WWE Hall Of Famer To Undergo "Partial Amputation"

The former World Champion took to social media to reveal the news.

by Andrew Pollard
Superstar Billy Graham champion
WWE

'Superstar' Billy Graham has taken to his Facebook page to reveal he's soon to have "partial amputation" surgery.

As the former WWWF World Heavyweight Champion explained, this procedure is due to having infections in a "few" of his toes.

"I have some infections in a few toes and my Mayo Clinic surgeon must do some partial amputations. This is going to take some time to recover from so I will be offline for a while. If you good folks out there have any photos or thoughts you would like to put up in the meantime my FB is open for business. I just won't be responding for the next 2 or 3 weeks, I have to heal up in between surgeries and it takes full concentration. Catch up with you all a little further down the line."

This is the latest in a long list of medical issues for Superstar, with December 2020 seeing Graham hospitalised due to an infection in one of his big toes.

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Prior to that, the WWE Hall of Famer received a liver transplant back in 2002 after being diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. A subsequent surgery caused the powerhouse to have a hospital stay in 2006 due to an obstruction in his bowel. Further liver issues followed in the 2010s, with Graham diagnosed with third-stage liver disease and at one point being told that he only had a short amount of time to live. So serious were things, Billy even made his own burial plans at this time.

One of the most influential wrestlers in the history of the business, Superstar was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. While the ever-controversial star's relationship with Vince McMahon's sports entertainment juggernaut has often been strained over the decades, he was signed to a WWE Legends contract in 2015.

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As for Graham's 296-day run as the WWWF Champion, he won that prize in April 1977 after bringing an end to Bruno Sammartino's second run as the World Champ. The Arizona native would then lose that title to Bob Backlund in February '78.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.