"Superstar" Billy Graham
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Born in Phoenix, Arizona on June 7, 1943, as Eldridge Wayne Coleman came into the world with quite a story, a story that he still continues to carve out. He remembers:
"I was a breech baby, coming out of my mother feet first. As I was being delivered, my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck. I was wiggling around a lot, and the doctor was scared that I'd strangle myself. So he drenched me in ether. Then he sent me home, still doused in the flammable liquid. Everybody smoked in my family - my mother, my dad, my uncles - and it's incredible that the house didn't blow up."
He was a big child growing up, in elementary school Wayne played American football with high school kids as his main sport. He was an all round athlete though playing softball, he took part in track and field, and baseball too. It was also in elementary school he found his love for painting and drawing..
That wasn't the only thing he formed a love for though, Wayne stole 150 supplement pills in school and ate them all in one go for fear of getting caught by his gym teacher. As a fifth grader his brother introduced a young Coleman to the life of a bodybuilder. When his brother had to leave to go into the Marines, Graham designed and created his own weights at home using various home made items like coffee tins, then filling them with concrete.
During one of the summers as a young teenager whilst on his way home from a Pony League baseball game, Wayne stumbled across a local mans gym in his yard. The man was kind enough to allow Coleman to use his gym for free, and Wayne would start find his love for women when the gentleman's wife would invite him into a summer of forbidden passion.
By the time Wayne became a Freshman he was excelling in the decathlon, but he started to get into bodybuilding more, taking serious care of his appearance. The tanning begun, the posed photographs in the style of his favorite lifters. Wayne bleached is hair to complete the look. He and his friends would drive around looking for fights with his group of friends, recalls he had a lot of anger from being beaten as a child by his father and this was his way to unleash it. The street fighting took him into the Phoenix Golden Gloves tournament, Coleman would make it all the way to the finals, only to lose to a friend of his families, and then finally dropped out of school.
By 1961 Wayne had trained enough and maintained his exercise routine that he became Mr. Teenage America West Coast. Soon after it would be a totally new direction in life the 19 year old would take:
"Bev and her husband knocked on my door and asked if I was Wayne Coleman. The were nice-looking people with a soothing manner. 'We have a friend of ours in Houston, Texas,' Bev told me, 'with a daughter who has a burden to pray for you.'
My mother was standing behind me, with my dad in his wheelchair, listening to the conversation.
'Would you like to come to church with our family?' Bev boldly requested.
'We're not church people,' I answered.
'Well, can I give you this girl your address, so she and her brother can write to you?'
Imagine that, I thought. Write to me about God?! I was just a kid, What was this woman talking about?
Bev left me her address and phone number, too, and I handed it to my mom and dad. 'Good Lord, boy,' my mother said, as soon as Bev was out of earshot. 'These damn people are crazy. God's telling them to write to you? How stupid!'
A few days later, I received my first letter from the girl in Houston, Jenny, and her brother, Andy.
'Dear Wayne,
We saw your photo in a bodybuilding magazine, and we want to pray that you'll accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior.'
I'd never encountered anything like this before in my life. This was strange behavior.'
He would begin to see a sign that read 'YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN' whilst driving to the hospital and back with his father on his daily routine, until he decided he would go and see what the 'revival' going on was all about:
"At the end of the service, they had the 'altar call.' summoning people forward to be 'born again.' The preacher looked me dead in the eye and pointed. 'Come on, son,' he stated authoritatively. 'It's your turn to be saved.'
Man, I thought, he's talking to me.
And so I walked the 'sawdust trail,' as we say when a person becomes born again in a tent revival, past women with eyes shut tight and hands and fingers extended above their heads, and rosy-cheeked men with tears streaming down their faces, all feeling the power of the Holy Ghost. When I got to the altar, though, I realized that I didn't know how to pray.
Dr. Rice had 'counselors' posted around the tent, and a man and woman-wonderful people exuding kindness and compassion-came over to me. 'What you have to do,' the man began, 'is get down on your knees, confess your sins, and accept Christ as your savior because he died on the cross for all sinner.'
'Confess my sins?' I hesitated. Here I was, getting into fights on Saturday nights with total strangers and messing around with girls. Those were a lot of sins. 'Do I have to go through this one by one?'
The man replied I just had to utter a blanket prayer: 'God, I am sorry for all of my sin, and I accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior because he was nailed to a tree for my transgressions.'
I repeated these words, and added, 'I receive you into my life as my savior.'
Looking over at the counselors, I questions, 'What else do I do?'
The woman responded, 'Well, you need to tell God that you will serve him for the rest of your life, and thank Jesus for dying for you, znd shedding his blood for the remission of your sins.'
I followed her instructions. It was a blanket deal. I turned to the counselors.
'So now I am saved?'
'Yes. You are saved.'
There had to be more to it than that, I thought but thing was that I had truly repented. To be saved, you have to believe it in your heart, not just your mind. I had to keep my hands off the high school girls, and stop busting my knuckles on guys from other parts of Phoenix. That would be the hard part. The drinking ban imposed on a lot of born-again Christians didn't effect me because-thanks to the example my father set at home-I already abhorred alcohol."
He'd start going to church with the couple who previously contacted him, even with resistance from his family. Eventually Wayne would meet Jerry Russell a charismatic or anointed preacher, depending how you look at it. Jerry would take the young Wayne under his wing and lead him up through the congregation to the point where Wayne was even giving his own testimonial. Taking to preaching on street corners and when the heat from his family got too much, he left to live with the couple who had first approached him.
Following a short stay with the family Wayne left to go on tour with the Evangelists and be a fully fledged following member. The preacher Jerry Russell had seen something in Wayne, with his physical prowess and his willingness to accept Jesus Christ in his life, following the lead of other member of the church. So, Wayne would naturally progress to being a teacher and over time formed his own act:
"With Jerry's recommendation, and the help of some of the Full Gospel Businessmen, I was soon accepting solo invitations to small churches, doing altar calls, reciting the Sinner's Prayer with converts, laying hands on people. I was 'Brother Coleman,' and thought I was a healer. Deafness, blindness, I could make them all disappear, then show the sinners how to repent and save them from the fiery lake.
You didn't have to be a bookworm or a wimp to serve God, I'd preach, standing at the pulpit in shiny shoes, a white shirt, black pants, and a thin matching tie. With the elders of the church holding clasped hands over crossed legs on folding chairs behind me, I'd rip phone books in half and bend steel bars behind my neck."
From there he would be baptized and go through the Holy Ghost's revival leading to him speaking in tongues. By his own memory Billy remembers he was just mimicking what he had heard others day, as when he healed, and when he deciphered other people's speech in tongues and becoming an ordained minister.
By the age of twenty he married his first wife Shirley. The whole ceremony was organised and structured by the Christian Group he belonged to who feared for scandal from their young muscled, smooth talking minister. The marriage would not last long, only a few months. Then finally after meeting up with another ministers son, Terry Gee, who inherited his fathers riches following his passing, Wayne would start to go off the rails, slowly edging out of his Christian based life taking up a job as a bouncer and starting to party again. By this time the young Wayne had found himself in Texas, and the club he bounced in was across the street from the Dallas Sportatorium. It would be this line of work which led to his first encounter with the world of wrestling. During a show at the Sportatorium, Graham would grab Killer Karl Kox and shout at him for knocking over a pregnant lady.
He wouldn't stay in Texas for too long though as he moved up to Washington, D.C. Before finally moving on to New York City and the Manhattan area, finally cutting his ties from Christianity. Wayne once again took up bouncing work at a bar and reignited his earlier Golden Gloves boxing days finding a trainer by the name of Gil Clancy. His first boxing match took place on October 21, 1966, at the old Madison Square Garden. Wayne fought Willis Miles in a three-round bout, in the third round Wayne would lose via TKO. Following the defeat, Coleman decided to head back to his hometown.
Back in Phoenix Wayne discovered Dianabonal and started to bulk up his physique even more than it was already. He'd find work at another bar to keep himself out of trouble following a couple of close calls with the local police force. Through contacts at the bar Wayne ended up playing Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League and then for the Montreal Alouettes. Following the CFL, he earned a pre-season contract with the National Football League team, the Oakland Raiders, unfortunately he tore his Achilles tendon before the season started and was let go. He would then try out for the Houston Oilers in a failed attempt.
With his football career firmly behind him in 1968 Coleman moved to Los Angeles and began working out at the Gold's Gym where he first befriended a young Arnold Schawrzenegger and the two became training partners.
It'd be during Christmas of 1969 though that Wayne Coleman started down his path as a professional wrestler, when Bob Lueck, the CFL player who had convinced Wayne to try out for the CFL a couple of years prior, persuaded Wayne to fly up to Calgary and join the Stampede Wrestling promotion. Bob had lied to Stu Hart the promoter and informed him that Coleman could wrestle already. Figuring he needed some 'easy money,' as Bob had described it, Wayne was now about to become a professional wrestler.
