When speaking of the most influential figures to ever grace the squared circle, one must always give Billy Graham his due. The Superstar was a man before his time, revolutionizing the look of a pro wrestler and the art of the promo during his storied run in the 1970s. The former WWF Champion spawned a legion of clones, men like Scott Steiner, Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura, who all borrowed heavily from Grahams persona. When the steroid trial rocked the WWE in the early 1990s, Superstar was one of the most outspoken opponents of the company. He sued Vince McMahon and Titan Sports claiming that he was forced to take steroids to maintain his position, a case that was thrown out due to the fact that he had been taking steroids long before working for WWE. In 2003 Graham attributed the litigation to bitterness and accepted responsibility for his steroid abuse. During an infamous appearance on The Phil Donahue Show alongside Vince himself, he also alleged that he had seen children sexually abused by WWE employees, a claim he later recanted admitting it was an effort to extort money from the McMahons. Graham apologized each time he crossed the McMahon family and tried to make nice, only to do it yet again when Linda ran for public office in 2010, criticizing her for trying to distance herself from the racy content she profited from while acting as CEO for WWE. As his health conditions worsened, he reached out to again apologize to the McMahons, even offering to be a spokesman for Linda McMahon's campaign.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
