Hamilton Graham: A History

Hamilton Graham was born Harry Gordon in 1955 in Chicago, Illinois.

“Handsome” Hamilton Graham’s career began in mid-1973 at the age of 18 when he began training for the ring under the watchful eye of legendary shooter, Mac Tate.  Tate worked with Graham for a few months before deciding the tough kid was ready for the ring, getting him booked in the Calgary, Alberta, Canada promotion just before the end of ’73 under a mask as The Black Knight.  Graham worked mostly preliminary matches but impressed the local promoter with his natural skills and work ethic.  As part of the mega-alliance of territories known as the International Wrestling Alliance, the Canadian promoter recommended that Graham be further developed for stardom.

Graham’s big break came in April of ’74 when he was given to the St. Louis Wrestling Office as part of a “make good” package after St. Louis had two of their top stars pulled to work the road for the IWA.  It was in St. Louis where Hamilton Graham would become a star.  He worked tirelessly for promoter Sam Owens in St. Louis, fine-tuning his craft and becoming one of the “stars of the future” as recognized by The Wrestling Gazette magazine.

It was Thanksgiving Night in 1975 where Graham first was given the spotlight as he had spent the majority of the past year earning the support of the St. Louis fans and seemed on the verge of a major breakthrough.  On that night, he won a Battle Royal to establish himself as the Number One Contender for the Missouri State Title and immediately challenged the current champion, Ronin Hashimoto, to a title match when the champion returned from Japan.  That return occurred on Christmas night for a big show at the Kiel Auditorium that drew a sell-out crowd of fans hoping to see the rookie knock off the foreign champion.  Graham put up a tremendous fight, repeatedly battling out from under the hard-hitting Hashimoto for nearly thirty minutes before catching him with a cross body off the middle rope for a shocking three count.  Hamilton Graham was the Missouri State Champion – a rarity for a competitor with just over two years under his belt as a pro grappler.

The Political Game

Graham quickly learned that being the champion is about more than just being the best wrestler, it also meant being the best at a different kind of game – politics.  St. Louis had once stood as the spotlight promotion of the IWA but in 1975, Southern Championship Wrestling was brought into the alliance and quickly upstaged the Wrestling Office.  In a desperate attempt to hang on to his spot, St. Louis promoter Sam Owens made a desperate move – he made a big money offer to “Iron” Brett Bryant – widely considered the best wrestling in the world – to jump ship from Bryant’s own Los Angeles-based territory to become a headliner in St. Louis.  Bryant accepted and many eagerly anticipated a series of Graham/Bryant matches throughout 1976.

As 1976 began, Brett Bryant’s arrival was scheduled for January 17th in the Kiel.  In a surprising move, Owens opted to put his new champion in a co-Main Event slot while capping off the night with Bryant’s debut.  It was a shocking decision to many in the industry who had grown up knowing that your champion always went on last.  To his credit, Graham did nothing to rock the boat, defending the title successfully against The Masked Assassin while Bryant defeated Ace Allen, a longtime friend and opponent from California in the best match of the night.

This pattern continued for several months – Hamilton Graham successfully defending the Missouri State Title on the undercard while Brett Bryant Main Evented in show-stealing matches.  By the summer of ’76, Hamilton Graham had had enough. 

On several shows in the summer of ’76, Graham and Bryant were booked as a tag team against several of the IWA’s finest rulebreaking duos, leading up to a large IWA tag team tournament being held in Philadelphia as part of the bicentennial celebration. Owens, never a fan of tag team wrestling, offered to send Graham and Bryant.  Graham and Bryant competed in the tournament, making it all the way to the semifinals before losing to the brawling Moonshiners from one of the Southern territories.

On their first show back in St. Louis at the Kiel, Hamilton Graham shocked the fans by blindsiding Brett Bryant after another loss to the Moonshiners, dropping him on his head with a piledriver.  Graham cut a scathing promo on the following week’s television, pointing out Bryant “burying” him while he still wears the Missouri State Title. Bryant came out to try and plead his case, looking for peace with the young competitor…

…and took the title belt across the face for his efforts, receiving another piledriver before Graham exited. Sam Owens, again seeing dollar signs, called for Hamilton Graham to meet Brett Bryant on Thanksgiving night 1976 for the biggest show of the year.

The match was as amazing as most expected it would be and in true St. Louis fashion, it went to a 60 minute time limit draw that ended with Bryant applying his Boston Crab – the Iron Crab –  but Graham holding on to keep the title. Graham retreated up the aisle, clutching the belt to his chest as the crowd booed him wildly. Inside the ring, Bryant challenged Graham to a rematch over the house mic to cheers.

