Superstar Billy Graham

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[JerryvonKramer]

Graham's case is that he did all the things Jesse Ventura could do, but was more over and was a shade better in the ring. He worked his character well. Had better timing and a better understanding of crowd psychology.

 

I would argue that on occassion he is hurt by bad booking. Why would you ever book him to go an hour with Harley Race? It's just stupid.

 

But if positioned well, he is among the top tier guys for "intangibles".

[Jingus]

Graham is indeed unsuited for doing hour broadways, but I thought he was often underrated in the ring. He spent most of his time stooging and selling, and he was good at those; also a really good bumper, which seems to be frequently overlooked when discussing him.

 

Of course I mean all that back in his prime, not in his shrunken shaven Karate Master gimmick period... we should just look upon that part of his career with great pity.

[elliott]

@Grimmas mentioned that wrestlers who haven't been mentioned since the 2016 project are no longer candidates until they are commented on again. So I wanted to get this out of the way. I also thought it'd be funny to tag Grimmas and it be in the Superstar Graham thread.

 

Superstar Graham is a viable top 100 candidate based on his 70s work. I haven't revisited his 80s work yet and I'm not expecting too much to be honest, but I wasn't expecting much out of his 70s work based on what I'd heard. It turns out I think he looks excellent based on his 70s work. I've mentioned elsewhere how much I enjoy stooging strongman wrestlers and Graham is an excellent example of this style of wrestler. Based on his reputation I didn't expect much of him but he kept popping up when I was looking at Bruno and Graham kept looking good. He's not going to be for everyone. He'll surprise you with quick flurries, a big bump or he'll come off the top rope. But with Graham you're going to get Bearhugs, Full Nelsons, things like that. Powerhouse submissions that are milked and played up big. Graham straddles the line between Strongman and Stooge incredibly well. He manages to keep his strong man credibility while infuriating the crowd by cheating & gloating but then he also puts the babyface over completely and totally. He will bump, beg off, get caught up in the ropes, he has no issue looking like a complete fool. Its great stuff. 

I wish we had more footage from his prime becasue he's a very compelling wrestler. He's got great stuff before and after but it looks like his case really hinges on his 76-78. In particular Graham's 1977 is a major year with the Bruno feud, the Dusty Feud, and other shockingly good matches with longtime WWWF mainstays Ivan Putski & Gorilla Monsoon. The Backlund matches in 78 are great as well. There's plenty to check out, but for me that Bruno feud was just like sent from heaven or something. Great stuff. 

 

[Ricky Jackson]

Yeah, really wish we had 1972-75 Graham, when he was involved in hot matches and feuds in San Fran, AWA, and Florida. There is a little bit of AWA but nothing much. Agree that 76-78 WWWF Graham is special. Those MSG matches with Bruno and Dusty are magic. From what I've seen, 80s Graham is almost tragically sad, at least the Kung Fu stuff. At his peak though, a transcendent star with plenty of matches worth seeking out

[elliott]

Its really interesting because the other big thing happening in 1977 WWWF was Patera's first run. Patera's first big rival when he broke into wrestling was against Superstar Graham. You can really see the Graham had on Patera's working style. . Patera isn't the over the top character that Graham is, but then Graham isn't the Olympic level athlete that Patera is.