Straight from the Hart by Bruce Hart Read Free Book Online

infamous Dungeon. Coleman was an impressive specimen, standing six-foot-five and weighing 295, with 23

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    inch arms and able to bench press over 500 pounds — which was close to the world record at that time. Beyond that, he seemed to have a natural gift of gab and exuded charisma.
    While he was getting his feet wet in our territory, Coleman would make the acquaintance of this washed-up old alcoholic named Dr. Jerry Graham, who at one time had been a pretty decent heel. Graham — on the down side of his career at that time, but still a pretty fair bullshit artist — somehow seemed to make a favorable impression on Coleman, because the next thing my dad knew Coleman insisted on changing his name — to Billy Graham.
    After his run in Calgary, shortly thereafter, Coleman would explode onto the scene in the States as Superstar Billy Graham — where he would become a huge star, both in the AWA and later the WWF. He would reportedly be the inspiration for a whole generation of bombastic, musclemen types, including the likes of Jesse Ventura, Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior and the Road Warriors, among others.
    Not long after Coleman had hit the scene, my dad received another call —
    this time from Jack Britton, who was one of the promoters in Montreal. Britton (whose son Gino Brito later became a star of note) told my dad that he had a prospect named Larry Shreeve he’d been training and asked if my dad could do him a favor by booking him — to give him some seasoning. In the past, my dad had helped launch the careers of a number of guys from Montreal, including Maurice Vachon, Tarzan Tyler, Gilles Poisson, Stan Stasiak and Joe Le Duc.
    He told Britton to send Shreeve down.
    By the time he arrived in our territory Shreeve had changed his name to Abdullah the Butcher and had his deranged lunatic persona, down pat. Much like a wrestling version of the shark in Jaws, he systematically destroyed anything in his path and struck fear into the hearts of wrestling fans with his relentless, bloodthirsty quest for mayhem. That movie would go on to break all existing box office records, and the same was the case for Abby: he would go on to become the hottest drawing heel in the history of our promotion — surpassing even the Stomper and Killer Kowalski.
    With Abby and Coleman (Graham) more than fitting the bill as our lead heels, all we needed now were some good faces for them to work with. Shortly 36
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    after the new year, my dad’s wish, in that regard, would come true as Billy Robinson — who’d been working in Australia and Japan since he left Calgary back in July — returned. Robinson would pick right up where he left off as one of the hottest faces we’d ever had.
    Combining Robinson with Abby and Superstar, or “Supe” as he came to be known, we had an awesome trifecta and they would be the spearhead for our best season. Even better, they would set the stage for a period of prosperity that would extend for the next several years.
    I might add that after they left our promotion, Abby, Coleman and Robinson would go on to have an even more pronounced impact on the wrestling business in the States, Japan and around the world, not only drawing huge crowds, but inspiring a host of other wrestlers to endeavor to emulate them — much like a myriad of clones sought to copy Elvis or the Beatles after they made their big splashes. Unfortunately, Abby, Coleman and Robinson are all remembered more now in a negative context than for the positives that they brought into our business.
    Abby’s propensity for bloodbaths, gaffing (blading oneself) and gratuitous violence inspired countless others to follow suit — to the point where it became overkill and it disgusted and turned off thousands of fans. The saturation of bloodshed and extremism replaced wrestling as the main objective