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Showing posts with label Gorgeous George. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gorgeous George. Show all posts

June 5, 2016

How Muhammad Ali influenced professional wrestling, MMA


With the passing of Muhammad Ali, much of the talk about his legacy surrounds his contributions inside the squared circle. But Ali’s legacy extends beyond the boundaries of the sweet science as his influence bled into the worlds of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts.

The man known as the “Louisville Lip” is often credited for his influence on the world of professional wrestling and the wrestler’s ability to “cut a promo” in order to sell their upcoming match.

However, Ali has publicly credited professional wrestling for shaping and molding his ability to promote a boxing match like no other. It was in 1961 when Ali met pro wrestling superstar Gorgeous George that the future boxing champion realized the significance of selling a fight. In the autobiography “Muhammad Ali: His Life And Times,” Thomas Houser documents how the flamboyant and charismatic professional wrestler affected Ali.

“[George] started shouting: ‘If this bum beats me I’ll crawl across the ring and cut off my hair, but it’s not gonna happen because I’m the greatest fighter in the world,' " Ali told Houser of when he met Gorgeous George. “And all the time, I was saying to myself: ‘Man. I want to see this fight’ And the whole place was sold out when Gorgeous George wrestled … including me … and that’s when I decided if I talked more, there was no telling how much people would pay to see me.”

Ali would go on to establish a legacy of pre-fight theatrics that would hold just as much significance outside of the ring as the action inside of it...More?

October 14, 2015

Update on WWE's "Gorgeous George" Biopic


WWE Studios will co-develop the George Raymond Wagner biopic “Gorgeous George” alongside Robert Halmi Jr.’s Great Point Media, with Josh Gad and partner Ryan Dixon writing the script.

“Gorgeous George” will chronicle the life and career of Wagner, the professional wrestler and sports entertainer credited with inspiring the flamboyant personas of performers such as Muhammad Ali and James Brown and helping bring sports into the TV age.

“Gorgeous George was a true pioneer in television,” said Michael Luisi, President of WWE Studios. “Josh is a true talent and we are thrilled to see him and Ryan tackle such a groundbreaking story.”

Gad recently wrapped production on the Disney film “Beauty And The Beast” opposite Emma Watson and Luke Evans. He will begin production in January on STX Entertainment’s “Russ And Roger Go Beyond” as Roger Ebert.

WWE Studios will handle worldwide rights and will use WWE’s platforms, including weekly TV shows, digital and social media and the WWE Network, to market this title.

May 16, 2013

Rumor Mill - WWE Drops Gorgeous George Projects


It appears WWE has dropped any plans to do a DVD or feature film on Hall of Famer Gorgeous George. Originally, WWE Studios was going to do the movie and then they changed their minds and wanted to do a documentary DVD but the people involved in that project haven’t heard anything from WWE in a long time.

source: wrestling observer newsletter

December 26, 2012

This Day In Wreslting History - Gorgeous George Passes Away


"Gorgeous George" Wagner died of a heart attack at 48
March 24, 1915 - December 26, 1963

Muhammad Ali acknowledged that his own approach to flamboyant self-promotion was influenced by George. A 19-year old Ali met a 46-year old George at a Las Vegas radio station. During George's radio interview, the wrestler's promo caught the attention of the future heavyweight champion. If George lost to Classy Freddie Blassie, George exclaimed, "I'll crawl across the ring and cut my hair off! But that's not gonna happen because I'm the greatest wrestler in the world!" Ali recalled, "I saw 15,000 people comin' to see this man get beat. And his talking did it. I said, 'This is a gooood idea!'" In the locker room afterwards, the seasoned wrestler gave the future legend some invaluable advice: "A lot of people will pay to see someone shut your mouth. So keep on bragging, keep on sassing and always be outrageous." - wikipedia.org


Gorgeous George vs Larry Moquin

March 24, 2012

Outrageous, Gorgeous George

December 26, 2011

This Day in Wrestling History - Gorgeous George Passes Away


"Gorgeous George" Wagner died of a heart attack at 48
March 24, 1915 - December 26, 1963

Muhammad Ali acknowledged that his own approach to flamboyant self-promotion was influenced by George. A 19-year old Ali met a 46-year old George at a Las Vegas radio station. During George's radio interview, the wrestler's promo caught the attention of the future heavyweight champion. If George lost to Classy Freddie Blassie, George exclaimed, "I'll crawl across the ring and cut my hair off! But that's not gonna happen because I'm the greatest wrestler in the world!" Ali recalled, "I saw 15,000 people comin' to see this man get beat. And his talking did it. I said, 'This is a gooood idea!'" In the locker room afterwards, the seasoned wrestler gave the future legend some invaluable advice: "A lot of people will pay to see someone shut your mouth. So keep on bragging, keep on sassing and always be outrageous." - wikipedia.org


Gorgeous George vs Larry Moquin

June 5, 2011

Update on WWE Gorgeous George Movie


The planned Gorgeous George movie that WWE was in talks about developing in 2012 appears to have been changed to a documentary reports The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Those who knew or were close to George have been contacted about appearing in the documentary.