But Graham declared that there would be no rematch, refusing to offer one to his top challenger but Bryant persisted and on the weekly television show, Sam Owens announced a 22 Man Battle Royal for Christmas Night where the winner would receive a title shot on New Year’s Day.  It was Bryant’s big chance to earn another title opportunity.  Bryant won the Battle Royal in impressive fashion, somehow muscling the gigantic Great Khan – the King of the Battle Royals – over the top rope for the final elimination to earn the title shot.

Owens brought out the big guns for New Year’s Day, bringing in top talent from all over the United States for what amounted to one of the first super cards in wrestling.  The show was an overwhelming success, drawing a turn away crowd for an event headlined by a two out of three falls showdown between the challenger Bryant and the champion Graham.

Bryant took the first fall with the Boston Crab. Graham attempted to walk out on the second fall, opting for the countout to save the title but Bryant wouldn’t have it, bringing Graham back in. The second fall turned into a bloodbath when Graham split Bryant’s eyebrow with a headbutt. After thirty minutes of punishment, Graham won the second fall with a falling headbutt off the middle rope. The final fall went for twenty minutes with Graham pummeling the cut eyebrow and after seventy-three minutes of action, Graham was declared the winner by referee stoppage due to blood loss.

Brett Bryant gave his notice after the match, intending to leave immediately.  The move shocked Owens which left him without a top challenger for Graham since so much focus had been put on the rivalry between Graham and Bryant.

A New Challenge

With 1977 in front of them, Graham made amends with the fans of St. Louis, pointing out that while Bryant had deserted them, he was still there and would always be there for them.  The fans embraced his return to their favor and were even more enthusiastic when he declared that since he’d been Missouri State Champion for over a year, he was the best wrestler in the world and intended to prove it by challenging the IWA World Champion, Cameron O’Connor, to come back to the territory where he’d gotten his start to defend the title against him.  O’Connor, embittered over his last stay in St. Louis, refused to return.

Sam Owens again was shocked when Hamilton Graham was given the opportunity to challenge for the IWA World Title… everywhere except St. Louis.  However, Owens felt he could not deny his top star such a great opportunity and allowed it to happen.  But while Graham was chasing O’Connor around the United States, Owens brought former St. Louis headliner, Terry Shane Jr.

During Graham’s absence from St. Louis, Terry Shane was running off a huge winning streak and began making noise about challenging Graham for the Missouri State Title upon his return.  That return came in March of 1977 for a title defense against Charles Cross.  Graham defeated Cross handily and was confronted by Shane who restated his challenge face-to-face with the popular champion who happily accepted.

The title defense was set for Memorial Day weekend for another big Kiel show.  However, ten minutes in, disaster struck and Graham tore a ligament in his left knee.  Soon after, he was forced to submit to the spinning toehold but Shane’s title victory was tainted by the lackluster matchup and the fans failed to rally behind him in the months to follow.

With Graham’s injury putting him on the shelf, he became known for being seen almost every night in the local taverns, often getting into drunken bar room brawls as a result.  One such brawl resulted in charges being pressed against Graham.  The ensuing legal drama forced Sam Owens to fire Hamilton Graham from the company where he’d made his name.

Return From Injury

Graham was sidelined for nearly a year with the knee injury, returning in March of 1978 with the hopes of challenging the returning IWA World Champion Cameron O’Connor to a title match.  However, Brett Bryant almost made his return to St. Louis at the same time period, causing Sam Owens to set up a “March Madness” Round Robin tournament with those two competitors, Terry Shane, and The Great Khan with the winner getting the title shot.  The giant overcame his opponents with ease, denying Graham his shot at the big gold.  The ensuing title match was a disaster and 1978 saw the St. Louis Wrestling Office in dire straits as many of their top stars, including Hamilton Graham jumped ship for Blackjack Lynch’s Texas-based Premier Championship Wrestling.

<GAP IN HISTORY, more legal problems in Texas>

The New World Champion

On New Year’s Day 1979, Hamilton Graham achieved his dream and defeated Cameron O’Connor for the IWA World Championship in Dallas, Texas.

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1980 saw Hamilton Graham returning to his “home” territory of St. Louis as the IWA agreed to a six-month exclusive stay in the St. Louis Wrestling Office in an attempt to save the fledgling promotion.  Owens took advantage of Graham’s history in St. Louis, promoting a non-title match against Terry Shane Jr. for the first show of 1980.  Shane was victorious in the non-title match which sparked an in-ring rivalry the likes of which St. Louis had never seen.

For six solid months, Owens booked the two men against one another. And for six solid months, he sold the house out with some of the most epic matches the sport has ever seen. In a six month period of shows, there was seven 60 minute draws and three 90 minute draws plus one double DQ when the two men shoved down the ref to get at each other.

