[WWE Bracket] Round 1 Match 5: 'Superstar' Billy Graham Vs Razor Ramon

[Hyorinmaru]

Superstar Billy Graham

Graham was one of the first professional wrestlers to achieve popularity principally on the basis of his character rather than his wrestling skills. Superstar Billy Graham is credited for changing how American professional wrestling is portrayed. The WWE describes all of its competitors as "WWE Superstars;" a direct tribute to Billy Graham. Many wrestlers have claimed to have based their looks and styles on Billy Graham. Some famous examples are Paul Ellering, Scott Steiner, Triple H, Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Jesse "The Body" Ventura who were all heavily influenced by Graham's career. Former WWE Champion John Cena called Graham "The Original Doctor of Thuganomics" in an interview about his biography Tangled Ropes. He also won PWI's match of the Year 2 times once in '77 and once in '78


Razor Ramon

A participant in the first ever televised Ladder Match at WrestleMaina 10. He was 1/3 of the NwO along with Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan. He won 18 titles in his career including being a 4 time WWE Intercontinental Champion and a 7 time WCW Tag Team Champion. He won PWI's Match of the year, most improved wrestler of the year and Tag Team of the year. IN addition to winning PWI awards he also a 5-Star match rating and Match of the year from Wrestling Observer Newsletter both for his Ladder Match with Shawn Michaels at WM 10.
​

 

[Checkmate]

Interesting pairing you have here.

On one hand you have Billy Graham, perhaps one of the greatest from his era. He essentially defined the 'gimmick', and used it to catapult himself into fame. He had his run, dropped the belt, and influenced thousands of wrestlers for the next few decades. I'm making long story short here by stating how much he did for the business with his career. He was also good in the ring, if that matters, and knew how to carry the fans in his matches.

Arguably, Razor Ramon wouldn't exist without Billy Graham. However, I'll let that go and speak on the career of Scott Hall. He, like Graham, made an impact, and in two different companies at that. First, in the WWE he catapulted into the spotlight with Shawn Michaels in their now famous Intercontinental Championship feud. The Ladder Match at Wrestlemania and the return match (I believe at Summerslam) were both amazing matches from that time. Continuing on, Hall formed the NWO behind Hulk Hogan and with Kevin Nash. While the arguement can be made that Hogan was the face of the NWO, I doubt it would have worked without Hall. Add to this the lawsuit with WWF and WWF's purchase of WCW, and Hall made his own impact on the wrestling world.

Now, to who is the bigger legend. That is tough choice on the surface, but some details lead me to side with Billy Graham. He opened some doors for other guys to have more character in the ring. He essentially allowed every gimmick to exist, and without this, we would have had no Razor Ramon. So, contest over when one guy basically created the other. Graham wins.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Blah Blah Blah. Billy Graham allowed the other wrestlers to have more character. Fine and dandy. He sure as hell didnt perfect it though. Hulk Hogan took Grahams gimmick and did it ten times better. With that said. I'm going to be a mark and vote for Razor Ramon. Personally one of my favorite gimmicks and wrestlers of all time. The only to ever pull this gimmik off successfully to my knowledge. Too bad he cant keep his life together. Then again neither could Graham for a long while. To me though Ramon is the bigger legend.

 

[klunderbunker]

Damn. i'm split on this one. Ramon was great at what he did, but so was Graham. There's really no wrong answer here. Ramon never jumped to the main event like he should have, but he was better in the mid card to me. Graham, as monkey said, was blown out of the water by Hogan redoing his gimmick. That and the obscene steroid use puts Ramon over the top for me.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

Blah Blah Blah. Billy Graham allowed the other wrestlers to have more character. Fine and dandy. He sure as hell didnt perfect it though. Hulk Hogan took Grahams gimmick and did it ten times better. With that said. I'm going to be a mark and vote for Razor Ramon. Personally one of my favorite gimmicks and wrestlers of all time. The only to ever pull this gimmik off successfully to my knowledge. Too bad he cant keep his life together. Then again neither could Graham for a long while. To me though Ramon is the bigger legend.

The first one to do something very rarely perfects whatever it is they're doing. Hulk Hogan may have perfected it but with out Billy Graham to Copy from he would have had a much harder time becming the Legend he is today. Fast Forward to Razor Ramon with out Billy Graham making Gimmicks possible he would have never stood a chance in a Wrestling world where people wanted to see Actual wrestling skill.

 

[Shocky]

Charisma: Check
Mic Skills: Check
In Ring Ability: Check
Credible Title Reigns: Check.

How in the hell Ramon is still remotely in this thing is beyond me. Superstar Billy Graham was the guy to bust the door down of old school shooter/hooker wrestling and open it up to the world of sports entertainment that we all watch today, and that Ramon was a factor in. Without Graham busting this door down, wrestling would be a very different world. He may not have perfected the craft, but he sure laid the ground work down for Hogan to do so.

 

[48.7 is Approximately 49 Times Better Than You]

Graham would have been HUGE today, if he wrestled. He was way ahead of his time. While not the most talented "wrestler", he sure was a great entertainer. Billy was the first to make it big on character, not wrestling ability. He paved the way for the like of Hogan and for Austin and the Rock and John Cena. Without Graham, who knows where we might be?

Ramon was nothing special to me. I'm not sure why he's even in this.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

Resutls: Billy Graham wins 10-4 and goes on to face The Rock in round 2.

My thoughts: Can't say I'm surprised. Without Billy Graham making the 'Gimmick' popular there wouldn't have been a Razor Ramon. People can say that Hogan perfected it, but without this man there would have been nothing to perfect. Everyone who like Wrestling owes a thank you to Billy Graham for being a big part of making it what it is today.