Wayne traveled up to Calgary in early 1970 and found he was not fond of the snow and the cold weather and he was finding it hard to adjust, nonetheless, Bob picked him up and took him to meet Stu Hart who was fascinated with the size of Coleman's arms. The first training session consisted of Stu stretching the Arizona native:
"I was in 'The Dungeon.'
The Mentor of Mayhem didn't ask me about my background in the squared circle. The uncertain look on my face told him everything that he needed to know: I'd never wrestled a day in my life. And he didn't seem to care. In a casual manner, Stu asked if he could show me one of his facourite holds. He wasn't dressed in wrestling gear, I reasoned, so what harm would it do?
'Could you...uh...bend over...um...uh...a little bit, and...uh...just put your...uh...head here?'
I think that this could be called entrapment, but I willingly placed my head in the waiting arms of a man who knew how to inflict pain, and loved doing it. Stu turned his body slightly, and my neck snapped. I saw stars. Stu drove me down to the mat and applied even more pressure. My size and strength notwithstanding, there was nothing I could do, and no place I could go. I don't know which number I was on the list, but I was now a member of the rare fraternity of men who'd been 'stretched' by Stu Hart."
Five days worth of training later Stu decided Wayne was ready and would be introduced via an arm wrestling tour of the Stampede territory. Wayne had previously taken on all comers in arm wrestling at the bar in Phoenix where he worked so all parties were confident and $500 would be offered to any man who could defeat the muscled attraction. June 7 of the same year would mark Wayne's first match against Dan Kroffat, Coleman remembers it as being a terrible match where he lost most of the heat he had garnered with the arm wrestling schtick.
As you can imagine with only limited training and Stu Hart deciding not to smarten up Coleman, his first few months in the business were atrocious and he'd quite often legitimately hurt guys, unaware of how it worked. The other wrestlers would finally tire of this though and smarten Coleman up on how to work a match. Wayne regards Abdullah the Butcher as the main guy who helped smarten him up to the business, and the two rode together during his time in Calgary, the stay would only be short though before he got fed up of the cold weather and dangerous driving conditions.
With no contacts inside the wrestling industry Coleman was back in Phoenix working at the same bar he had used to, J.D.'s. It wouldn't take him long to get back in the game though as legendary wrestler Dr. Jerry Graham was in the area. In between throwing Jerry out of the bar where he worked, Wayne managed to speak to him about wrestling. That was all it took for Graham to move in with Coleman and the two to start promoting an event together on an Indian reserve. This foray together would come to an end after three failed shows for a variety of reasons. Coleman was determined he would get to into another promotion, and convinced Graham to get them into Los Angeles by driving down there and walking into Mike LeBell's office.
Barging into the office and going into the spiel about being an arm wrestling champion Graham pitched his idea with Jerry adding in additional information:
"Suddenly, the room went quiet. For thirty seconds, there as silence-thunderous silence. Mike LeBell looked stunned. The only sound to be heard was the rhythmic thumping of his pencil on the desk. Then he spoke, directing his words and his glower at me. 'I'm going to let you work under one condition. You have to take full responsibility for him. If he screws up once, he's gone, and you're gone with him'
Take responsibility for Jerry Graham? Babysitting the Good Doctor would be a harsh and unreasonable condition, to my mind. But I agreed to it anyway."
Of course Wayne needed a new name, he was going to be the newest and youngest Graham brother. So, he decided to adopt the moniker Billy Graham, after one of the most famous preachers who he had idolized during his days in the religious community. Just like in Calgary he was off. This time with $1,000 being offered to anyone who could beat him in the shoot arm wrestling contests around the circuit, except this time Dr. Jerry Graham would be by his side.
Graham's first recorded match in Los Angels would take place on August 5, 1970, teaming with his 'brother' Jerry Graham to defeat Silent Earl and Don Savage at the Olympic Auditorium. However, before this match, there was a cage between with Freddie Blassie. Graham remembers this as his first match resulting from Blassie defeating him in an arm wrestling contest, Graham was defeated by Blassie and then the two moved on as the match had just been to gauge the ability of Billy.
The duo would not to last long though as Jerry would get himself into trouble with the police. Billy felt he had no choice, but to argue that his gimmick was over and he should stay regardless of what happened to Jerry as he can't be responsible for someone who Mike had booked in another town. Mike LeBell agreed and handed Dr. Jerry Graham his two weeks notice whilst allowing Billy to stay on.
Billy's stay in Los Angeles ended up being as brief as Calgary, on October 10, 1970 Graham had his first match for Roy Shire's San Francisco based promotion following arrangements being made by LeBell to move him on. The match was against Kenny Ackles, and Graham beat him decisively.
Graham recalls Roy Shire relaying the rules of the territory, "Only the winners gets blood." Shire would go on, "I want you in the dressing room one hour before the matches star. The first time you're late, you'll be fined $25, the next time $50, and the third time $100. And if I ever catch you riding with a babyface, you're fired."
The education level in terms of professional wrestling psychology would increase ten-fold for Graham in the San Francisco promotion, surrounded by his new tag-team partner, Pat Patterson, and opponents such as High Chief Peter Maivia and Ray Stevens. Billy often gives credit to Stevens, Patterson, and Shire for really teaching him how to really sell and work a crowd during a match.
For the most part of 1971 Billy Graham toured around the San Francisco area teaming with Pat Patterson. They won the NWA Tag-Team Championships (San Francisco Version) during their time together, and at times Graham adopted Pat's gimmick of adorning a mask, placing a 'solid steel metal plate' under the mask to knock opponents unconscious with a headbutt. Graham's mask would be red, white, and blue and it was at this time he called himself the 'True Spirit of America' and the 'Real American.'
By the winter of that year his time was beginning to phase out in Roy Shire's promotion:
"I knew my time in San Francisco was coming to an end, as well, a few months later when-over Christmas season-Shire handpicked me as the heel to go around the loop with Terrible Ted the Wrestling Bear.
Ted was a trained 725-pound Alaskan brown bear that had been declawed. I can still feel the beast's coarse, wiry fur, smell it's foul breath, and hear it snorting through it's muzzle as it looked me dead in the eyes. Ted wasn't a happy bear, and I wasn't a happy wrestler.
The wrestling bear gimmick was used a lot in the South during that era, but here it was in San Francisco. The bear was trained to lift it's arms so I could place my head between it's paws and snapmare myself. Ted was brought in to add some comic relief, and he did just that. I wrestled the bear and people laughed. When fans laugh at a heel, he loses his heat, and mine vanished.
All of Ted's teeth had been pulled out-except for his rear molars-so we could do spots where the bear would appear to bite me. In one finish, I'd rip the muzzle off the bear, and stick my forearm in it's mouth. It's natural instinct was to clam down, but of course there was no impact. Still, I'd sell it, sell it, sell it. The fans would scream as I left the ring, charging down the aisle to safety."
In early 1972 Graham left San Francisco with what he had started to cement as his trademark tie-dye long tights, bleach blonde hair, and a chiseled and tanned physique topped off by his bronzed tan. Hawaii seemed the perfect place for Graham to go next, and he did. During his stay in Hawaii he was placed in matches with the likes of Jimmy Snuka, Richard Blood (Later Ricky Steamboat), Sammy Steamboat, and Sputnik Monroe would occasionally be his tag-team partner for the seven weeks of his stay there.
Following his stay in Hawaii, Billy went back to Los Angeles for the summer of 1972 with every intention on heading back up to the East Coast and New York specifically in the winter.
During his stay in Los Angeles, Wayne Coleman would become a father. This set his original plans of moving on back, and he found himself coming to the end of his run by September, luckily his old friend Ray Stevens would provide an open door to the Minneapolis based territory.
It'd be in the AWA that Graham added 'Superstar to his name:
"Larry 'The Ax' Hennig and I were seated across the aisle from each other on a plane as I was working out this concept. He watched me write out the words 'Jesus Christ Superstar,' then cross out Christ's name and scrawl 'Billy Graham' instead.
'Oh, my God,' he protested. 'Not with me on this airplane.'
I gave him a quizzical look-and a very slight sardonic grin.
'You're scratching out the name 'Jesus Christ.''
'No, man,' I answered. 'It's a work.'
Larry shook his head, convinced that I was a little too cavalier. But I wasn't concerned. The Lord knew that it was a work, too."
With the name in place, he now just had to perfect his promo's. Very early on Graham met up with a young Dusty Rhodes and the two clicked straight away. From there the promo skills just continued to evolve combining his already well practiced preacher routine with wrestling talk. Together as the stars aligned Graham would find himself a natural now he was finally allowed to talk for himself, and he'd roll catchphrases off of his tongue rhythmically such as, "I lift barbell plates. I eat T-bone steaks. I'm sweeter than a German chocolate cake. How much more of me can you take?"
