Name one bigger draw

Santo? Maybe Santo

Also getting 87 million viewers in an era with 3 TV stations isn't that impressive

>>3134825
But at the same time, TVs were nowhere near as widespread. So it's definitely still impressive.

>>3134822
People had nothing better to do in those days -- hardly counts.

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It was with the advent of television, however, that George's character exploded into the biggest drawing card the industry had ever known. With the networks looking for cheap, effective programming to fill its time slots, pro wrestling's glorified action became a genuine hit with the viewing public, as it was the first program of any kind to draw a real profit. Consequently, it was Gorgeous George who brought the sport into the nation's living rooms, as his histrionics and melodramatic behavior made him a larger-than-life figure in American pop-culture. His first television appearance took place on November 11, 1947 (an event that was recently named among the top 100 televised acts of the 20th century by Entertainment Weekly) and he immediately became a national celebrity at the same level of Lucille Ball and Bob Hope (who personally donated hundreds of chic robes for George's collection) while changing the course of the industry forever. No longer was pro wrestling simply about the in-ring action, but George had created a new sense of theatrics and character performance that had not previously existed. Moreover, in a very real sense, it was Gorgeous George who single-handedly established television as a viable entertainment medium that could potentially reach millions of homes across the country. It is said that George was probably responsible for selling as many television receivers as Milton Berle.

By the 1950s, Gorgeous George's star power was so huge that he was able to command 50% of the gate for his performances, which allowed him to earn over $100,000 a year, thus making him the highest paid athlete in the world.

>>3134846
>5'9

too bad he was a ding-dong diddly midget

>>3134841read
>>3134838
TVs weren't common enough to be able to make a statement like this.

>>3134846
Any numbers for this in terms of ratings/viewers/tv sales?

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drawing 20k+ people to house shows five times a week >> one TV rating

>>3134868
5 times a week?

>>3134873
five times a week

>>3134868
I have two instances though. This is without going into Rikidozan's cultural influence in changing Japan's atmosphere in a post-WW2 setting. Rock/Austin could never do that level of influence. Wrestling was huge in Japan in general. Destroyer vs Michiharu Toyonobori drew like a 50 million. Most numbers I keep getting of that time were this huge. Rikidozan was just at the top of it all.

>>3134877
Yeah the Rock + Austin didn't restore a country broken by nuclear wars confidence in itself.

>>3134875
it wasn't 20K plus five times a week, they did house shows in the town an hour or so over me which couldn't even hold that many people.
but you're mostly right.

>>3134856
People in Japan literally bought TVs solely to watch Rikidozan.