Gene Okerlund, Critical Voice Of Professional Wrestling, Is Dead At Seventy Six

The two would wrestle again and Okerlund would win the match. Okerlund branched out from interviewing and offered ringside commentary and hosted several exhibits, together with All-American Wrestling, Tuesday Night Titans, Wrestling Challenge and Prime Time Wrestling. Gene also hosted WWE Madison Square Garden Classics, a weekly sequence airing on the MSG Network, that includes classic WWE matches at Madison Square Garden from the last 4 a long bronx pankey time. He was also the host for the WWE Classics On Demand Hall of Fame part, which took a look at a special WWE Hall of Famer each month. Mr. Okerlund hosted shows like “Tuesday Night Titans,” “WWF All American Wrestling” and “WWF Prime Time Wrestling,” and appeared briefly in a tag-team match with Mr. Hogan towards Mr. Fuji and George Steele in 1984. But Mr. Gagne persevered, and Mr. Okerlund worked in skilled wrestling from then on.

Okerlund also worked in Minneapolis for a local tv station in the entrance office. A 2012 feature on Todd Okerlund within the Minneapolis Star-Tribune referred to him as the founding father of Classicwrestling.com. During that interview, Todd Okerlund said that he wouldn’t thoughts seeing his son turn out to be a wrestler. Okerlund advised a neighborhood Minnesota newspaper in 2010 that, along together with his wife, he was a member of Minnesota National Golf Course. Despite living in Florida for a lot of the yr, Okerlund mentioned that the couple spent most of their summer at their house in Big Sandy within the northern a half of Minnesota.

Gene Okerlund’s web price is estimated at $9 million by CelebrityNetWorth.com. Okerlund passed away at seventy six on January 2, 2019, the WWE introduced. “Mean Gene” Okerlund, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 by Hulk Hogan, worked as a wrestling announcer for the explanation that Seventies. He had many friends in life and loved spending time and socializing with them. Gene cherished his spouse, Jeanne, who was by his aspect when he handed away. He also liked boating and spending time through the summer at his cabin on Big Sandy Lake in northern Minnesota.

He joined the World Wrestling Federation, now the WWE, in the Eighties, when the promoter Vince McMahon made it a nationwide organization. Mr. Okerlund, who was nicknamed Mean Gene by the wrestler Jesse Ventura, was a mild-mannered figure, especially by pro-wrestling standards. He usually appeared on the air in elegant apparel to conduct interviews with intensely muscled, scantily clad wrestlers like Macho Man Randy Savage, the Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan.

Okerlund moved to the WWE in 1984, where he began offering ringside commentary for hit shows including Tuesday Night Titans and All-American Wrestling. Okerlund’s career has enabled him to earn prestigious awards and honors, similar to a 1986 Slammy Award from the WWE for Best Commentator, as nicely as induction into the WWE Hall of Fame by Hulk Hogan in 2006. In 1993, he left the WWF and joined World Championship Wrestling, remaining there until the company was offered to the WWF in 2001. During his tenure on the WCW, he twice entered the ring, firstly joining Buff Bagwell to defeat Chris Kanyon and fellow announcer Mark Madden in 2000, and then in a one on one match-up towards Madden a week later, finishing as the winner again.

When Mean Gene Okerlund passed away, it was a loss not solely to the fans of professional wrestling but to those that knew him properly. Okerlund hosted various packages after rejoining the network, including WWE Madison Square Garden Classics, WWE Vintage Collection, and WWE Raw. He cast many shut friendships with the individuals he interviewed backstage, together with Hulk Hogan and Bobby Sheenan. Okerlund even served as greatest man on the Iron Sheik’s marriage ceremony. In 1984 he joined the World Wrestling Federation, the place he would spend the following nine years, establishing himself because the lead locker room interviewer and announcer. He additionally offered ringside commentary, and served as host of assorted WWF shows, such as “All-American Wrestling”, “Wrestling Challenge”, “Tuesday Night Titans” and “Prime Time Wrestling”.

On April four, 2009, the night before the twenty fifth anniversary of WrestleMania, Okerlund inducted longtime WWE ring announcer Howard Finkel into the WWE Hall of Fame. Lanny Poffo, who honors Okerlund in the penultimate episode of The Genius Cast podcast, talks about this time in wrestling history. His son Todd starred on the University of Minnesota ice hockey team from 1983 to 1987.

Todd also performed on the 1988 United States Olympics team that competed in Calgary. He performed 4 video games with the NHL’s New York Islanders, but a continual knee harm ultimately pressured his early retirement. Before discovering his voice on the stick in professional wrestling, he formed a band called Gene Carroll and The Shades when he was in his late teenagers. Gene Carroll and The Shades released two singles, one in 1959 with the tracks “Red Devil” and “Do You Remember” and once more in 1962 with the songs “Is It Ever Gonna Happen” and “Holly.”

Mr. Hogan helped popularize Mr. Okerlund’s nickname by repeating it at the beginning of many interviews. Leave a reminiscence or share a photograph or video below to level out your assist. Todd, who played hockey on the 1998 US Olympics staff, mentioned his father loved his career and would have accomplished it free of charge.