Austin Region, Minn. Subregion, First Round: (12)Bob Backlund vs. (21)Gorgeous George

Who Wins This Match?

  • Bob Backlund

  • Gorgeous George


Results are only viewable after voting.

klunderbunker

Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
This is a first round match in the Austin Region, Minneapolis Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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#12. Bob Backlund

Vs.

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#21. Gorgeous George



Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.
 
Bob Backlund wins this without too much trouble. Gorgeous George was flamboyant as possible and loaded with charisma on a level Bob Backlund never even knew existed. Gorgeous George was a true pioneer in the "sports entertainment" aspect of pro wrestling, though that's not to say he wasn't a good amateur wrestler because he was. Hell, even Lou Thesz said he was "pretty good", but I just don't see it happening against Backlund.

Backlund, officially speaking, is the second longest reigning WWE Champion in history and while George was a solid in-ring guy, he was primarily a gimmick wrestler as being Gorgeous George was his true bread and butter. After some funny antics from George and no shortage of cheating, Backlund goes over with a submission win via the Crossface Chicken Wing.
 
Tough match up this one. Probably the hardest of the first round draw. Backlund is criminally underrated by many wrestling fans. Regardless of some fan belief, and what others [Graham/Zbysko] would say, the man was a fantastic drawing card. He was one of the the most successful champions WWE ever had. McMahon Sr. was not insane when he took the title from Graham and placed it on Backlund. Backlund was box office gold. But then again so was George.

This is what I see. Backlund had the longevity while George had the greater impact on the industry. While he wasn't the first flamboyant character in wrestling, he was arguably the first to gain national recognition. And he has had a near endless amount of imitations. He transcended wrestling and into the mainstream culture in ways that Backlund never did. And never could.

I think I'm going to back George here. Again; tough choice for a first round match.
 
Gorgeous George not only revolutionized the entertainment aspect of wrestling, but boxing and music as well. James Brown and Muhammad Ali have went on record to say George gave them the inspiration to put the pomp and circumstance to their respective industries. There is so much lost on George it's not even funny. Would George be able to hold his own against the Hogans or the Cenas of his era? Who Knows? All I know is he was the big guy on campus in his day. Backlund is starting to become underrated, it's true, but George has been underrated for the past 40 years.

Georgeous George made wrestling what it is today. He had the charisma to show us what a cowardly heel was, and how we could keep watching that type of character even if we hated it. Backlund was very dry with a great wrestling prowess. I go with George, because wrestling is fake and we all need to keep that in mind. The guy made it what it is. I do put him on the same levels as Graham, Savage, and Flair. Because who the fuck knows what they'd be if he didn't have a personality.

George left the greatest impact.
 
Guys, vote Gorgeous George. Without Gorgeous George and the unparalleled success that he had as a gimmick wrestler in an era that looked down upon gimmicks, modern professional wrestling probably looks vastly different. He created what we recognize as heel work today. In a way, Gorgeous George is the grandfather of modern wrestling. Not only did he influence pro-wrestling, he legitimately influenced popular culture. Guys like Muhammad Ali, Liberace, James Brown, and Bob Dylan have all cited George as an influence. Hell, he's the main reason that professional wrestling became an American past-time with the advent of television; guys like Lou Thesz and Ed Lewis were great wrestlers, but Gorgeous George was a bonafide A-list star.

We talk about guys like Hulk Hogan and The Rock as the greatest cross-cultural wrestlers of all time, but that's not true. Gorgeous George was bigger than both of them.

Bob Backlund was a great champion in an era of great champions. He beat Bruno Sammartino true, but he never drew like Gorgeous George did and he was not even close to as influential. I understand a lot of people probably aren't anywhere near as familiar with George as they are with Backlund but all you have to do is a google search. If people still think Backlund deserves to win afterwards, than by all means vote for him, but I doubt they will.
 
Bob Backlund was a great champion in an era of great champions. He beat Bruno Sammartino true, but he never drew like Gorgeous George did and he was not even close to as influential. I understand a lot of people probably aren't anywhere near as familiar with George as they are with Backlund but all you have to do is a google search. If people still think Backlund deserves to win afterwards, than by all means vote for him, but I doubt they will.

Actually Backlund did draw like George. In fact he may have been better since he had longevity, especially has a major headlining champion, that George never did. George transcended wrestling in ways that Bob couldn't. Wrestling fans knew Bob Backlund. Non wrestling fans knew The Human Orchid and The Toast of the Coast. So if you put more stock in cross cultural appeal then George is your man. He also had a more profound impact on the industry, so there's that too. But don't sell Bob's popularity short. The man was box office gold.
 
Actually Backlund did draw like George. In fact he may have been better since he had longevity, especially has a major headlining champion, that George never did. George transcended wrestling in ways that Bob couldn't. Wrestling fans knew Bob Backlund. Non wrestling fans knew The Human Orchid and The Toast of the Coast. So if you put more stock in cross cultural appeal then George is your man. He also had a more profound impact on the industry, so there's that too. But don't sell Bob's popularity short. The man was box office gold.

I had always heard Backlund was a low-drawing champion. After looking it up... wow. People are right, Backlund is criminally underrated. That still wouldn't change my vote because I wholly believe George was amongst the most influential wrestlers in history and light-years ahead of his time but I have a newfound respect for Bob. Of course, the generational gap makes it difficult to compare the two in terms of who drew the most money on a relative scale but it would have been much closer than I originally assumed.

You learn something new every day.

Still vote George people.
 
Gorgeous George is more influential. He is easily a top five for influence. Bob Backlund is the most underrated talent ever. Amazing draw and a LONG time champion. His accolades are unimpeachable and he is sneaky influential. Ironically, for as influential as George was, he wasn't much of an influence on Bob.

This is like Buddy Holly vs U2. Buddy Holly is one of the most influential guys in the history of music. U2 are underrated as hell despite being one of the great live draws of all time and with an unimpeachable catalogue, a house of awards, and are sneaky influential.

U2 made Achtung Baby. Bob Backlund was champion for 6 years.

VOTE FOR BOB!
 
Gorgeous George was a very popular and charismatic heel that in many ways set the bar for a charismatic heel. The sort of person that back in the day would beat all manner of popular faces and then lose to the long term travelling face champion. This is absolutely one of those kinds of matches, and Backlund would win it.
 

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