Then he was ready for his first major feud in the AWA. Put into action with his now patented arm wrestling routine, ending with Wahoo McDaniel leading into a series of brutal matches. The two would compete in Indian Strap matches, lashing and bloodying each other up all over the territory for the winter of 1972. It'd also be around this time the 'Superstar' introduced a young inspiring athlete by the name of Bob Backlund to the legendary promoter of Minnesota, Verne Gagne.
Whilst in the AWA Billy got chance to take part in his first tour of Japan including battling Billy Robinson for the IWA World Heavyweight Championship, and winning it. At this time, Wayne found out that, well, Wayne wasn't even his real name:
"I never knew that my first name was Eldrigde until I wrestled in Japan and had to show my birth certificate to get a passport. Everybody called me Wayne."
He would drop the IWA belt back promptly to Robinson and then Graham started into a feud with Verne Gagne for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Although he did not win the championship, this would firly cement him as one of if not the very top heel in the territory. In the fall of 1974 Wayne felt it was time for him to leave the AWA and heard to warmer grounds in Texas.
It was not to be though as he managed to work a deal with Gagne to just fly in for the big cities from Texas. Graham was ecstatic that he could stay under them conditions as Gagne had laid out plans for a big feud with Ken Patera followed by a face turn. The feud with Patera would be a success kick started with a weight lifting contest, leading to a set of grudge matches taking them around the area.
Then the Superstar would transition easily into a babyface character following his evil tag-team partners Baron Von Rashke & Horst Hoffmann turning on him. With a little help from Dusty Rhodes the two would overcome the heels and Billy Graham was a officially a fan favourite. Whilst this was going on Graham was also working around the area he was now living, Dallas, Texas.
In the Dallas territory Superstar ending up teaming with an old friend of his from J.D.'s bar back in Phoenix, Steve Strong. It was through Dallas that he got chance to work for Paul Boesch's, Houston promotion too battling such legends as Jose Lothario and Andre the Giant:
"When Andre the Giant and I had our Houston arm-wrestling match, the behemoth emitted a bellow like a wounded animal before bringing my arm all the way around and crashing it into the table. As planned, I followed this embarrassment with a couple of forearms to the head.
Andre sold nothing. 'How are you doing tonight, Boss?' He said, eyes gleaming while looking across the table at me with a gummy smile. 'Are you ready to wrestle?'
For a moment, my heart jumped. This was one guy who really could have crushed me. But Andre was just having a good time. He quickly let me get the heat on him, and even asked me to lift him off the mat with a bear hug. I could barely reach around his body and lock my hands. At that time, I think Harley Race was the only other man to pick up Andre. To be given this license meant something very important:
The big giant liked me."
Back in the Dallas territory Graham was getting some good heat as a heel, he remembers one particular encounter:
"I was working in front of a heavily intoxicated, largely Mexican audience. I don't recall the name of my opponent, but I had him in a chin lock when I noticed the referee looking over my head, his mouth hanging open. I looked behind me to see a mark coming my way with a knife. Automatically, I swiveled around and smashed the guy with a forearm across his face. This was a life saving shot; knives kill people. The crowd was riled up, and I couldn't back off and show any fear. As the referee lifted the knife from the mat, I punched and kicked my attacker bloody. There had to be a lesson there for all to see."
Billy's second child would be born in March of 1975, shortly after Graham finished up in the AWA around May of 1975 pretty much as soon as the angle teaming with Dusty Rhodes was over. He also wound down his dates in Houston to prepare for a Pro Mr. America contest; he would win an award for best developed arms.
Following the bodybuilding contest, Graham found he had a whole new level of fame within the wrestling world. So much so that he received a call from Vince McMahon Sr. with a start date in a few months time. With an initial plan to stay in Houston, Graham was set to make his way back to the North East where he had wanted to go a few years prior. Fate would again change for Billy though, an unfortunate plane crash would leave the Carolinas short of top talent. George Scott the booker would call in Graham and Steve Strong for a short run whilst they laid ground work for the future.
October 25, 1975 is the first match I find recorded for the Superstar in the WWWF. He and Spiros Arion defeated Bruno Sammartino and Dominic DeNucci in a two out of three falls match. Of course as soon as Graham had entered the WWWF, he was also teamed up with the great Ernie Roth A.K.A. The Grand Wizard of Wrestling. The two personalities just instantly meshed together on screen.
After a short solo feud with Dominic DeNucci on January 12, 1976, Superstar Billy Graham and Bruno Sammartino the WWWF World Heavyweight Champion collided for the very first time inside of Madison Square Garden. Graham, would even win this initial encounter, but only by count-out.
The two would do battle all over the territory until Bruno finally walked away the triumphant babyface and Billy would be relegated down the card as was custom in the WWWF at that time. He would soon leave though in the run up to the summer. Graham and old friend and tag-team partner Ivan Koloff were planning on setting up their own promotion running against Mike LeBell in Los Angeles. Billy would also occasionally wrestle for Houston still during this time, even taking on the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Jack Brisco. After long draw out legal battle over the summer, both Ivan and Billy gave up on the idea of running a promotion.
Following a quick stop in St. Louis, Billy Graham headed on over to Championship Wrestling from Florida where his good friend Dusty Rhodes was the booker. The first match I find recorded for him there took place on November 15, 1976, where he beat Ray Candy in a singles match.
In Florida arguably Superstar's biggest feud started and it would last him most of his stay in the Sunshine State. He and Dusty Rhodes took part in a variety of brutal gimmick matches all over the territory including, bullrope matches, cage matches, strap matches, and lumberjack matches.
Whilst working for Eddie Graham his storyline brother, a fact that was never openly acknowledged during his stay in Florida, Billy received a call from Vince McMahon Sr. with an offer for him to go back to the WWWF. The WWWF had quietly rejoined the NWA in 1971, so a working agreement was to be made between Eddie & Vince Sr. also regarding Billy Graham, they flew up to Vince's home to discuss details immediately:
"Vince lived in a picturesque house alongside a canal on an inlet. He walked Eddie and me onto his yacht, and we made ourselves comfortable in a well-appointed room below decks. Eddie sprawled out in a big chair, I stretched out on the floor, and Vince laid out his scenario:
'On April 30 in Baltimore, we're going to have Bruno drop the title to you. Then, on February 20, 1978, we're going to put the belt on Bobby Backlund in the Garden.'
It was that specific. There was only one thing that bewildered me. Although I'd met Backlund years back in North Dakota, and wrestled him recently in Florida, his name didn't really stir me. He'd always been just another babyface on the card, a guy who meant nothing when it came to drawing money. Was Vince really going to take an unknown and make him a champion? It seemed impossible for Backlund to follow the Living Legend and Superstar Billy Graham in Madison Square Garden.
'This is going to be the longest run for a WWWF heel champion ever,' Vince continued.
'I'm honored,' I replied. 'I'm ready to do business.'
With Eddie Graham as our witness, we closed the deal with a handshake. No lawyers. No contracts. No demands."
Graham finished up his time in Florida and in the process met the love of his life and wife to be, Valerie. Graham again made a quick stop to St. Louis taking on former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Pat O'Connor and the current NWA World World Heavyweight Champion, Harley Race in a couple of matches.
Just before he left for good though, Eddie Graham crowned Billy with the Florida State Tag-Team Championship with partner Ox Baker. Then it was off on the journey to Baltimore. On April 30, 1977, Bruno Sammartino lost in a grueling strongman match against Superstar Billy Graham, even if the Superstar did cheat with his feet on the ropes. As you can imagine, that night in Madison Square Garden was in a near riot like state as Graham fought his way to the back with his new title.
After winning the championship Graham would compete against some of the industries biggest names such as Dick the Bruiser in St. Louis, Rusher Kimura in Japan, Bobo Brazil, Chief Jay Stronbow, and Gorilla Monsoon. He'd go back to Florida and drop the tag belts with Ox Baker to the Brisco brother. Then Billy reignited his feud with Dusty Rhodes.
The two would battle over the WWWF Heavyweight Championship travelling between Florida and New York having wars in both territories including the bullrope match that is probably the most remembered to this day. He'd move on to competition like High Chief Peter Maivia, Ivan Putski and Stan Stasiak defeating them all.
It was starting to draw close to Graham dropping the belt, he wasn't happy about doing it, but Vince Sr. was a man of his word. Vince McMahon Jr. remembers:
"All the stars had lined up for Superstar Billy Graham, and I wish it lasted longer than it did. I thought he would have been an extraordinary babyface. But my dad didn't see it that way. It wasn't traditional. The way of thinking back then was you couldn't have someone his size as a babyface. How could you get sympathy for him?
I always thought that we missed the boat with Superstar, and quite frankly, had I been in charge at the time, he would have been Hulk Hogan for me."
The match with Backlund would be set up when Bob prevented Graham from cheating during a match against Mil Mascaras. Before the title change though, Graham would have to face Bruno Sammartino in a cage:
"Bruno suggested that I protect myself in the eyes of the fans. 'Let's do something tonight to hurt your knee,' he said. 'Then you can limp into the ring at the Garden, and the people won't think you're at a hundred percent.' That's how much Bruno didn't believe in Backlund. I'm sure he was insulted that Vince was going to try and make Bob into another Sammartino.