On the final night of Graham’s exclusive St. Louis stay on June 30th, there was one final showdown… and in the end, Terry Shane Jr. had won the World Title. It was a huge moment for the city of St. Louis and for Terry Shane Jr. who had toiled so long to get another shot at the gold.  But with a World Title victory, Shane embarked on the champion’s schedule, vacating the Missouri State Title as a result.

Back Home In St. Louis

With Shane vacating the title, Graham re-signed with Sam Owens and quickly captured the vacated Missouri State Title with a win over Kevin Fuller on the 4th of July.  The remainder of the summer saw Graham defend the title over and over, drawing packed houses even against non-top level challengers. Together, Owens and Graham had saved the St. Louis territory and were thriving once more. Terry Shane Jr. would come to town once every couple months, yielding two more 60 minute draws with Graham before the year was out, concluding their series of matches that led to them winning The Wrestling Gazette’s Feud Of The Year as well as Match Of The Year.

However, the lack of strong challengers for Graham eventually resulted in some erosion of the house. The fans were strongly invested in Graham’s title reign but they were also looking for the thrilling feuds and engaging matches that their city was known for.  Owens went digging for the next big challenger for his champion and found a former collegiate All-American football player in Darryl Watters. Watters was a hulking beast of a man, a true powerhouse in every respect. Owens believed that Watters would be considered a major threat by the fans who had just spent several months hearing about Watters considering his NFL options. But the fans were not aware that Watters had suffered a severe knee injury in the Rose Bowl, ending his NFL options.

Hamilton Graham was less than pleased at the idea of a rookie coming into St. Louis and challenging him for the title. He believed that the story of an inexperienced football player being able to compete on an even level was him was demeaning and turned him into a joke. Graham and Owens had many a loud argument over the situation but Owens could not be swayed.

Watters quickly captured the hearts of the fans in late 1980.  The crowd’s seemed awed by Watters’ power, rallying behind him in every matchup he was in.  On Christmas Night, Watters won a Battle Royal to earn a title shot at Graham who was absolutely livid about the continued promotion of this rookie.  He went to Owens and made one final appeal to get the idea dropped but the promoter dug in his heels and booked the title match for Super Bowl weekend to play up Watters’ football background.

The more Graham thought about it, the angrier he got and the less he decided he could live with the idea of even competing with Watters let alone potentially losing to him. Early in the match, Graham smashed open Watters’ forehead by splitting his eyebrow, leaving the ring a bloody mess for nearly a half hour. By the end of the match, Watters was absolutely exhausted and Graham seemed to be toying with him. There could be no doubt as to what man was the winner in the eyes of the fans and when Graham got himself disqualified by throwing Watters over the top rope at the thirty minute mark, the fans still saw him as the victor.

Owens was furious at his champion and the two men had a serious falling out over the match. Graham immediately gave his notice and lost the championship to fan favorite Buddy Hayes the next week before leaving the promotion again.  The loss of Graham was a major blow to Sam Owens’ promotion but what came next was even worse for the long-time promoter.

Regaining The World Title

Graham’s status as a free agent made big news all over the world.  He received major offers from promoters from California to New York, from Mexico to Japan, and everywhere in-between.  Ultimately, he accepted two offers – splitting time between Blackjack Lynch’s Premier Championship Wrestling and Jim Somers’ Southern Championship Wrestling.

Somers quickly put the veteran into a feud with 19 year old phenom Tommy Fierro.  Despite fierce protests from Sam Owens, the IWA elected to put the World Title back onto Hamilton Graham shortly upon his arrival in the South.  Graham was the ultimate touring champion, defending the title around the globe for a particularly intense period of time.  During this period, his wars with Fierro were making headlines all over the world, leading to a big encounter in Atlanta, Fierro’s hometown, where Graham dropped the title in a shocker.  It appeared as though a new era of pro wrestling was upon us – the Fierro Era…

…until Graham regained the title a short time later, forcing an injured Fierro to submit to an Indian Deathlock.

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The Wrestler Becomes The Promoter

As 1982 rolled around, Hamilton Graham, Terry Shane Jr., and Karl O’Connor had shocked long-time fans in the Midwest by announcing a split from their wrestling home at the St. Louis Wrestling Office in order to form their own promotion – Central States Wrestling.

At an “Opening Day” press conference, O’Connor promised a “return to basics” for wrestling in the state of Missouri. A brash Graham also made a promise – that his former employer would be out of business before 1985 was finished.

