Billy Buries Bob
#PWHS #StorytimeOnSunday #SOS #Article #WGD #BillyBuriesBob
"Superstar" Billy Graham buries Bob Backlund's Run as WW(W)F Champion and reveals how he and Bruno Sammartino conspired against him:
"When I had to pass the torch onto Backlund, it was very difficult to accept.
The fans didn’t accept Backlund…Vince Sr. had to push him down the fan’s throats.
He was committed to Backlund. He has told other promoters he was going to [make him a success and he didn't want to lose face.
I told him, I said, ‘Sir, don’t you understand for the first time ever there are people wearing Superstar t-shirts out there? I’m a heel, and there are big Superstar Billy Graham posters for the first time ever!’
Vince McMahon, Sr. was afraid that I was too big to be a babyface.
I just tried to convince him that of course I could sell, I could sell, I could sell. And that I could talk, and I could entertain the folks.
But he was committed to the old school tradition.
So, Backlund was basically force fed to the folks for almost five years.
They immediately starting calling Backlund ‘boring.’
They’d get on him about his haircut, and about his freckles and stuff like that.
The transition from a flamboyant person like myself, that persona, to a very quiet-type mid-western kid was astounding! It was like people were shocked that this thing actually happened, you know?
He was the nicest guy in the world...but there was something about his personality. He was absolutely paranoid because he was a loner. I think it was the fact that most of the boys felt that he was not really deserving of getting that title, especially when guys were raised on Bruno Sammartino.
"When I had to pass the torch onto Backlund, it was very difficult to accept.
The fans didn’t accept Backlund…Vince Sr. had to push him down the fan’s throats.
He was committed to Backlund. He has told other promoters he was going to [make him a success and he didn't want to lose face.
I told him, I said, ‘Sir, don’t you understand for the first time ever there are people wearing Superstar t-shirts out there? I’m a heel, and there are big Superstar Billy Graham posters for the first time ever!’
Vince McMahon, Sr. was afraid that I was too big to be a babyface.
I just tried to convince him that of course I could sell, I could sell, I could sell. And that I could talk, and I could entertain the folks.
But he was committed to the old school tradition.
So, Backlund was basically force fed to the folks for almost five years.
They immediately starting calling Backlund ‘boring.’
They’d get on him about his haircut, and about his freckles and stuff like that.
The transition from a flamboyant person like myself, that persona, to a very quiet-type mid-western kid was astounding! It was like people were shocked that this thing actually happened, you know?
He was the nicest guy in the world...but there was something about his personality. He was absolutely paranoid because he was a loner. I think it was the fact that most of the boys felt that he was not really deserving of getting that title, especially when guys were raised on Bruno Sammartino.
Many, many matches Bruno [Sammartino] and I had were on the same cards in a supportive role of Backlund and his defense of his belt at that time and it was obvious that Bruno was the one that really drew the house. He would be the man you go to when you need a guaranteed draw.
It was a ploy of Vince Sr. to really load the cards up when Backlund took over to make sure there were people in that building.
On a return match with Bob Backlund, at the [Madison Square] Garden, after I gave him the belt, he wore the belt and he had this long black boxing robe OVER the belt!
I came walking out with my tie-dye and all the stuff, and Vince McMahon Sr.’s standing there before we go into the ring, and he says, ‘Bobby - the BELT! You have to show the BELT! My God, it’s all about the BELT!’
Backlund’s answer to Vince Sr? ‘But...I like my robe.’
(laughs) It’s really a sad story, actually.
I think it was a problem with the kid’s mental stability, concerning that event. To actually hide the belt, underneath an ankle length boxing robe.
He was actually petrified, literally frozen with fear at someone - referee, wrestlers - double-crossing him and getting a fast count and getting that belt.
That was one thing that I think hurt Bobby in his acceptance on a peer level. They felt that he had not really paid his dues as far as years, and years, and years. He was relatively just an unknown.
Vince Sr. actually asked Dusty Rhodes and myself more than once how we can get this kid to get some sort of charisma. He was lacking in real charisma, you know? Dusty and I told him you just can’t manufacture real charisma and Vince, Sr. knew that. He had been around all of the guys, the legends, you know?
There was a lot of disappointment about Backlund taking the belt - as a matter of a fact, the cage match with Bruno and I in the Spectrum was [two days] before I gave that belt to Backlund in Madison Square Garden.
Bruno was totally unaware that I was going to drop the belt to Backlund.
He actually freaked out about it. He said, 'How could Vince make this mistake?'
It’s very amazing because Bruno told me to fake a knee injury in our cage match.
I would go into the match in Madison Square Garden with my knee wrapped and limping as I went into the ring, to devalue the title change...and I did."
It was a ploy of Vince Sr. to really load the cards up when Backlund took over to make sure there were people in that building.
On a return match with Bob Backlund, at the [Madison Square] Garden, after I gave him the belt, he wore the belt and he had this long black boxing robe OVER the belt!
I came walking out with my tie-dye and all the stuff, and Vince McMahon Sr.’s standing there before we go into the ring, and he says, ‘Bobby - the BELT! You have to show the BELT! My God, it’s all about the BELT!’
Backlund’s answer to Vince Sr? ‘But...I like my robe.’
(laughs) It’s really a sad story, actually.
I think it was a problem with the kid’s mental stability, concerning that event. To actually hide the belt, underneath an ankle length boxing robe.
He was actually petrified, literally frozen with fear at someone - referee, wrestlers - double-crossing him and getting a fast count and getting that belt.
That was one thing that I think hurt Bobby in his acceptance on a peer level. They felt that he had not really paid his dues as far as years, and years, and years. He was relatively just an unknown.
Vince Sr. actually asked Dusty Rhodes and myself more than once how we can get this kid to get some sort of charisma. He was lacking in real charisma, you know? Dusty and I told him you just can’t manufacture real charisma and Vince, Sr. knew that. He had been around all of the guys, the legends, you know?
There was a lot of disappointment about Backlund taking the belt - as a matter of a fact, the cage match with Bruno and I in the Spectrum was [two days] before I gave that belt to Backlund in Madison Square Garden.
Bruno was totally unaware that I was going to drop the belt to Backlund.
He actually freaked out about it. He said, 'How could Vince make this mistake?'
It’s very amazing because Bruno told me to fake a knee injury in our cage match.
I would go into the match in Madison Square Garden with my knee wrapped and limping as I went into the ring, to devalue the title change...and I did."
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
#StorytimeOnSunday - Billy Buries Bob.
Author: Matt Pender (of Wrestling's Glory Days).
Published: April 15, 2018.
Article: #189.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
#StorytimeOnSunday - Billy Buries Bob.
Author: Matt Pender (of Wrestling's Glory Days).
Published: April 15, 2018.
Article: #189.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Other articles by Matt Pender can be Read Here.