Of course, no one had given us permission to fake a knee injury. In fact, this went beyond going into business for ourselves. Backlund's long reign needed to start with him winning the gold from a healthy man, not a cripple. We couldn't let anyone else find out about our idea and stooge to Vince Sr. Only Bruno and I were in on the scheme."
The plan went off without a hitch. Backlund focused on the knee in the match, and Graham lost, even though his foot was on the rope on February 20, 1978. He recalls wearing white tights for the match as a symbolic gesture of it's not really the Superstar losing the belt, as the color was too bland for him. Following the standard return matches against Backlund, which turned bloody, Superstar went at it one more time with his friend Dusty Rhodes across the North East circuit closing out 1988.
Graham would become despondent to the wrestling world after his run in the WWWF ended. He would start to work for an old friend who had a sprinkler installation company only working matches when he was really desperate for money. Still he would be booked against big names such as Bruiser Brody, Jerry Lalwer, Jack Brisco and an old friend, Rocky Johnson.
Billy attempted a couple of different projects over the course of his time away from wrestling, but each venture would fail. He was also feeling the effects of his drug addiction catching up on him. After a near miss, Graham continued down the same path, he would compete for New Japan Pro Wrestling at the beginning of 1982 though.
Then in the middle of 1982 Graham was contacted by Vince Jr. who had recently purchased his fathers WWWF and it had been renamed the World Wrestling Federation. Graham recalls getting back on the steroids in preparation to go to the WWF. What he didn't tell Vince Jr. was that in the mean time, he'd shaved his head and grown a black mustache, along with the fact he'd be coming in wearing a gi to do a karate gimmick.
Superstar would enter the WWF to go into a big feud with Bob Backlund, initiated by the karate man smashing the heavyweight championship. The rest of his run which ended in early 1983 wasn't particularly memorable as Graham battled with his personal demons and continued with a gimmick that people just simply didn't understand.
After attempting to battle his addiction problems through-out the summer of 1983 Graham would head back to the AWA, the first match I have recorded for him at that time was on October, 20 when he was disqualified whilst battling Jim Brunzell. Not much was happening for him in the AWA and Graham soon got fed up of the cold weather and left in January of 1984.
By April of 1984 he started working for CWF again with Dusty booking him in a series of powerhouse matches against Billy Jack Haynes, in a famous angle where Graham broke Haynes' arm. From there Graham teamed up with Kevin Sullivan and his 'Satanic' group, eventually Billy would turn face on the heels leading to a bloody set of matches between Sullivan and Billy, and a symbolic image of Graham in white ring wear, covered in his own blood that lingered in fans minds.
January of 1985 saw him head up to the Carolinas where Rhodes was now booking. Through-out the entirety of his new gimmick though Graham never really connected with the fans other than briefly in Florida and during a team with Barbarian Graham decided it was time for a change:
"So one day I walked into Jim Crockett's office with an announcement: 'It's time to go back to who I am. I want to do my old gimmick. The tie-dye, the promises, everything else.'
'Crockett nodded. 'You know, Superstar,' he said, 'that's the greatest news I ever heard. When Dusty brought you in, that's who I thought I was getting.'
Obviously, Crockett didn't keep up with wrestling outside his territory. But he was ready to put faith in me.
'I need $5,000 to make this thing happen,' I added.
Crockett was unfazed. 'That's fine, Superstar.'"
And the Superstar was back. Teaming with Jimmy Valiant, however, this time he added a slice of preaching into his patter, talking of the love of God as he reeled off his promos. Graham remembers his stand out feud as being with Bam Bam, and even changed the final finish to putting the big man over. The whole time inside, Graham was deteriorating from his constant drug usage and it would only be so long before it'd catch up on him.
In the mean time though he managed to get a deal with Vince Jr. and head back up to the WWF. He filmed one taping for them, and disaster struck. Wayne Coleman needed a total hip replacement, he knew it before the taping, but decided to try and delay the inevitable until he was hot enough Vince Jr. needed him, but his hip popped out whilst lifting someone off the ground in a bear hug.
Back in the locker room whilst getting medical attention, Vince Jr. approached him:
"'What's going on, Superstar?'
'The hips gone, Vince.'
'Can we at least have you come out so fans can see you?'
'You know I want to do that, Vince. But I'm in too much pain. I need a hip replacement. It's over.'
Vince squeezed my arm. 'It isn't over, Superstar. I will not put you out to pasture. Let's get it fixed. We're going to make a comeback.'
'Vince, I don't have the money or the insurance.'
'I'll pay for it.' Vince cut me off. 'Then you'll pay me back.'
Billy's surgical procedure would be recorded and aired as a gateway for Superstar to come back as the babyface with sympathy. But after the surgery Graham would continue his life as he had before and returned back to action in the early parts of 1987 against the Brooklyn Brawler.
The return would be sadly short lived though, Superstar's body was literally decaying from the inside out. With his injuries adding up, he went out during his feud with Butch Reed, following an associate of Reed's through manager Slick, the One Man Gang took Graham out. This action opened up a new chapter in the Superstar's career as he began to manager Don Murace who had come down to the ring to make the save during the dastardly attack.
Superstar would take to being in Muraco's corner and travel the circuit with him, he would even be included in an angle where Valentine attacked the battle retired Graham with the figure-four leg-lock hold setting up a match for the protege Don Muraco to take on Greg Valentine. Unfortunately during a European trip things would get out of hand, and Don Muraco would end up being fired, leaving Superstar with nobody to manage.
Vince Jr. placed Graham as a representative, and as a commentator, but Graham was beyond help at this point, his drug addiction had pretty much ruined his ability to think effectively in any role that required something other than his same old speech. In January 1989 the inevitable came, Billy was released from the company, Vince Jr. recalls:
"I'm trying to find something that this guy can do. You'd think that being an announcer would be one of them. He's got the gift of the gab. So let's try that. I was trying to keep him on the payroll.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Billy was in a lot of pain and on medication, because his material was not really sharp. He could talk for himself, but he didn't have the ability to get other individuals over verbally. And that's not good.
I tried every conceivable way to keep him around. But dead weight is lousy for morale, and doesn't really help the individual in the long run."
Wayne Coleman was in a bad state when he was released by the WWF. His body was still deteriorating, he failed at an attempted acting career. Eventually he had no choice but to sign on for disability benefits. As you can imagine Graham was in a state of depression at the time.
In 1991 the WWF would go through the infamous drug trial involving Dr. Zahorian and Vince McMahon in specific. Superstar would testify against the WWF & the doctor, in an act that he at the time felt was justified as they had let him go from the company.
Graham would be a big part of securing jail time for Zahorian, whilst the WWF would be cleared of all charges. Graham has since stated he just wanted some of Vince's money he had never meant to get him so close to a federal penitentiary.
In the years ensuing the court courses and legal allegations that ended in 1994, Wayne would once again become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Coleman took up religious speaking and made his money through selling old merchandise. He had finally turned his life around and gotten completely again, for the second time in his life, Wayne was born again, this time he didn't veer off the path again.
In 2003 he was backstage at the WWE (formerly the WWF) to meet and greet all the talent and Vince McMahon, this came after Wayne was faced with death in the year of 2002, from his years of steroid and drug abuse his liver had suffered dramatically to the point it was in chirrhosis. Luckily for Coleman he received a liver transplant.
Superstar Billy Graham would appear again on a WWE event in 2004 when he was inducted by Triple H into their Hall of Fame. Later, when Abdullah the Butch was inducted due to allegations that Abdullah had passed HIV onto a young upcoming star in a blood bath of a match, Coleman would state he no longer wished to be associated with a Hall of Fame that has Abdullah in it.
There would be a few more appearances by Graham between 2004 and 2006 when he made his last appearance promoting his book, and his DVD both released under the WWE umbrella. Coleman has now distanced himself completely from WWE following the earlier mentioned Hall of Fame dispute, and he has openly stated displeasure at current stars such as CM Punk for being disrespectful. People close to Wayne, have suggested he could be working everyone still, the truth is only Coleman knows if it is a work on his behalf or not.
Currently Coleman is going through health problems again with his new liver, but until recently as of writing this in June 2013, Coleman had been doing lectures on talks on the dangers of drug usage to schools and athletes around the nation right up until he was hospitalized.
Billy Graham has been nothing if not controversial through-out his whole career. He was a trend setter in the industry. He was an innovator of verbally communicating with the fans. He influenced generations who came after him. Possibly most important of all, whether right or wrong, he did it his way. There will only ever be one Superstar Billy Graham, he will be mimicked, copied, replicated, and admired for time to come, but he will never be duplicated. He truly was, 'The sensation of the nation. The number one creation,' and 'The man of the hour, the man with the power. Too sweet to be sour.'
