Pete Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Passed away this morning after apparently going into hospice care the other day. RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 This is one of my favorite skits of the Rock'n'Wrestling years 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Damn. I loved Steele. The Flying Hammerlock was the one finisher that looked like it was legit tearing a guy apart in the ring. RIP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningBeard Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 RIP. One of my fave wrestling stories was how he would only work summer in New York, make a ton of coin, then go back to teaching. Some students tried to call him out on it once and his reply was "What, you think I'm that ugly?" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Conn Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 WWE.com story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Only remembering him as the dude that ate the turnbuckle pads, I'd like to see footage of him as a heel. Let's not forget he was also involved in one of the best matches of all time (unnecessarily, but that's New York for you) in Steamboat/Savage RIP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 I have very vivid boyhood memories of George Steele. The first one being face or heel, he scared the shit out of me. The second being I was relived he was a good guy. The biggest highlight of the year for me was the times my mother would rent a VCR for a weekend and I could rent wrestling tapes. I probably watched Wrestlemania 3 a hundred times. The tape does not really do justice to what a big part Steele was in Randy Savage's storyline. Foes for Savage would come and go but George persisted in pursuit of Savage. When Steamboat was injured, George kept the feud hot on TV by standing in Steamboat's place. The final image of Steamboat holding the belt up hugging Steele is such an iconic bookend to that feud. Along with Savage with his head down while Elizabeth consoles him. In a way that was the end of Steamboat and Steele in the WWF. It was too perfect a happy ending to ruin. While Savage could rebuild as the best foil for the Honky Tonk Man. I think Steele was a very underrated worker. He got a lot done with an economy of moves. I enjoyed much of the 70's work I saw of his and think he was an excellent heel. RIP Animal 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Conn Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 48 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said: Only remembering him as the dude that ate the turnbuckle pads, I'd like to see footage of him as a heel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 26 minutes ago, Victator said: I have very vivid boyhood memories of George Steele. The first one being face or heel, he scared the shit out of me. I've seen a lot of that in RIP Steele threads on other boards and I attribute a lot of that sentiment to his use of the Flying Hammerlock finisher. Even when George worked face, people had a really hard time accepting George taking it home in baby fashion by hoisting dudes in the air and popping their shoulders out of the socket. I know that we don't like to delineate between heel offense and face offense anymore, but some moves are just so vicious in execution that you can't help but associate them as heel offense. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MADCAP Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Growing up in the Northeast, he was the first hill I was legit scared of. I thought there was no way Backlund was gonna beat him...which leads to my most vivid memory of him wrestling which was when he did face Backlund at the Spectrum, where Backlund swung out of the flying hammerlock and rolled him up for the pin in under 30 seconds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Boy that's some Hogan-level blading in full view of the camera there 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ray Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Thank you George for teaching us turn buckle stuffing was the most delicious food in the 1980's. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DouglasC Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 One of his more (in)famous matches. Bolton could do a nasty-looking trick with his arm as a result of a car accident, so he was perfect for this: 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 WHOA! That was grisly looking. The crowd was shocked into silence from it, and some of them couldn't even see what Bolton looked like on the outside. If they had a Jumbotron on that people would have been losing their lunches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 My earliest memories of wrestling all invovle King Kong Brody and Dick the Bruiser and Terry Funk. But my earliest memories of WWF involve two very powerful emotions: 1) Hating Hogan 2) Loving George "The Animal" Steele Everything about his act made him a real attraction to me. It was alternately hilarious and disturbing, convincing and absurd. But I always pepped up when he showed up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS81177 Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 I was at the Raw during the attitude Era where he made his return to join up with the Oddities. My friends and I all lost our minds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Loved him in Ed Wood, as Tor Johnson. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRR Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Rip. Dont remember his finish or the green tongue just the turnbuckle eating and the fact he was living proof of Darwin in how much he looked like an ape. Perfect gimmick worked to perfection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamhock Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 My favorite little flourish of his run against Savage was after he lost on SNME, and Steamboat consoled him by sifting through the pile of turnbuckle stuffing and pretending to make it snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Completely and totally forgot he was Tor in Ed Wood, thank you for the reminder Chris! In retrospect introducing the family ahead of time wouldn't have been as funny as just having them show up like they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted February 17, 2017 Author Share Posted February 17, 2017 Steele is REALLY fun in this- working hard, gallivanting all over ringside and even busting out a bit of matwork at the start. Also, dat Fink tux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DouglasC Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 And that reminded me he makes an appearance on a bonus feature about Tor/Ed Wood on the Bride of the Monster MST3K release, with a Tor mask. Sadly, not on youtube, so here are a couple screengrabs (circa 2010): 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Steele's death made the front page of ESPN.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 I am trying hard not to be sad because I found Steele to be a scary scary man as a child. This bullshit is not helping me stay strong. Why is there so much dust in the office today? Fucking HVAC.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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