Wrestling Legend ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham Reportedly Dead at 79

Graham was among the biggest wrestling stars of the 1970s and influenced the likes of Hulk Hogan to enter the profession.

“Superstar” Billy Graham, one of the most charismatic pro wrestlers of all time, has died at 79 years old, according to fellow wrestling legend Ric Flair.

Graham (real name Eldridge Wayne Coleman) died Wednesday after being taken off life support and spending most of his time in the hospital this year. He was initially hospitalized in January with an infection in his ears that spread to his ear bones and skull. Graham was battling numerous health issues that included acute kidney failure, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and hearing loss.

Graham was in deteriorating health throughout the last decades of his life. He received a liver transplant in 2002 due to hepatitis C and cirrhosis.

Billy Graham paved the way for the rise of pro wrestling in the decades that followed his heyday in the 1970s / Courtesy WWE

With a larger-than-life physique and incredible promo ability, Graham was among the biggest wrestling stars of the 1970s. He was hugely influential in his era, including being the reason Hulk Hogan chose to pursue pro wrestling as a career.“

“Superstar Billy Graham is the reason I wanted to become a wrestler,” Hogan wrote in 2017. “I remember my dad taking me to see him wrestle as a kid at the Armory in Tampa and I remember pointing at Superstar and telling my dad I want to be just like him.”

Graham held the WWWF world championship from April 1977 to February 1978. He won the title from Bruno Sammartino and lost it to Bob Backlund.

Graham was also a bodybuilder who became friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger through the two working out together. Schwarzenegger is the godfather of Graham’s daughter Capella.

In 1996, Graham was included in the inaugural class of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004.