Born in Phoenix, Arizona on June 7, 1943, as Eldridge Wayne Coleman came into the world with quite a story, a story that he still continues to carve out. He remembers:
"I was a breech baby, coming out of my mother feet first. As I was being delivered, my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck. I was wiggling around a lot, and the doctor was scared that I'd strangle myself. So he drenched me in ether. Then he sent me home, still doused in the flammable liquid. Everybody smoked in my family - my mother, my dad, my uncles - and it's incredible that the house didn't blow up."
He was a big child growing up, in elementary school Wayne played American football with high school kids as his main sport. He was an all round athlete though playing softball, he took part in track and field, and baseball too. It was also in elementary school he found his love for painting and drawing..
That wasn't the only thing he formed a love for though, Wayne stole 150 supplement pills in school and ate them all in one go for fear of getting caught by his gym teacher. As a fifth grader his brother introduced a young Coleman to the life of a bodybuilder. When his brother had to leave to go into the Marines, Graham designed and created his own weights at home using various home made items like coffee tins, then filling them with concrete.
During one of the summers as a young teenager whilst on his way home from a Pony League baseball game, Wayne stumbled across a local mans gym in his yard. The man was kind enough to allow Coleman to use his gym for free, and Wayne would start find his love for women when the gentleman's wife would invite him into a summer of forbidden passion.
By the time Wayne became a Freshman he was excelling in the decathlon, but he started to get into bodybuilding more, taking serious care of his appearance. The tanning begun, the posed photographs in the style of his favorite lifters. Wayne bleached is hair to complete the look. He and his friends would drive around looking for fights with his group of friends, recalls he had a lot of anger from being beaten as a child by his father and this was his way to unleash it. The street fighting took him into the Phoenix Golden Gloves tournament, Coleman would make it all the way to the finals, only to lose to a friend of his families, and then finally dropped out of school.
By 1961 Wayne had trained enough and maintained his exercise routine that he became Mr. Teenage America West Coast. Soon after it would be a totally new direction in life the 19 year old would take:
"Bev and her husband knocked on my door and asked if I was Wayne Coleman. The were nice-looking people with a soothing manner. 'We have a friend of ours in Houston, Texas,' Bev told me, 'with a daughter who has a burden to pray for you.'
My mother was standing behind me, with my dad in his wheelchair, listening to the conversation.
'Would you like to come to church with our family?' Bev boldly requested.
'We're not church people,' I answered.
'Well, can I give you this girl your address, so she and her brother can write to you?'
Imagine that, I thought. Write to me about God?! I was just a kid, What was this woman talking about?
Bev left me her address and phone number, too, and I handed it to my mom and dad. 'Good Lord, boy,' my mother said, as soon as Bev was out of earshot. 'These damn people are crazy. God's telling them to write to you? How stupid!'
A few days later, I received my first letter from the girl in Houston, Jenny, and her brother, Andy.
'Dear Wayne,
We saw your photo in a bodybuilding magazine, and we want to pray that you'll accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior.'
I'd never encountered anything like this before in my life. This was strange behavior.'
He would begin to see a sign that read 'YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN' whilst driving to the hospital and back with his father on his daily routine, until he decided he would go and see what the 'revival' going on was all about:
"At the end of the service, they had the 'altar call.' summoning people forward to be 'born again.' The preacher looked me dead in the eye and pointed. 'Come on, son,' he stated authoritatively. 'It's your turn to be saved.'
Man, I thought, he's talking to me.
And so I walked the 'sawdust trail,' as we say when a person becomes born again in a tent revival, past women with eyes shut tight and hands and fingers extended above their heads, and rosy-cheeked men with tears streaming down their faces, all feeling the power of the Holy Ghost. When I got to the altar, though, I realized that I didn't know how to pray.
Dr. Rice had 'counselors' posted around the tent, and a man and woman-wonderful people exuding kindness and compassion-came over to me. 'What you have to do,' the man began, 'is get down on your knees, confess your sins, and accept Christ as your savior because he died on the cross for all sinner.'
'Confess my sins?' I hesitated. Here I was, getting into fights on Saturday nights with total strangers and messing around with girls. Those were a lot of sins. 'Do I have to go through this one by one?'
The man replied I just had to utter a blanket prayer: 'God, I am sorry for all of my sin, and I accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior because he was nailed to a tree for my transgressions.'
I repeated these words, and added, 'I receive you into my life as my savior.'
Looking over at the counselors, I questions, 'What else do I do?'
The woman responded, 'Well, you need to tell God that you will serve him for the rest of your life, and thank Jesus for dying for you, znd shedding his blood for the remission of your sins.'
I followed her instructions. It was a blanket deal. I turned to the counselors.
'So now I am saved?'
'Yes. You are saved.'
There had to be more to it than that, I thought but thing was that I had truly repented. To be saved, you have to believe it in your heart, not just your mind. I had to keep my hands off the high school girls, and stop busting my knuckles on guys from other parts of Phoenix. That would be the hard part. The drinking ban imposed on a lot of born-again Christians didn't effect me because-thanks to the example my father set at home-I already abhorred alcohol."
He'd start going to church with the couple who previously contacted him, even with resistance from his family. Eventually Wayne would meet Jerry Russell a charismatic or anointed preacher, depending how you look at it. Jerry would take the young Wayne under his wing and lead him up through the congregation to the point where Wayne was even giving his own testimonial. Taking to preaching on street corners and when the heat from his family got too much, he left to live with the couple who had first approached him.
Following a short stay with the family Wayne left to go on tour with the Evangelists and be a fully fledged following member. The preacher Jerry Russell had seen something in Wayne, with his physical prowess and his willingness to accept Jesus Christ in his life, following the lead of other member of the church. So, Wayne would naturally progress to being a teacher and over time formed his own act:
"With Jerry's recommendation, and the help of some of the Full Gospel Businessmen, I was soon accepting solo invitations to small churches, doing altar calls, reciting the Sinner's Prayer with converts, laying hands on people. I was 'Brother Coleman,' and thought I was a healer. Deafness, blindness, I could make them all disappear, then show the sinners how to repent and save them from the fiery lake.
You didn't have to be a bookworm or a wimp to serve God, I'd preach, standing at the pulpit in shiny shoes, a white shirt, black pants, and a thin matching tie. With the elders of the church holding clasped hands over crossed legs on folding chairs behind me, I'd rip phone books in half and bend steel bars behind my neck."
From there he would be baptized and go through the Holy Ghost's revival leading to him speaking in tongues. By his own memory Billy remembers he was just mimicking what he had heard others day, as when he healed, and when he deciphered other people's speech in tongues and becoming an ordained minister.
By the age of twenty he married his first wife Shirley. The whole ceremony was organised and structured by the Christian Group he belonged to who feared for scandal from their young muscled, smooth talking minister. The marriage would not last long, only a few months. Then finally after meeting up with another ministers son, Terry Gee, who inherited his fathers riches following his passing, Wayne would start to go off the rails, slowly edging out of his Christian based life taking up a job as a bouncer and starting to party again. By this time the young Wayne had found himself in Texas, and the club he bounced in was across the street from the Dallas Sportatorium. It would be this line of work which led to his first encounter with the world of wrestling. During a show at the Sportatorium, Graham would grab Killer Karl Kox and shout at him for knocking over a pregnant lady.
He wouldn't stay in Texas for too long though as he moved up to Washington, D.C. Before finally moving on to New York City and the Manhattan area, finally cutting his ties from Christianity. Wayne once again took up bouncing work at a bar and reignited his earlier Golden Gloves boxing days finding a trainer by the name of Gil Clancy. His first boxing match took place on October 21, 1966, at the old Madison Square Garden. Wayne fought Willis Miles in a three-round bout, in the third round Wayne would lose via TKO. Following the defeat, Coleman decided to head back to his hometown.
Back in Phoenix Wayne discovered Dianabonal and started to bulk up his physique even more than it was already. He'd find work at another bar to keep himself out of trouble following a couple of close calls with the local police force. Through contacts at the bar Wayne ended up playing Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League and then for the Montreal Alouettes. Following the CFL, he earned a pre-season contract with the National Football League team, the Oakland Raiders, unfortunately he tore his Achilles tendon before the season started and was let go. He would then try out for the Houston Oilers in a failed attempt.
With his football career firmly behind him in 1968 Coleman moved to Los Angeles and began working out at the Gold's Gym where he first befriended a young Arnold Schawrzenegger and the two became training partners.
It'd be during Christmas of 1969 though that Wayne Coleman started down his path as a professional wrestler, when Bob Lueck, the CFL player who had convinced Wayne to try out for the CFL a couple of years prior, persuaded Wayne to fly up to Calgary and join the Stampede Wrestling promotion. Bob had lied to Stu Hart the promoter and informed him that Coleman could wrestle already. Figuring he needed some 'easy money,' as Bob had described it, Wayne was now about to become a professional wrestler.
