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George Raymond Wagner, or Gorgeous George (March 24, 1915 - December 26, 1963) was a professional wrestler. March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (84th in leap years). ...
1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ...
December 26 is the 360th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, 361st in leap years. ...
1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...
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He was born in Nebraska, but his family moved to Texas while he was a boy. Official language(s) English Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Largest metro area Omaha Area Ranked 16th - Total 77,421 sq mi (200,520 km²) - Width 210 miles (340 km) - Length 430 miles (690 km) - % water 0. ...
Official language(s) No Official Language See languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area Ranked 2nd - Total 261,797 sq mi (678,051 km²) - Width 773 miles (1,244 km) - Length 790 miles (1,270 km) - % water 2. ...
Career
Wagner was a wrestler with an undistinguished career until he recreated his professional image in the early 1940s as the flamboyant Gorgeous George. His famed "Human Orchid" persona was created in part by growing his hair long, dyeing it blonde, and putting gold-plated bobby pins in it. He had a valet accompany him in his ring appearances, and was the first wrestler to have entrance music, Pomp and Circumstance, played during his appearances, as he entered the ring, followed by his valet and a purple spotlight. He wore costly sequined robes and the air had to be sprayed with perfumed disinfectant "GG" referred to as "Chanel #10" ("Why be half-safe?" he was famous for saying,) before he would start wrestling. Once the match began, he would cheat in every way he could. His credo: "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!" This flamboyant image and his showman's ability to work a crowd were so successful in the early days of television that he became the most famous wrestler of his time, drawing furious heel heat wherever he appeared. The Pomp and Circumstance Marches, op. ...
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character who is portrayed as behaving in an immoral manner, breaking rules or otherwise taking advantage of their opponents outside of the bounds of the rules of the match. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Gorgeous George attained his wrestling peak in May 1950 when he won the American Wrestling Association (Boston) world title by defeating Don Eagle. While George Wagner may have been considered a mere gimmick wrestler, he was actually a very competent freestyle wrestler, having started learning the sport in amateur wrestling as a teenager, and he could handle himself quite well if it came to a legitimate contest. The great Lou Thesz, who would take this AWA title away from Wagner, and who was probably the best "legit" wrestler in professional wrestling during the 20th century, displayed some disdain for the gimmick wrestlers. Nevertheless, he admitted that Wagner "could wrestle pretty well," but added that, "he [Wagner] could never draw a fan until he became Gorgeous George." 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday. ...
In professional wrestling, a gimmick is a wrestlers personality, behavior, attire and/or other distinguishing traits while performing. ...
FILA Greatest Wrestler of 20th Century (Greco-Roman) Alexander Karelin throws Olympian Jeff Blatnick with his Karelin Lift Andrell Durden (top) and Edward Harris grapple for position during the All-Marine Wrestle Offs. ...
Aloysius Martin Thesz (April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002), better known as Lou Thesz, was a legendary professional wrestler and six time World Heavyweight Champion. ...
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Wagner wrestled for another ten years. In one of his last matches he was defeated by the up-and-coming Bruno Sammartino. As his wrestling career wound down he raised turkeys and owned a cocktail lounge in Van Nuys, California, which he named "Gorgeous George's Ringside Restaurant". Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (born October 6, 1935), is a former professional wrestler, best known for being the longest-running champion of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), holding the title across two reigns for over 12 years in total, as well as the longest world championship reign in professional...
Van Nuys is a district within the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. ...
Toms Restaurant, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to order, to be consumed on the premises. ...
Wagner invested $250,000 in a 195-acre turkey ranch built in Beaumont, California, and the wrestler used his showman skills to promote his prized poultry at his wrestling matches and sport shows, popular during his heyday. Beaumont is a city located in Riverside County, California. ...
He appeared in one motion picture, "Pardon My Toehold", aka Alias the Champ, made in 1949.
He was married twice, first to Betty Hanson in the late 1930s (they were married in the ring). They had two children (adopted). In 1951, after divorcing Betty, he married Cherie Dupré. They had one son, Gary. Although Gorgeous George earned a lot of money during his career, he died nearly penniless. His funeral was attended by many notable people from the show business and the sports world; his fellow-wrestlers and those who promoted his matches (they donated $2000 towards the funeral, Cherie had to work a further 8 years to pay the other $8000). A plaque at his gravesite reads "Love to our Daddy Gorgeous George".
Wrestling historians give differing accounts of the inspirations for the Gorgeous George gimmick; according to Thesz, Wagner admitted he got the initial idea from another wrestler, Lord Patrick Lansdowne.
In any event, the Gorgeous George persona has had an extensive direct and indirect influence on entertainers since. Muhammad Ali and James Brown acknowledged that their own approach to flamboyant self-promotion was influenced by George's. The Looney Tunes wrestling character "Ravishing Ronald" is modeled after Gorgeous George. Musical performers such as Liberace, Little Richard, and Elton John show signs of the George meme. Some consider George to have been an early advancer of camp. Without doubt, uncounted numbers of dyed-blonde professional wrestling heels in the decades since can all trace their heritage back to Gorgeous George. Persona literally means mask , although it does not usually refer to a literal mask but to the social masks all humans supposedly wear. ...
For other persons named Muhammad Ali, see Muhammad Ali (disambiguation). ...
James Brown, known variously as: Soul Brother Number One, the Godfather of Soul, Mr. ...
Looney Tunes opening title Looney Tunes is a Warner Brothers animated cartoon series which ran in many movie theatres from 1930 to 1969. ...
Liberace shows off his rings (circa 1980). ...
Little Richard (born Richard Wayne Penniman, December 5, 1932) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. ...
Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE [2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947 is a multiple Grammy and Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ...
The term meme (IPA: , rhyming with theme; commonly pronounced in the US as , rhyming with gem), coined/popularized in 1976[1] by the biologist Richard Dawkins, refers to a unit of cultural information which can propagate from one mind to another in a manner analogous to genes (i. ...
For the the baseball player Bert Campaneris, see Bert Campaneris Camp is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value. ...
Championships and accomplishments This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
National Wrestling Alliance logo The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is the governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions and sanctions various NWA championships. ...
The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame is located in Amsterdam, New York and was previously located in Schenectady, New York. ...
For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...
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