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| Verne Gagne of the AWA |
Verne Gagne owned a company called the American Wrestling Association. He's
a good example of a how promoters were/are paraniod men who trusted no one. Does he look like a scary wrestler?
No, he does not.
While Verne was quite the athlete, he looked like an accountant. Verne used to make sure HE was always
the World Champion in his company becuase he was the only person he could trust to not run away to go work for soxmeone
else and take his expensive championship belt with him.
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| Gorgous George ,a precursor to Ric Flair |
Even in the 50's and 60's theater was a HUGE aspect of the wrestling business. This is Gorgeous George, perhaps the most
hated man in the history or wrestling just by virtue of being..."flamboyant".
People would pay relatively little but they'd gladly pay it to see this prissy villain gey what was coming to him. This
however is a long standing trick of prowrestling. The promoters knew they could prey upon America's lack of comfort around
the notion of an effeminate male and as long as George kept winning, he'd stay hated and the fans would pay MORE in hopes
they could see him lose.
SOME wrestling promoters were really smart.
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By the time I was old enough to get sucked into professional wrestling, wrestlers were more flamboyant and in a lot better
shape. Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage and Tully Blanchard would be good examples of this.
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| Nature Boy Ric Flair - current a 16 time Wold Champion and pretty damn old |
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| Hulk Hogan juuuust before Hulkamania and his hairline began running wild |
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| This is Tully Blanchard - Another guy I grew up loving to hate |
All of these pictures are examples of wrestlers from the 1950's through the 1980's. As you can see, the times
sort of dictated how a wrestler could look or even what sort of personality he could get away with having.
Gorgeous George used a fear of gender bending males to become a huge star as Tully Blanchard never saw a Tom Selleck
chest hair he didn't like.
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