9. Gorgeous George - The Television Era
Of course, professional wrestling is about more than just technical prowess. And while Lou Thesz was making a name for himself by creating moves, George Raymond Wagner, better known as Gorgeous George, was creating something rather different. Acknowledging his slight frame, George recognised that he needed something new to help him get over. That something was a gimmick. An outrageous, over-the-top, glamour boy gimmick. With his bleach blonde hair and glamourous robe, George would approach the ring flanked by his valet, under a spotlight and to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance. Such pretentious flamboyance had never been seen before in the pro wrestling world. And with the advent of television, that pro wrestling world was larger than ever. George was now able to project his revolutionary persona into the living rooms of millions, and as former NWA President Bob Geigel once said, Television made Gorgeous, but then again Gorgeous made television. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPser68hiT0 His fame spread so wide that the likes of Muhammed Ali and James Brown have cited him as an influence on their own self-aggrandisement. Without Gorgeous George, would there ever have been a Ric Flair, Superstar Billy Graham, or Shawn Michaels? Or any show-stealing superstar for that matter? Perhaps not, and thus like Thesz, George helped define his own generation as well as a number to come.