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Wayne Coleman became a devout Christian in his late teens and when it came
time to step in to the ring he took the name of the world reknowned Reverend
Billy Graham. The Superstar Billy Graham developed his muscular physique
and gave Vergne Gagne some tough matches for the AWA World Title. Graham
was successful in Florida in putting away Dusty
Rhodes and he reached the pinnacle of his career when he joined the WWWF
and defeated the Living Legend Bruno Sammartino in 1977 for the WWWF World
Heavyweight Title. Graham's tie-dyed and muscular look set him and manager
the Grand Wizard apart from all others and during his reign on top of the
world, Graham met and defeated dozens of the greatest stars the WWWF had
to offer including Bruno Sammartino in rematches, Bob Backlund, Pedro Morales,
Chief Jay Strongbow, Ivan Putski and Gorilla Monsoon. Graham even wrestled
the first NWA versus WWWF Champions match in a time limit draw with Handsome
Harley Race in Madison Square Garden. Graham finally lost the title to
Bob Backlund even though his feet were on the ropes in 1978. Graham stayed
around teaming with his storyline cousin Luke Graham, Ivan Koloff and others
to form successful teams before bouncing around the independents to have
great bouts with stars such as the King Jerry Lawler, Wahoo McDaniel at
Starrcade in 1983 and others.
He briefly returned to the WWF to rip Bob Backlund's WWF Title belt in half. Graham's last run in the WWF began in 1987 as a fan favourite feuding with Butch Reed, One Man Gang and Slick. In reality, Graham's hip was decayed from years of steroid abuse and he had to retire. On comera, he suffered a serious injury from the Gang, Slick and Reed and came back as Don Muraco's manager. Graham did some colour commentary for the WWF before retiring altogether in 1988. He went through some serious health problems before re-emerging in the Vince McMahon Steroid Scandal to testify against Vince but at the end of the day, he and Vince put their differences aside to let Graham enter the WWF Hall of Fame. Graham is without question a great influence to many of wrestling's biggest stars including Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura and Scott Steiner among others. As he said, "I'm the man of the hour, the man with the power, too sweet to be sour!" and now he's also a UWOW Hall of Famer! |
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