WWE Icon and Hall of Famer ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham Passes Away at 79; Wrestling World Pays Tribute to His Legacy

The sports enter­tain­ment indus­try is in mourn­ing after the death of WWE icon ‘Super­star’ Bil­ly Gra­ham, who died Wednes­day at 79. Gra­ham had been suf­fer­ing from health prob­lems for months and was recent­ly on life support.

Gra­ham, whose real name was Eldridge Wayne Cole­man, was a trail­blaz­er of sports enter­tain­ment. His charis­mat­ic per­sona and mus­cu­lar body inspired many wrestlers, such as Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Triple H.

Flair, a 16-time world cham­pi­on, thanked Gra­ham for influ­enc­ing his own career. ‘The Super­star Bil­ly Gra­ham Just Left Us. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR INFLUENCE On My Career!’ Flair tweeted.

Paul Hey­man, a for­mer WWE man­ag­er, said Gra­ham’s impact went beyond any sin­gle wrestler. ‘Before Bil­ly Gra­ham, per­form­ers in WWWF / WWF/ WWE were known as pro­fes­sion­al wrestlers. After Bil­ly Gra­ham left his mark, Vin­cent Kennedy McMa­hon decid­ed every­one would be a WWE Superstar.’

Oth­er wrestling leg­ends paid trib­ute to a ‘mas­ter on the micro­phone’ and ‘the cham­pi­on and most over man in the busi­ness.’ The WWE hon­ored Gra­ham on their web­site, cel­e­brat­ing his 1977 WWWF Heavy­weight Cham­pi­onship reign and 2004 Hall of Fame induction.

Gra­ham debuted in wrestling in 1969 and joined the WWWF, now WWE, in 1975. His flashy style and charis­ma made him an instant star. Though he admit­ted to pio­neer­ing steroid use in wrestling, Gra­ham lat­er cam­paigned against the dan­ger­ous practice.

Health issues plagued Gra­ham in recent years. Accord­ing to a GoFundMe cam­paign, he had been hos­pi­tal­ized for months and spent weeks in inten­sive care before pass­ing away. The cam­paign sought to raise mon­ey for Gra­ham’s fam­i­ly dur­ing his illness.

Besides wrestling, Gra­ham had a suc­cess­ful body­build­ing career. His impres­sive physique and strik­ing looks — from his long blond hair to his mem­o­rable mus­tache — embod­ied the ‘Super­star’ per­sona that inspired so many future wrestlers.

Though an inno­va­tor in his era, Gra­ham lived long enough to see his influ­ence span gen­er­a­tions. The pro wrestlers of today owe a debt to his rev­o­lu­tion­ary style and unmis­tak­able charis­ma. Gra­ham paved the way for the sports enter­tain­ers of tomor­row, cement­ing his sta­tus as an all-time great.