Wayne traveled up to Calgary in early 1970 and found he was not fond of the snow and the cold weather and he was finding it hard to adjust, nonetheless, Bob picked him up and took him to meet Stu Hart who was fascinated with the size of Coleman's arms. The first training session consisted of Stu stretching the Arizona native:
"I was in 'The Dungeon.'
The Mentor of Mayhem didn't ask me about my background in the squared circle. The uncertain look on my face told him everything that he needed to know: I'd never wrestled a day in my life. And he didn't seem to care. In a casual manner, Stu asked if he could show me one of his facourite holds. He wasn't dressed in wrestling gear, I reasoned, so what harm would it do?
'Could you...uh...bend over...um...uh...a little bit, and...uh...just put your...uh...head here?'
I think that this could be called entrapment, but I willingly placed my head in the waiting arms of a man who knew how to inflict pain, and loved doing it. Stu turned his body slightly, and my neck snapped. I saw stars. Stu drove me down to the mat and applied even more pressure. My size and strength notwithstanding, there was nothing I could do, and no place I could go. I don't know which number I was on the list, but I was now a member of the rare fraternity of men who'd been 'stretched' by Stu Hart."
Five days worth of training later Stu decided Wayne was ready and would be introduced via an arm wrestling tour of the Stampede territory. Wayne had previously taken on all comers in arm wrestling at the bar in Phoenix where he worked so all parties were confident and $500 would be offered to any man who could defeat the muscled attraction. June 7 of the same year would mark Wayne's first match against Dan Kroffat, Coleman remembers it as being a terrible match where he lost most of the heat he had garnered with the arm wrestling schtick.
As you can imagine with only limited training and Stu Hart deciding not to smarten up Coleman, his first few months in the business were atrocious and he'd quite often legitimately hurt guys, unaware of how it worked. The other wrestlers would finally tire of this though and smarten Coleman up on how to work a match. Wayne regards Abdullah the Butcher as the main guy who helped smarten him up to the business, and the two rode together during his time in Calgary, the stay would only be short though before he got fed up of the cold weather and dangerous driving conditions.
With no contacts inside the wrestling industry Coleman was back in Phoenix working at the same bar he had used to, J.D.'s. It wouldn't take him long to get back in the game though as legendary wrestler Dr. Jerry Graham was in the area. In between throwing Jerry out of the bar where he worked, Wayne managed to speak to him about wrestling. That was all it took for Graham to move in with Coleman and the two to start promoting an event together on an Indian reserve. This foray together would come to an end after three failed shows for a variety of reasons. Coleman was determined he would get to into another promotion, and convinced Graham to get them into Los Angeles by driving down there and walking into Mike LeBell's office.
Barging into the office and going into the spiel about being an arm wrestling champion Graham pitched his idea with Jerry adding in additional information:
"Suddenly, the room went quiet. For thirty seconds, there as silence-thunderous silence. Mike LeBell looked stunned. The only sound to be heard was the rhythmic thumping of his pencil on the desk. Then he spoke, directing his words and his glower at me. 'I'm going to let you work under one condition. You have to take full responsibility for him. If he screws up once, he's gone, and you're gone with him'
Take responsibility for Jerry Graham? Babysitting the Good Doctor would be a harsh and unreasonable condition, to my mind. But I agreed to it anyway."
Of course Wayne needed a new name, he was going to be the newest and youngest Graham brother. So, he decided to adopt the moniker Billy Graham, after one of the most famous preachers who he had idolized during his days in the religious community. Just like in Calgary he was off. This time with $1,000 being offered to anyone who could beat him in the shoot arm wrestling contests around the circuit, except this time Dr. Jerry Graham would be by his side.
Graham's first recorded match in Los Angels would take place on August 5, 1970, teaming with his 'brother' Jerry Graham to defeat Silent Earl and Don Savage at the Olympic Auditorium. However, before this match, there was a cage between with Freddie Blassie. Graham remembers this as his first match resulting from Blassie defeating him in an arm wrestling contest, Graham was defeated by Blassie and then the two moved on as the match had just been to gauge the ability of Billy.
The duo would not to last long though as Jerry would get himself into trouble with the police. Billy felt he had no choice, but to argue that his gimmick was over and he should stay regardless of what happened to Jerry as he can't be responsible for someone who Mike had booked in another town. Mike LeBell agreed and handed Dr. Jerry Graham his two weeks notice whilst allowing Billy to stay on.
Billy's stay in Los Angeles ended up being as brief as Calgary, on October 10, 1970 Graham had his first match for Roy Shire's San Francisco based promotion following arrangements being made by LeBell to move him on. The match was against Kenny Ackles, and Graham beat him decisively.
Graham recalls Roy Shire relaying the rules of the territory, "Only the winners gets blood." Shire would go on, "I want you in the dressing room one hour before the matches star. The first time you're late, you'll be fined $25, the next time $50, and the third time $100. And if I ever catch you riding with a babyface, you're fired."
The education level in terms of professional wrestling psychology would increase ten-fold for Graham in the San Francisco promotion, surrounded by his new tag-team partner, Pat Patterson, and opponents such as High Chief Peter Maivia and Ray Stevens. Billy often gives credit to Stevens, Patterson, and Shire for really teaching him how to really sell and work a crowd during a match.
For the most part of 1971 Billy Graham toured around the San Francisco area teaming with Pat Patterson. They won the NWA Tag-Team Championships (San Francisco Version) during their time together, and at times Graham adopted Pat's gimmick of adorning a mask, placing a 'solid steel metal plate' under the mask to knock opponents unconscious with a headbutt. Graham's mask would be red, white, and blue and it was at this time he called himself the 'True Spirit of America' and the 'Real American.'
By the winter of that year his time was beginning to phase out in Roy Shire's promotion:
"I knew my time in San Francisco was coming to an end, as well, a few months later when-over Christmas season-Shire handpicked me as the heel to go around the loop with Terrible Ted the Wrestling Bear.
Ted was a trained 725-pound Alaskan brown bear that had been declawed. I can still feel the beast's coarse, wiry fur, smell it's foul breath, and hear it snorting through it's muzzle as it looked me dead in the eyes. Ted wasn't a happy bear, and I wasn't a happy wrestler.
The wrestling bear gimmick was used a lot in the South during that era, but here it was in San Francisco. The bear was trained to lift it's arms so I could place my head between it's paws and snapmare myself. Ted was brought in to add some comic relief, and he did just that. I wrestled the bear and people laughed. When fans laugh at a heel, he loses his heat, and mine vanished.
All of Ted's teeth had been pulled out-except for his rear molars-so we could do spots where the bear would appear to bite me. In one finish, I'd rip the muzzle off the bear, and stick my forearm in it's mouth. It's natural instinct was to clam down, but of course there was no impact. Still, I'd sell it, sell it, sell it. The fans would scream as I left the ring, charging down the aisle to safety."
In early 1972 Graham left San Francisco with what he had started to cement as his trademark tie-dye long tights, bleach blonde hair, and a chiseled and tanned physique topped off by his bronzed tan. Hawaii seemed the perfect place for Graham to go next, and he did. During his stay in Hawaii he was placed in matches with the likes of Jimmy Snuka, Richard Blood (Later Ricky Steamboat), Sammy Steamboat, and Sputnik Monroe would occasionally be his tag-team partner for the seven weeks of his stay there.
Following his stay in Hawaii, Billy went back to Los Angeles for the summer of 1972 with every intention on heading back up to the East Coast and New York specifically in the winter.
During his stay in Los Angeles, Wayne Coleman would become a father. This set his original plans of moving on back, and he found himself coming to the end of his run by September, luckily his old friend Ray Stevens would provide an open door to the Minneapolis based territory.
It'd be in the AWA that Graham added 'Superstar to his name:
"Larry 'The Ax' Hennig and I were seated across the aisle from each other on a plane as I was working out this concept. He watched me write out the words 'Jesus Christ Superstar,' then cross out Christ's name and scrawl 'Billy Graham' instead.
'Oh, my God,' he protested. 'Not with me on this airplane.'
I gave him a quizzical look-and a very slight sardonic grin.
'You're scratching out the name 'Jesus Christ.''
'No, man,' I answered. 'It's a work.'
Larry shook his head, convinced that I was a little too cavalier. But I wasn't concerned. The Lord knew that it was a work, too."
With the name in place, he now just had to perfect his promo's. Very early on Graham met up with a young Dusty Rhodes and the two clicked straight away. From there the promo skills just continued to evolve combining his already well practiced preacher routine with wrestling talk. Together as the stars aligned Graham would find himself a natural now he was finally allowed to talk for himself, and he'd roll catchphrases off of his tongue rhythmically such as, "I lift barbell plates. I eat T-bone steaks. I'm sweeter than a German chocolate cake. How much more of me can you take?"
Then he was ready for his first major feud in the AWA. Put into action with his now patented arm wrestling routine, ending with Wahoo McDaniel leading into a series of brutal matches. The two would compete in Indian Strap matches, lashing and bloodying each other up all over the territory for the winter of 1972. It'd also be around this time the 'Superstar' introduced a young inspiring athlete by the name of Bob Backlund to the legendary promoter of Minnesota, Verne Gagne.