December 26, 2010

This Day in Wrestling History - Gorgeous George Passes Away


"Gorgeous George" Wagner died of a heart attack at 48
March 24, 1915 - December 26, 1963

Muhammad Ali acknowledged that his own approach to flamboyant self-promotion was influenced by George. A 19-year old Ali met a 46-year old George at a Las Vegas radio station. During George's radio interview, the wrestler's promo caught the attention of the future heavyweight champion. If George lost to Classy Freddie Blassie, George exclaimed, "I'll crawl across the ring and cut my hair off! But that's not gonna happen because I'm the greatest wrestler in the world!" Ali recalled, "I saw 15,000 people comin' to see this man get beat. And his talking did it. I said, 'This is a gooood idea!'" In the locker room afterwards, the seasoned wrestler gave the future legend some invaluable advice: "A lot of people will pay to see someone shut your mouth. So keep on bragging, keep on sassing and always be outrageous." - wikipedia.org


Gorgeous George vs Larry Moquin

April 27, 2010

WWE Studios Wrestles with Gorgeous George

In an age where books routinely get tiny movie options and languish in development, one could do worse than make a deal with wrestling mogul Vince McMahon's WWE Studios. In a mid-6 figure outright buy, WWE acquired the 2008 John Capouya book Gorgeous George: The Outrageous Bad-Boy Wrestler Who Created American Popular Culture. Not only was the deal brokered by Justin Manask generous for the author, but WWE Films has committed to a 2011 start date for a film about a journeyman wrestler who remade himself into a preening, vamping villain and became a national TV star at a time when there was little on the boob tube but wrestling and Milton Berle. WWE Films set John Posey to write the script for a film that will be the last of nine features WWE will generate in less than two years. The fourth, Killing Karma, is shooting now...More?

source: deadline.com

March 28, 2010

2010 WWE Hall of Fame Recap

March 26, 2010

Hall of Fame Gets Gorgeous

There are many wrestling legends who should be in the WWE Hall of Fame and at least one wrong will be righted this year with the induction of Gorgeous George. This is a man who truly revolutionised the wrestling business, on a level with the likes of Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin.

George introduced showmanship and flamboyance and became the poster boy for wrestling in the 1940s and 1950s. His extravagance gained him recognition outside of wrestling and he became a media darling and an icon of both television and the sport in which he applied his trade. He redefined what it was to be a professional wrestler, yet was responsible for selling as many TV sets as any celebrity of the time.

To become a star, George had to undergo a transformation from his old worthy wrestling persona into something new, something that nobody had seen before. The first step, and one of the defining moments of his career, came in 1939 where he married a local girl in Oregon in the middle of the ring. The stunt brought in so many fans that he took the event to arenas all across America, spreading the word about the wrestling revolution.

And that girl was Betty Wagner, who will be inducting 'The Human Orchid' into the Hall of Fame this weekend...More?

source: the sun

March 15, 2010

Gorgeous George Enters Hall of Fame

WWE announced that Gorgeous George, the man often credited with creating American pop culture and who set the standard for future WWE Superstars and influenced such greats as Muhammad Ali, James Brown and Bob Dylan, will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 27, 2010. His 96 year-old former wife, Betty Wagner will accept the honor on his behalf. The Hall of Fame ceremony will be broadcast that night on USA Network at 11 PM ET from the Dodge Theater in Phoenix, Arizona.

"Gorgeous George's was a pop-culture innovator who took risks pushing the social envelope and did things that no other performer had ever dared to do," said CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon. "He was a cultural tour-de-force who set the standard that many in the world of sports and entertainment still emulate today."

The significance of Gorgeous George's legacy led WWE Studios to option the rights to his story for a major motion picture slated to begin production in 1Q 2011.

Muhammad Ali, whose notorious boastful and arrogant style derived from George, stated, "I made up my mind after meeting Gorgeous George to make people angry at me...I saw 15,000 people comin' to see this man get beat. And his talking did it. I said this is a good idea."...More?

February 17, 2009

Ali, Dylan, James Brown Inspired by Wrestling’s ‘Human Orchid’

Muhammad Ali borrowed his boasting. James Brown copied his wardrobe. Bob Dylan called him a “mighty spirit.”

“Gorgeous George certainly didn’t invent the pervasive culture of narcissism that followed him, but he may well have been a catalyst, a powerful accelerant,” John Capouya writes in his spirited new biography, “Gorgeous George: The Outrageous Bad-Boy Wrestler Who Created American Pop Culture.”...More?

source: bloomberg.com

December 1, 2008

Music Legend resurrects Gorgeous George film

source: slam wrestling

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