for time off for everyone. that would help wrestlers healthwise and give the company time to come up with better ideas.
 
Lokizz,

I find it funny that you sort of take separate sides on the issues.

First, you are saying that you should be able to do whatever you want to your body. Next though, you are saying that Vince should pay for it (with retirement and health care).

On the roids, I completely disagree with you. With roids, you put clean athletes in a horrible predicament. You are better than the user, but since they are willing to take the chance with their future, you are either forced to or to lose your spot. This isn't right. It should be the best get in, and that would happen if no one used. Is it possible to get it 100% clean, probably not. But, I don't think that means you give up. If it only effected the one athlete, I would agree with you completely (if you want to use crack, I think you shoudl be able to), but when it puts others in a horrible spot, I think you have to outlaw it in the sport.

On the other side, it would be nice if Vince would offer health care/retirement plans for wrestlers. That being said, it would be nice if companies that hired contractors for 10+ years would take card of them too. Guess what, wrestlers are contract workers. This is really no different than Ford Motor Company, or 1,000's of other companies treat their contractors. They run them into the ground, then go get new ones. You know the deal when you sign on. It isn't a secret that the road schedule is brutal. No one is holding a gun to your head to do it, you can quit, go get a degree, and work in business. If you choose to do it, knowing the costs, you can't complain later.
 
[quote name='Sporadic']I still don't know anything about Dragon Gate (besides the fact they had a team in WSX) but I have my tickets and as long as most of the RoH people are there, I don't care.[/quote]

Your two shows will probably end up being the All Star Extravaganza IV and Supercard of Honor 3. Both shows usually end up rocking, especially with the influx of Dragon Gate talent.

The thing with RoH shows is that they usually start off slow and get better and better until the main event. It's not like RAW, where the big dogs (Vince, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, etc.) open the show. You'll usually get a fast, hot, spot based opener which lead into better and better matches.

Just so you know.

Also they usually bring in some kind of special guests during the shows as well. Last year they got Bruno Sammartino, Jim Cornette, Johnny Fairplay (among others) to come in during the Wrestlemania weekend.
 
Any idea why Wrestlemania V is edited during the Piper/Brother Love/Morton Downey segment? Brother Love is there one second and then he just disappears, instead of being de-kilted and sent packing by Piper. What's the story there?
 
[quote name='Zenithian Legend']I like you guys to have a sense of accomplishment when you find the new threads, kind of like playing Where is Carmen San Diego?[/QUOTE]

Honestly, I don't know why it is, but I can never find these new ones easily until there is at least five pages.
 
Looks like two developmental guys were suspended for "wellness violations" today. Derrick Neikirk and Neil SomethinPolish. Can't say I'm bothered by Neikirk; I thought he was a miserable wrestler 7 years ago, and when I saw him in OVW recently, he was still miserable. Neil Whatshisname is also known as Chet The Jett Jablonski (or Chet Douglas in Florida Champsionship, I think). That's disappointing, as I've seen him wrestling since his early days being in Les Thatcher's HWA as well. Nevertheless, it was painfully evident that he's been bulking up in mysterious ways for some time now.

In other news, looks like ROH is using real tickets now, and not hand printed/numbered pieces of paper. Yay for them. I forgot to mention at $10 a ticket, I couldn't pass up on going to the Dayton show in a few weeks.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']In other news, looks like ROH is using real tickets now, and not hand printed/numbered pieces of paper. Yay for them. I forgot to mention at $10 a ticket, I couldn't pass up on going to the Dayton show in a few weeks.[/quote]
They've been using that since I believe the November 2nd/3rd Glory By Honor shows. Perhaps even the October 6th Undeniable PPV. Either way, I'm sad to say that Hero has been confirmed for the main event. If you check out the Glory by Honor Night 1 show, you can see the first Nigel/Hero defense that lead to this match.

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3942817/RoH_Glory_By_Honor_6_Night_One_
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']I'm surprised Graham is still alive considering the steroid abuse.[/quote]

Jake and Billy are immortal. Not 100% sure about Aurelian and Wayne though...
 
The Dragon Gate guys are awesome. A few of them regularly work PWG shows (namely CIMA, Shingo, Susumu Yokosuka, Masato Yoshino, and Dragon Kid) and always put on a great match. CIMA's incredibly talented - hard to compare him to an American talent, but he's smoooooth in the ring. Yoshino's "Lightning Spiral" is something to see as well.
 
has anybody here seen any of the shows booker t is putting on with his new wrestling association? i think its called pwa or upwa or something. hes running it through his wrestling school.
 
[quote name='Zenithian Legend']Furthering my Vince believes black = extreme theory:



:roll:[/QUOTE]

I had a dream the other day that I was interviewing McMahon, Tim Russert-style, about racism in pro wrestling.

