10 Things You Didn't Know About Superstar Billy Graham
6. He Was Never Really The Arm Wrestling Champion Of The World...
For years, Superstar Graham traded off of a supposed Arm Wrestling Champion of The World title, challenging members of the audience, as well as other wrestlers, to arm wrestling contests. The gimmick drew very well, but it was just that, a gimmick. Eventually, Graham found himself hounded by genuine arm wrestlers looking to challenge his title and they followed him everywhere. Today, that would be ridiculous, but in the kayfabe era, it was de rigueur for heels to be hounded by angry fans that believed that everything they saw on television (or in the arenas) was actually happening for real. The truth is that Billy Graham was a lot stronger than most men and could probably beat the average mark in an arm wrestling contest. He had been arm wrestling for years whilst working as a bouncer in Arizona. In fact, he was so good that he managed to make a reasonable sideline from it. However, in order to keep his mystique and to absolutely guarantee a win, the referee would surreptitiously give Graham a head start. This occasionally led to legitimate fights breaking out between The Superstar and the disgruntled audience member who just got cheated in front of all his friends, as well as a paying crowd. In what will probably be Grahams last public arm wrestling match, he was cheated by his friend Hannibal in a restaurant. The pair HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVu7HqT0_fA" worked the entire establishment into such a frenzy (presumably just for fun), that the police even showed up to investigate. Graham and his wife Valerie ended up being legitimately barred from the premises! The video of this incident was posted on YouTube (by Hannibal himself) last year. Modern era fans can now catch a glimpse of the intense heat gained from this classic angle, which obviously still gets people riled up today - as a quick scan of the comments under the video will attest.
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