The territory set up shop in Kansas City, reaching an agreement with a local small arena to feature live shows at least two nights a month. Graham, O’Connor, and Shane Jr. also signed commitments to one another, promising to not work for other promotions for a minimum of three years. O’Connor also signed his son Cameron to a “first look” contract – promising Central States Wrestling a chance to book Cameron before any other promoters – a move that angered other promoters throughout the United States.

Cameron O’Connor, who was the reigning Missouri State Champion for the St. Louis Wrestling Office before jumping ship, was instantly awarded the Central States Title. Terry Shane Jr., still the IWA World Champion, was kept out of action for several months until his contractual agreements with the IWA could expire. Hamilton Graham, however, swore to win the Central States title from the younger O’Connor before the year was out.

Karl O’Connor immediately set out to create a master plan of expansion – starting with negotiations with the IWA. O’Connor offered to let Terry Shane Jr. and Cameron O’Connor tour four months out of the year with the IWA in exchange for regular appearances of the IWA World Title in Central States Wrestling. In a major coup, he also negotiated that the IWA would officially recognize Central States Wrestling as the IWA territory for Kansas and Missouri – a move that forced the IWA to kick the St. Louis Wrestling Office out of their alliance. The strategy was sound, hitting their former employer with a major body blow but many promoters around the nation saw the tactic as underhanded and swore not to work with the new group.

A year after Graham’s now-legendary blowup at Sam Owens, Central States Wrestling hosted their first show headlined by Cameron O’Connor defending the Central States title against local Kansas City wrestler Bobby “Blues” Moody.

It was a sold out crowd on opening night with the Kansas City fans turning out in droves, hoping to see their hometown hero knock off the national superstar, O’Connor, in his first defense of the title. Moody’s brawling skills had the champion on the ropes throughout the early part of the match but a mis-timed clothesline attempt had him sail over the ropes, splitting his head on the concrete floor at the fifteen minute mark. O’Connor would move into control at that point and never relinquish it, finally putting Moody away with the famed O’Connor sleeperhold at the twenty-three minute mark.

The post-match melee that ensued is one that Kansas City wrestling fans still talk about with Hamilton Graham entering the ring to make an official challenge for the Central States title. O’Connor accepted the challenge, shaking Graham’s hand… who pulled him into a suckerpunch before eventually executing his dreaded piledriver THREE times before Moody came rushing back to the ring, fighting off severe blood loss to chase Graham from the ring.

O’Connor was taken from the ring on a stretcher, the crowd at a near riotous mood as Graham fought his way back to the locker room. Karl O’Connor had to take control of the mic to promise that Graham would “get his” before the fans would leave the building that night.

The February show saw Moody and Graham battle to a double countout, brawling all over ringside to the thrill of the fans. Moody split open Graham with a slam into the ring post, leaving him a bloody mess as he celebrated with the fans. But after the match, Karl O’Connor announced that his son would be violating doctor’s orders to return at the end of February to face Graham in a two out of three falls match for the Central States title.

On that cold February night, many believed that Hamilton Graham would walk out as the new champion and for one and a half falls, it appeared to be the truth. He punished O’Connor for the first fall, submitting him with a Boston Crab at the ten minute mark. He continued to work over the back and neck, setting for a piledriver at the twenty-four minute mark but O’Connor was able to secure a Boston Crab of his own for a submission. All tied at one fall apiece, the two battled for another twenty minutes before O’Connor took advantage of a missed headbutt off the middle role to hook in a sleeperhold on the downed Graham for the victory.

Graham suffered an arm injury during the match, taking him out of action for a few months. With Graham sidelined due to injury and Terry Shane Jr. still fulfilling IWA contractual obligations, Central States found themselves in the unusual position of being short on headliners just two months into their promotion’s life.

<GAP IN HISTORY>

In the late 80s, he suffered several injuries that sidelined him and took him away from the big time. But the sport is in his blood and he went to Japan where he was still popular. Graham wrestled in Japan for nearly all of the 90s before returning to the States at the start of the new decade. But as much as he tried, he just never could catch on with one of the big promotions that thought time had passed him by. In 2005, Graham was in a severe car accident – one that almost cost him his leg. But he battled back, going through years of rehab to get back physically close to where he was. As 2010 began, Graham has only had a handful of matches on the regional circuit since his return but was still looking for “one more run.”

Graham has made several appearances – both in the ring and outside – for the American Wrestling Alliance, signing a contract in 2011 as an “AWA Ambassador” – a role that involves Graham making promotional appearances and occasional on-camera stints.

As 2014 begins, Graham considers himself “retired… mostly” but also recently told The Wrestling Gazette that he feels he could still win a World Championship if given the opportunity at the age of  58.

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