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RIP 'Mean' Gene Okerlund
Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:57 am
by SpacemanSpiff
Longtime WWF/WWE announcer, was as much a part of the show as the 'rasslers were.
https://www.al.com/sports/2019/01/wwe-a ... at-76.html
Re: RIP 'Mean' Gene Okerlund
Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 11:24 am
by littlebeast13
For someone who watched a lot of rasslin back in the 80's, I don't really remember a whole lot about the rasslers themselves. But this guy I absolutely do remember...
lb13
Re: RIP 'Mean' Gene Okerlund
Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:43 pm
by silverscreenselect
littlebeast13 wrote:For someone who watched a lot of rasslin back in the 80's, I don't really remember a whole lot about the rasslers themselves. But this guy I absolutely do remember...
lb13
I've always felt that announcers like Mean Gene and Gordon Solie were a big part of wrestling's popularity. They had to play both the straight man and the occasional "aggrieved conscience" of the audience.
RIP.
Re: RIP 'Mean' Gene Okerlund
Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:55 pm
by T_Bone0806
As Mean Gene himself would say, "Gimme a break!"
Definitely a big part of the Hulk Hogan-led surge into the mainstream back in the 80's. His interplay with guys like Hogan, Bobby Heenan, and Roddy Piper was classic.
He also sang a heckuva "Tutti Frutti", as immortalized on "The Wrestling Album".