It’s really hard to get noticed in the wrestling business. There are so many odd looking characters, crazy gimmicks, and unbelievable angles that getting people to sit up and take note is challenging to say the least.
In the late 80’s, the WWF signed a muscular wrestling star by the name of Butch Reed. The WWF knew he couldn’t go by the name he had used in the past of “Hacksaw” Butch Reed, since they already had a “Hacksaw” by the name of Jim Duggan.
So someone came up with an idea. An idea so great, that according to Dave Meltzer, the WWF felt Reed would be as “big as Gorgeous George.” Are you ready for this great gimmick?
Are you?
Are you SURE?!
Ok, here goes – he had BLONDE HAIR!
I’ll wait for you to stop laughing now.
Hey, I don’t make this stuff up. Apparently, someone actually thought that dying a black man’s hair blonde and calling him “The Natural” would stir up a load of controversy, and that Reed would be as over as the legendary Gorgeous One.
I know this will probably shock you, but…it DIDN’T get Reed over as much as Gorgeous George. For that matter, it didn’t get Reed over as much as George “The Animal” Steele. Heck, it barely got him over as much as George Wells, whose greatest claim to fame was that he hurled during his WrestleMania 2 match against Jake Roberts.
Reed hovered around the WWF midcard for a couple of years before departing for the greener pastures of WCW. There he hooked up with Ron Simmons to form Doom, a team which won the WCW World Tag Team Championships.
And his hair, believe it or not, was black.