You can't forget, this was the guy who, less than 4 years ago, put together and showed video packages that had Kenzo Suzuki coming in as a reincarnation of a World War II-era Nippon general. :shock: Wasn't he even named "Hirohito"?
 
[quote name='Zen Davis']They've been using that since I believe the November 2nd/3rd Glory By Honor shows. Perhaps even the October 6th Undeniable PPV. Either way, I'm sad to say that Hero has been confirmed for the main event. If you check out the Glory by Honor Night 1 show, you can see the first Nigel/Hero defense that lead to this match.

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3942817/RoH_Glory_By_Honor_6_Night_One_[/QUOTE]


They had "real" tickets back in August for the Death Before Dishonor shows.
 
ROH signs deal with Smashing Pumpkins...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmp1HaBcRws[/media]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]January 17th: ATTENTION DAYTON!!! There will be a mini-convention ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Or as Myke might like to call it - "Time to leave!") [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]when the Steel Cage is being set up for the Nigel McGuinness vs. Chris Hero bout on January 25th. Several top ROH wrestlers will be available for autographs including Jay & Mark Briscoe. Also, a ROH star will be available to be interviewed by the fans. Save 33% on tickets until tomorrow morning and see this big card including a first time ever meeting pitting Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black.

[/FONT]
 
- According to sources WWE Developmental wrestlers Katie Lea and Paul Burchill's gimmicks will be repackaged as a brother and sister duo who have sexual tension between them, similar to the movie Cruel Intentions.

GROAN.
 
I look at people like Paul Burchill and just have to wonder how often he sits in a hotel room in some random city going 'is this really worth it?'.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']GROAN.[/quote]


didnt vince just split the majors because he thought a fake siblings idea wouldnt work anymore... so, good to know a stand up guy like vince mcmahon would never go back on his word...:wall:
 
[quote name='Zen Davis']The main thing, regardless of how retarded it is, with this gimmick is that it can lead to absolutely nowhere.[/quote]

You won't say that when he gets her pregnant and she gives birth to a foot.;)
 
[quote name='007']I look at people like Paul Burchill and just have to wonder how often he sits in a hotel room in some random city going 'is this really worth it?'.[/QUOTE]

No doubt. That, or "boy, I didn't know how good I had it in that pirate getup."

The thing is, he's a very capable wrestler with good size and two phenomenal finishers (the C4 and Curb Job) that I don't believe any current prominent wrestler uses. He has all the tools to get over and become a major player, but creative saddles him with gimmicks that makes Raven and Terry Taylor stand back and say "damn, dude...that's cold."

Speaking of Raven, the only way I could see this gimmick working is if it lasts for 1-2 months, and Birchall turns into an apathetic, despondent, spiteful character - just like Raven. The personality contrast from Scotty "The Body" Flamingo and Johnny Polo to Raven was so stark, so hateful, so *understandable*, and so genuine that it was fucking perfect.

Of course, didn't we all say that would have been the perfect conclusion to the "Eugene" gimmick, too? I'm not holding my breath on this one. My time line ahead:

1) In two months the gimmick will debut with great fanfare. Video clips, sketches, and other vignettes will try to get the crowd into the "couple."

2) 4 weeks from that, they'll be jobbing to Deuce and Domino.

3) By August, Burchall will be released or working as a trainer in Louisville or Florida (or just released), while Katie Lea will just be "Katie Lea: another set of tits on Raw/SD/ECW."

EDIT: Quite the brilliant point cdubb. I was completely convinced that the Majors were brothers, so I never bought into that justification. Lea and Burchall, OTOH, are thrust into this sibling gimmick b/c "oh, they're british, so they must be related. Maybe we can make Dave Taylor the father, and William Regal the mother too."

EDIT2: There was a real world case of a British couple (twins separated at birth and adopted by different couples) that married each other, *then* discovered they were twins and siblings. I suspect the WWE decided this would make an awesome storyline. I suspect they are, as usual, dead fucking wrong. They have three great feuds going on right now (Orton/Hardy, Regal/HHH, and Flair/whoever - but the angle's set up so all his matches are important, even if we *know* he won't lose until a PPV, or retire after winning at WM, never having lost).

What do they all have in common? They're centered around wrestling, and involve people who are wrestlers. No plumbers, no greasers, no cavemen, no martians from outer space, no sonic the hedgehog, not even a dragon dragon. WRESTLING WORKS. fuck almighty.
 
