Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Death Of Gorgeous George Jr.

On may 12, 2012, Gorgeous George Jr passed away. In truth he was not related to Gorgeous George and was even sued by the widow of the real one in order to prevent him from wrestling in California under that name. In other lcoations, however, he was quite successful as the supposed offspring of the "Human Orchid."

His real last name was Phelps and he was trained by Ted Dibiase, making his pro debut in 1960.

The odd part was though his career was based on a sham, he was actually quite capable in the ring and especially talented on the microphone.

Gorgeous George Jr had a run in Arizona in the mid-1960s, capitalizing on the fame of his supposed "father" in decades past. He had several hair-raising and violent matches at the Phoenix Madison Square Garden.

Goerge was also big in Texas and Oklahoma, but was fired in Tennessee when in full character, he made a fatal slip on live television and called George Gulas a "sniveling little shit."

When he was not actively wrestling hismelf.Jr. worked as a manager, most notably for The Mongolian Stomper, where again, his skill as a "talker" came through.

After retirement from wrestling, Jr. saw varied lines of work, including a role as a traveling evangelist.

1 comment:

  1. No one ever mentions his stay here in Portland Oregon when he took on Dutch Savage, the Kangaroos and his relentless feud with Beauregaurde. He had a goatee then. So classic when he came out dressed in his classic regalia and Beauregaurde would come out dressed like a wizard or a price making Gorgeous Gearge furious. It was hilarious. Portland Wrestling was the very best back then.

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