Whilst in the AWA Billy got chance to take part in his first tour of Japan including battling Billy Robinson for the IWA World Heavyweight Championship, and winning it. At this time, Wayne found out that, well, Wayne wasn't even his real name:
"I never knew that my first name was Eldrigde until I wrestled in Japan and had to show my birth certificate to get a passport. Everybody called me Wayne."
He would drop the IWA belt back promptly to Robinson and then Graham started into a feud with Verne Gagne for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Although he did not win the championship, this would firly cement him as one of if not the very top heel in the territory. In the fall of 1974 Wayne felt it was time for him to leave the AWA and heard to warmer grounds in Texas.
It was not to be though as he managed to work a deal with Gagne to just fly in for the big cities from Texas. Graham was ecstatic that he could stay under them conditions as Gagne had laid out plans for a big feud with Ken Patera followed by a face turn. The feud with Patera would be a success kick started with a weight lifting contest, leading to a set of grudge matches taking them around the area.
Then the Superstar would transition easily into a babyface character following his evil tag-team partners Baron Von Rashke & Horst Hoffmann turning on him. With a little help from Dusty Rhodes the two would overcome the heels and Billy Graham was a officially a fan favourite. Whilst this was going on Graham was also working around the area he was now living, Dallas, Texas.
In the Dallas territory Superstar ending up teaming with an old friend of his from J.D.'s bar back in Phoenix, Steve Strong. It was through Dallas that he got chance to work for Paul Boesch's, Houston promotion too battling such legends as Jose Lothario and Andre the Giant:
"When Andre the Giant and I had our Houston arm-wrestling match, the behemoth emitted a bellow like a wounded animal before bringing my arm all the way around and crashing it into the table. As planned, I followed this embarrassment with a couple of forearms to the head.
Andre sold nothing. 'How are you doing tonight, Boss?' He said, eyes gleaming while looking across the table at me with a gummy smile. 'Are you ready to wrestle?'
For a moment, my heart jumped. This was one guy who really could have crushed me. But Andre was just having a good time. He quickly let me get the heat on him, and even asked me to lift him off the mat with a bear hug. I could barely reach around his body and lock my hands. At that time, I think Harley Race was the only other man to pick up Andre. To be given this license meant something very important:
The big giant liked me."
Back in the Dallas territory Graham was getting some good heat as a heel, he remembers one particular encounter:
"I was working in front of a heavily intoxicated, largely Mexican audience. I don't recall the name of my opponent, but I had him in a chin lock when I noticed the referee looking over my head, his mouth hanging open. I looked behind me to see a mark coming my way with a knife. Automatically, I swiveled around and smashed the guy with a forearm across his face. This was a life saving shot; knives kill people. The crowd was riled up, and I couldn't back off and show any fear. As the referee lifted the knife from the mat, I punched and kicked my attacker bloody. There had to be a lesson there for all to see."
Billy's second child would be born in March of 1975, shortly after Graham finished up in the AWA around May of 1975 pretty much as soon as the angle teaming with Dusty Rhodes was over. He also wound down his dates in Houston to prepare for a Pro Mr. America contest; he would win an award for best developed arms.
Following the bodybuilding contest, Graham found he had a whole new level of fame within the wrestling world. So much so that he received a call from Vince McMahon Sr. with a start date in a few months time. With an initial plan to stay in Houston, Graham was set to make his way back to the North East where he had wanted to go a few years prior. Fate would again change for Billy though, an unfortunate plane crash would leave the Carolinas short of top talent. George Scott the booker would call in Graham and Steve Strong for a short run whilst they laid ground work for the future.
October 25, 1975 is the first match I find recorded for the Superstar in the WWWF. He and Spiros Arion defeated Bruno Sammartino and Dominic DeNucci in a two out of three falls match. Of course as soon as Graham had entered the WWWF, he was also teamed up with the great Ernie Roth A.K.A. The Grand Wizard of Wrestling. The two personalities just instantly meshed together on screen.
After a short solo feud with Dominic DeNucci on January 12, 1976, Superstar Billy Graham and Bruno Sammartino the WWWF World Heavyweight Champion collided for the very first time inside of Madison Square Garden. Graham, would even win this initial encounter, but only by count-out.
The two would do battle all over the territory until Bruno finally walked away the triumphant babyface and Billy would be relegated down the card as was custom in the WWWF at that time. He would soon leave though in the run up to the summer. Graham and old friend and tag-team partner Ivan Koloff were planning on setting up their own promotion running against Mike LeBell in Los Angeles. Billy would also occasionally wrestle for Houston still during this time, even taking on the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Jack Brisco. After long draw out legal battle over the summer, both Ivan and Billy gave up on the idea of running a promotion.
Following a quick stop in St. Louis, Billy Graham headed on over to Championship Wrestling from Florida where his good friend Dusty Rhodes was the booker. The first match I find recorded for him there took place on November 15, 1976, where he beat Ray Candy in a singles match.
In Florida arguably Superstar's biggest feud started and it would last him most of his stay in the Sunshine State. He and Dusty Rhodes took part in a variety of brutal gimmick matches all over the territory including, bullrope matches, cage matches, strap matches, and lumberjack matches.
Whilst working for Eddie Graham his storyline brother, a fact that was never openly acknowledged during his stay in Florida, Billy received a call from Vince McMahon Sr. with an offer for him to go back to the WWWF. The WWWF had quietly rejoined the NWA in 1971, so a working agreement was to be made between Eddie & Vince Sr. also regarding Billy Graham, they flew up to Vince's home to discuss details immediately:
"Vince lived in a picturesque house alongside a canal on an inlet. He walked Eddie and me onto his yacht, and we made ourselves comfortable in a well-appointed room below decks. Eddie sprawled out in a big chair, I stretched out on the floor, and Vince laid out his scenario:
'On April 30 in Baltimore, we're going to have Bruno drop the title to you. Then, on February 20, 1978, we're going to put the belt on Bobby Backlund in the Garden.'
It was that specific. There was only one thing that bewildered me. Although I'd met Backlund years back in North Dakota, and wrestled him recently in Florida, his name didn't really stir me. He'd always been just another babyface on the card, a guy who meant nothing when it came to drawing money. Was Vince really going to take an unknown and make him a champion? It seemed impossible for Backlund to follow the Living Legend and Superstar Billy Graham in Madison Square Garden.
'This is going to be the longest run for a WWWF heel champion ever,' Vince continued.
'I'm honored,' I replied. 'I'm ready to do business.'
With Eddie Graham as our witness, we closed the deal with a handshake. No lawyers. No contracts. No demands."
Graham finished up his time in Florida and in the process met the love of his life and wife to be, Valerie. Graham again made a quick stop to St. Louis taking on former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Pat O'Connor and the current NWA World World Heavyweight Champion, Harley Race in a couple of matches.
Just before he left for good though, Eddie Graham crowned Billy with the Florida State Tag-Team Championship with partner Ox Baker. Then it was off on the journey to Baltimore. On April 30, 1977, Bruno Sammartino lost in a grueling strongman match against Superstar Billy Graham, even if the Superstar did cheat with his feet on the ropes. As you can imagine, that night in Madison Square Garden was in a near riot like state as Graham fought his way to the back with his new title.
After winning the championship Graham would compete against some of the industries biggest names such as Dick the Bruiser in St. Louis, Rusher Kimura in Japan, Bobo Brazil, Chief Jay Stronbow, and Gorilla Monsoon. He'd go back to Florida and drop the tag belts with Ox Baker to the Brisco brother. Then Billy reignited his feud with Dusty Rhodes.
The two would battle over the WWWF Heavyweight Championship travelling between Florida and New York having wars in both territories including the bullrope match that is probably the most remembered to this day. He'd move on to competition like High Chief Peter Maivia, Ivan Putski and Stan Stasiak defeating them all.
It was starting to draw close to Graham dropping the belt, he wasn't happy about doing it, but Vince Sr. was a man of his word. Vince McMahon Jr. remembers:
"All the stars had lined up for Superstar Billy Graham, and I wish it lasted longer than it did. I thought he would have been an extraordinary babyface. But my dad didn't see it that way. It wasn't traditional. The way of thinking back then was you couldn't have someone his size as a babyface. How could you get sympathy for him?
I always thought that we missed the boat with Superstar, and quite frankly, had I been in charge at the time, he would have been Hulk Hogan for me."
The match with Backlund would be set up when Bob prevented Graham from cheating during a match against Mil Mascaras. Before the title change though, Graham would have to face Bruno Sammartino in a cage:
"Bruno suggested that I protect myself in the eyes of the fans. 'Let's do something tonight to hurt your knee,' he said. 'Then you can limp into the ring at the Garden, and the people won't think you're at a hundred percent.' That's how much Bruno didn't believe in Backlund. I'm sure he was insulted that Vince was going to try and make Bob into another Sammartino.
