1. William James Myers, better known by his ring name George "The Animal" Steele, was an American professional wrestler, school teacher, author, and actor.
32 Facts About George Steele
1. 2.
George Steele's career lasted from 1967 until 1988, though he made occasional wrestling appearances into the 1990s and 2000s.
3.
At halftime, Myers approached George Steele and told him about his venture into wrestling and that he was looking for a name.
4.
George Steele did not like the first name Jim and he suggested George which is what he eventually went with.
5.
George Steele told WWWF TV commentator Ray Morgan that he was the nephew of Ray Steele and had an extensive amateur background.
6.
George Steele sold the story by using an array of armlocks on opponents, weakening them for his finisher, the flying hammerlock.
7.
George Steele revealed his teaching background to interviewers that made his in-ring Neanderthal image all the more incongruous.
8.
George Steele wrestled Sammartino to an hour-long draw at Madison Square Garden but lost the rematch.
9.
George Steele was then relegated to a feud with Chief Jay Strongbow, and lost to Edouard Carpentier at the Garden before taking a brief hiatus to reinvent his wildman character.
10.
George Steele became a true crazy heel, acting like a wild man in the ring, tearing up the turnbuckle with his teeth and using the stuffing as a weapon as well as sticking out his green tongue.
11.
Incensed, George Steele did a second take of nothing but garbled and incoherent syllables.
12.
George Steele did this deliberately and out of pure frustration, thinking that McMahon would acquiesce and allow George Steele to cut his normal, eloquent promos.
13.
George Steele started to fully cultivate his gimmick of a menacing imbecile.
14.
George Steele eventually became one of the more popular and recognizable wrestlers during most of the 1980s professional wrestling boom.
15.
George Steele turned face during Saturday Night's Main Event I when his partners in a six-man match, Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik, abandoned him to their opponents, Ricky Steamboat and the US Express, leading to Steele being taken under the wing of the Express' manager, Capt.
16.
Secondly, after Savage kicked him and took the bell back, George Steele shoved Savage off of the top rope, allowing Steamboat to roll up Savage for the pin to win the championship.
17.
In 1988, George Steele began carrying a stuffed animal named "Mine" to the ring.
18.
George Steele participated in the Wrestlemania IV Battle Royal but was outside of the ring the whole time.
19.
Late in 1988, George Steele retired after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease.
20.
George Steele then became a road agent for the WWF until he was released in October 1990 due to budget cuts.
21.
George Steele returned to wrestling in 1997 working in the independent circuit.
22.
In 1998, during the WWF's "Attitude Era", George Steele returned as part of The Oddities until leaving in 1999.
23.
George Steele lost to Greg Valentine at Heroes of Wrestling on October 10,1999.
24.
George Steele continued wrestling in the indies until his final match defeating Angel Armoni at All American Wrestling in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on July 29,2001.
25.
Eight years later, Steele made an appearance at TNA Wrestling's 2008 Slammiversary pay-per-view event as a groomsman in the wedding for "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal and SoCal Val, along with Koko B Ware, Kamala, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts.
26.
George Steele made a surprise appearance on Monday Night Raw on November 15,2010, during a match between Kofi Kingston and David Otunga.
27.
In 1994, George Steele made his professional acting debut as Swedish wrestler-turned-actor Tor Johnson in Tim Burton's Ed Wood.
28.
Coincidentally, George Steele was often mistaken for Johnson earlier in his career.
29.
In 2008, George Steele co-starred with Greg Valentine in a short film entitled Somethin Fishy, in which the two former wrestlers purchase a fishing camp.
30.
George Steele appeared in a Minolta commercial with actor Tony Randall.
31.
George Steele attended the First Baptist Church Merritt Island and lived in Cocoa Beach, Florida, with his wife Pat, whom he married before he entered Michigan State in 1956.
32.
George Steele is featured in all three games in the Legends of Wrestling series.