10 Things You Didn't Know About Superstar Billy Graham
9. His Wrestling Mentors Included Stu Hart, Dr. Jerry Graham, Abdullah The Butcher And Pat Patterson...
Wayne Coleman chose his ring name in honour of the American evangelist Billy Graham, who had served as a spiritual adviser to Presidents Eisenhower, Johnson and Nixon. The original Billy Graham was also a supporter of Martin Luther King, Jr, whom he once bailed out of prison after the latter was arrested for demonstrating. Keeping to the religious theme, Coleman appropriated the Superstar prefix from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. The Graham surname, on the other hand, originally came from Dr. Jerry Graham, the founding member of the fictional Graham wrestling family. Various incarnations of The Golden Grahams were major tag team draws at certain points in wrestling history. Long before the Dudleys, The Graham clan included a strange cavalcade of characters such as Crazy Luke Graham and Eddie Graham, who would be remembered best for his time as a promoter in Florida and for serving as NWA President in the 1970s... Dr. Jerry Graham was prodigiously talented and a genuine draw in the 50s and 60s. However, he suffered from debilitating mental illness (he was a shell shocked WW2 veteran), as well as uncontrollable alcoholism. By the early 70s, The Good Doctors bad reputation had preceded him and promoters were no longer willing to hire him. In the meantime, Wayne Coleman had travelled up to Canada, where he would be trained for the ring by the famous promoter, wrestler and shooter Stu Hart. Hart gave Coleman the basics, but his real mentor in Canada was Abdullah The Butcher, the famous bloodletting madman, who taught him all about the inner workings of the wrestling business. Hoping for one last chance at stardom, Dr. Jerry Graham joined forces with the charismatic rookie. The pair toured Indian reservations in Arizona, putting on small-scale shows for very little (if any) financial gain. Eventually, they went to work for promoter Mike LeBell in L.A. It was here that the young Graham had the chance to wrestle (and learn from) established stars like Rocky Johnson (father of The Rock) and Classy Freddie Blassie. After he and The Good Doctor had parted ways (Billy was forced to distance himself from Jerrys antics in order to keep his job), Billy Graham was fortunate to learn from legends such as The Blonde Bomber Ray Stevens, High Chief Peter Maivia (Grandfather of The Rock) and Pat Patterson whilst working for Roy Shire in San Francisco. Patterson was probably the biggest influence on Grahams career, he taught Graham what to do in the ring, when to do it and most importantly, why to do it. If you watch video footage of Graham selling, you can see Pattersons influence all over it. It was under Pattersons watchful tutelage that Billy Graham blossomed into a masterful heat magnet. Hed got his rap from the evangelists; his start from The Good Doctor and now his rough edges were being smoothed over by one of the sharpest minds in the history of the business. Now, The Superstar was ready for immortality...
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