Of course, no one had given us permission to fake a knee injury. In fact, this went beyond going into business for ourselves. Backlund's long reign needed to start with him winning the gold from a healthy man, not a cripple. We couldn't let anyone else find out about our idea and stooge to Vince Sr. Only Bruno and I were in on the scheme."
The plan went off without a hitch. Backlund focused on the knee in the match, and Graham lost, even though his foot was on the rope on February 20, 1978. He recalls wearing white tights for the match as a symbolic gesture of it's not really the Superstar losing the belt, as the color was too bland for him. Following the standard return matches against Backlund, which turned bloody, Superstar went at it one more time with his friend Dusty Rhodes across the North East circuit closing out 1988.
Graham would become despondent to the wrestling world after his run in the WWWF ended. He would start to work for an old friend who had a sprinkler installation company only working matches when he was really desperate for money. Still he would be booked against big names such as Bruiser Brody, Jerry Lalwer, Jack Brisco and an old friend, Rocky Johnson.
Billy attempted a couple of different projects over the course of his time away from wrestling, but each venture would fail. He was also feeling the effects of his drug addiction catching up on him. After a near miss, Graham continued down the same path, he would compete for New Japan Pro Wrestling at the beginning of 1982 though.
Then in the middle of 1982 Graham was contacted by Vince Jr. who had recently purchased his fathers WWWF and it had been renamed the World Wrestling Federation. Graham recalls getting back on the steroids in preparation to go to the WWF. What he didn't tell Vince Jr. was that in the mean time, he'd shaved his head and grown a black mustache, along with the fact he'd be coming in wearing a gi to do a karate gimmick.
Superstar would enter the WWF to go into a big feud with Bob Backlund, initiated by the karate man smashing the heavyweight championship. The rest of his run which ended in early 1983 wasn't particularly memorable as Graham battled with his personal demons and continued with a gimmick that people just simply didn't understand.
After attempting to battle his addiction problems through-out the summer of 1983 Graham would head back to the AWA, the first match I have recorded for him at that time was on October, 20 when he was disqualified whilst battling Jim Brunzell. Not much was happening for him in the AWA and Graham soon got fed up of the cold weather and left in January of 1984.
By April of 1984 he started working for CWF again with Dusty booking him in a series of powerhouse matches against Billy Jack Haynes, in a famous angle where Graham broke Haynes' arm. From there Graham teamed up with Kevin Sullivan and his 'Satanic' group, eventually Billy would turn face on the heels leading to a bloody set of matches between Sullivan and Billy, and a symbolic image of Graham in white ring wear, covered in his own blood that lingered in fans minds.
January of 1985 saw him head up to the Carolinas where Rhodes was now booking. Through-out the entirety of his new gimmick though Graham never really connected with the fans other than briefly in Florida and during a team with Barbarian Graham decided it was time for a change:
"So one day I walked into Jim Crockett's office with an announcement: 'It's time to go back to who I am. I want to do my old gimmick. The tie-dye, the promises, everything else.'
'Crockett nodded. 'You know, Superstar,' he said, 'that's the greatest news I ever heard. When Dusty brought you in, that's who I thought I was getting.'
Obviously, Crockett didn't keep up with wrestling outside his territory. But he was ready to put faith in me.
'I need $5,000 to make this thing happen,' I added.
Crockett was unfazed. 'That's fine, Superstar.'"
And the Superstar was back. Teaming with Jimmy Valiant, however, this time he added a slice of preaching into his patter, talking of the love of God as he reeled off his promos. Graham remembers his stand out feud as being with Bam Bam, and even changed the final finish to putting the big man over. The whole time inside, Graham was deteriorating from his constant drug usage and it would only be so long before it'd catch up on him.
In the mean time though he managed to get a deal with Vince Jr. and head back up to the WWF. He filmed one taping for them, and disaster struck. Wayne Coleman needed a total hip replacement, he knew it before the taping, but decided to try and delay the inevitable until he was hot enough Vince Jr. needed him, but his hip popped out whilst lifting someone off the ground in a bear hug.
Back in the locker room whilst getting medical attention, Vince Jr. approached him:
"'What's going on, Superstar?'
'The hips gone, Vince.'
'Can we at least have you come out so fans can see you?'
'You know I want to do that, Vince. But I'm in too much pain. I need a hip replacement. It's over.'
Vince squeezed my arm. 'It isn't over, Superstar. I will not put you out to pasture. Let's get it fixed. We're going to make a comeback.'
'Vince, I don't have the money or the insurance.'
'I'll pay for it.' Vince cut me off. 'Then you'll pay me back.'
Billy's surgical procedure would be recorded and aired as a gateway for Superstar to come back as the babyface with sympathy. But after the surgery Graham would continue his life as he had before and returned back to action in the early parts of 1987 against the Brooklyn Brawler.
The return would be sadly short lived though, Superstar's body was literally decaying from the inside out. With his injuries adding up, he went out during his feud with Butch Reed, following an associate of Reed's through manager Slick, the One Man Gang took Graham out. This action opened up a new chapter in the Superstar's career as he began to manager Don Murace who had come down to the ring to make the save during the dastardly attack.
Superstar would take to being in Muraco's corner and travel the circuit with him, he would even be included in an angle where Valentine attacked the battle retired Graham with the figure-four leg-lock hold setting up a match for the protege Don Muraco to take on Greg Valentine. Unfortunately during a European trip things would get out of hand, and Don Muraco would end up being fired, leaving Superstar with nobody to manage.
Vince Jr. placed Graham as a representative, and as a commentator, but Graham was beyond help at this point, his drug addiction had pretty much ruined his ability to think effectively in any role that required something other than his same old speech. In January 1989 the inevitable came, Billy was released from the company, Vince Jr. recalls:
"I'm trying to find something that this guy can do. You'd think that being an announcer would be one of them. He's got the gift of the gab. So let's try that. I was trying to keep him on the payroll.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Billy was in a lot of pain and on medication, because his material was not really sharp. He could talk for himself, but he didn't have the ability to get other individuals over verbally. And that's not good.
I tried every conceivable way to keep him around. But dead weight is lousy for morale, and doesn't really help the individual in the long run."
Wayne Coleman was in a bad state when he was released by the WWF. His body was still deteriorating, he failed at an attempted acting career. Eventually he had no choice but to sign on for disability benefits. As you can imagine Graham was in a state of depression at the time.
In 1991 the WWF would go through the infamous drug trial involving Dr. Zahorian and Vince McMahon in specific. Superstar would testify against the WWF & the doctor, in an act that he at the time felt was justified as they had let him go from the company.
Graham would be a big part of securing jail time for Zahorian, whilst the WWF would be cleared of all charges. Graham has since stated he just wanted some of Vince's money he had never meant to get him so close to a federal penitentiary.
In the years ensuing the court courses and legal allegations that ended in 1994, Wayne would once again become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Coleman took up religious speaking and made his money through selling old merchandise. He had finally turned his life around and gotten completely again, for the second time in his life, Wayne was born again, this time he didn't veer off the path again.
In 2003 he was backstage at the WWE (formerly the WWF) to meet and greet all the talent and Vince McMahon, this came after Wayne was faced with death in the year of 2002, from his years of steroid and drug abuse his liver had suffered dramatically to the point it was in chirrhosis. Luckily for Coleman he received a liver transplant.
Superstar Billy Graham would appear again on a WWE event in 2004 when he was inducted by Triple H into their Hall of Fame. Later, when Abdullah the Butch was inducted due to allegations that Abdullah had passed HIV onto a young upcoming star in a blood bath of a match, Coleman would state he no longer wished to be associated with a Hall of Fame that has Abdullah in it.
There would be a few more appearances by Graham between 2004 and 2006 when he made his last appearance promoting his book, and his DVD both released under the WWE umbrella. Coleman has now distanced himself completely from WWE following the earlier mentioned Hall of Fame dispute, and he has openly stated displeasure at current stars such as CM Punk for being disrespectful. People close to Wayne, have suggested he could be working everyone still, the truth is only Coleman knows if it is a work on his behalf or not.
Currently Coleman is going through health problems again with his new liver, but until recently as of writing this in June 2013, Coleman had been doing lectures on talks on the dangers of drug usage to schools and athletes around the nation right up until he was hospitalized.
Billy Graham has been nothing if not controversial through-out his whole career. He was a trend setter in the industry. He was an innovator of verbally communicating with the fans. He influenced generations who came after him. Possibly most important of all, whether right or wrong, he did it his way. There will only ever be one Superstar Billy Graham, he will be mimicked, copied, replicated, and admired for time to come, but he will never be duplicated. He truly was, 'The sensation of the nation. The number one creation,' and 'The man of the hour, the man with the power. Too sweet to be sour.'
Quote Sources
Billy Graham's autobiography, Tangled Ropes.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of "Superstar" Billy Graham.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #58.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.