[quote name='benjamouth']You won't say that when he gets her pregnant and she gives birth to a foot.;)[/quote]

Either that or Snitzky kicks her in the stomach and claims it wasn't...his...fault.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']GROAN.[/QUOTE]
That's probably the best post I've read in a long time. Sums it up in one word. And that's what sane people think about these shitty gimmicks.

[quote name='Purple Flames']Either that or Snitzky kicks her in the stomach and claims it wasn't...his...fault.[/QUOTE]
InspirationSnitsky.jpg
 
Wow. I...just don't know what to say to that.

Didn't Burchill's "pirate" gimmick get somewhat over for about like what, 2 months?
 
[quote name='Mr. Beef']Didn't Burchill's "pirate" gimmick get somewhat over for about like what, 2 months?[/QUOTE]

Not really. It didn't have a leg to stand on from the beginning.

That picture of Snitsky is awesome, because the crowd is just oozing the essence of how much Snitsky matters.
 
This will seem quite random, but this Bobby Lashley YTMND site gave me a great idea - http://lashleycomeback.ytmnd.com/

When Lashley starts wrestling again, they should start writing INTENTIONALLY bad comebacks into his promos. Keep him as a face, but do the whole lame comeback thing as a running gag. Have some big feuds where a heel talks trash in the ring to all the faces... then Lashley grabs a mic, and the other faces are all like "No Bobby, don't!!!!" Then he says something lame, and the other faces all groan and go "BOBBYYYYY...."

Maaaaan, I would crack up.
 
You know bloody well WWE loves to use humiliation as a foil for getting good guys over (Eugene, Planet Stasiak, Meat, Red Rooster, god knows what other examples come to mind when I dedicate more than 4 seconds to thinking of it) - but they don't do it to upper card guys. Expect Lashley to be a monster upon coming back, like always.

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

The sad thing is, while I would immediately say "it wouldn't work in getting Lashley over," I would have said the same thing about Santino Marella by judging his early heel promos. Boy would I be wrong about that (and where's he been? It's like they're intentionally holding him back.)
 
[quote name='BustaUppa']This will seem quite random, but this Bobby Lashley YTMND site gave me a great idea - http://lashleycomeback.ytmnd.com/

When Lashley starts wrestling again, they should start writing INTENTIONALLY bad comebacks into his promos. Keep him as a face, but do the whole lame comeback thing as a running gag. Have some big feuds where a heel talks trash in the ring to all the faces... then Lashley grabs a mic, and the other faces are all like "No Bobby, don't!!!!" Then he says something lame, and the other faces all groan and go "BOBBYYYYY...."

Maaaaan, I would crack up.[/QUOTE]

Hahahaha, fuck. I was laughing just when the picture was up there before the sound came in. If anyone needs a manager to do all of their promos it is this man.
 
Well, this sucks. That Bash At The Ballpark thing never actually booked Rowdy Roddy Piper so he isn't showing up.

I called the box office and they apologized. They said Rowdy was very nice about the whole thing and he gave them a list of names of "WWE Legends" who maybe available so there should be a replacement but....the whole reason I wanted to go was to see him :cry:

[quote name='mykevermin']GROAN.[/QUOTE]

Even though I hate it, at least (hopefully) Paul Burchill will be getting a push ala Sheldon's mama angle.
 
[quote name='BustaUppa']This will seem quite random, but this Bobby Lashley YTMND site gave me a great idea - http://lashleycomeback.ytmnd.com/

When Lashley starts wrestling again, they should start writing INTENTIONALLY bad comebacks into his promos. Keep him as a face, but do the whole lame comeback thing as a running gag. Have some big feuds where a heel talks trash in the ring to all the faces... then Lashley grabs a mic, and the other faces are all like "No Bobby, don't!!!!" Then he says something lame, and the other faces all groan and go "BOBBYYYYY...."

Maaaaan, I would crack up.[/quote]
Book it Vince!

Mr. Puder in RoH -
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And the new Inter-gender tag belts!

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The spot that saw Jay Briscoe taken out -

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TNA Today! (It's boring!)

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqkFSHAF5dQ&eurl=http://tnawrestling.com/[/media]
 
[quote name='PhrostByte']So Global Impact is tonight.. cool..[/quote]

I think I read that only the Angle match will be shown, along with trip highlights or some shit.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Will you spoiler tag those pics? The last few times you put up a buncha pictures, it was a pain in the ass to read the page.[/quote]

Done and done.
 
Danke.

I can't find a reliable source, but WWE is looking into putting their PPVs on Blu-Ray and DVD starting, obviously, with Royal Rumble.
 
Heh, another Lashley line that stuck out in my head:

"That wasn't an act of bravery... it was an act of COWARDICE!"

No audio handy, but just imagine it in that distinctive Lathley lisp.
 
bread's done
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