10 WWE Wrestlers Vince McMahon Loved At First Sight

2. Dr Jerry Graham

Vince McMahon Johnny B Badd
WWE.com

Dr. Jerry Graham was a gripping grappling heel that was able to turn Madison Square Garden into a primitive moshpit with his bad guy schtick (a riot he once started resulted in the venue initiating an age-of-entrance policy for two decades), and was, thanks to his propensity for living the gimmick, a young Vince McMahon's absolute favourite wrestler to watch.

A legendary character throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Graham was the man McMahon imitated the most, but ironically also the performer that inadvertently drove The Chairman into promotion of pro wrestling instead.

Desperate to mimic his hero, Vince Sr banned his son from becoming a wrestler in his image. With a thirst for the industry at large, the Junior took on other roles instead until he ended up taking over the entire company in 1982.

Graham died in 1997 and was posthumously inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2017 with a WWE Network finally set up to present some of his wildest moments in best possible quality.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett