Confirmed by WWE

For once we can say without a doubt that he was one of the greatest of all-time, was one of the masterminds behind the Hulkamania years, great worker of his own right, great finish guy, created the Royal Rumble... Yeah, Pat's a legend of the pro-wrestling business for sure...

An incredible wrestling mind, one of the greatest ever, and as with most of the people within the biz during his time, seems dude was scum as a human being.

 

 

I don't know how to gauge Patterson personally since a bit of the criticism seemed caught up in homophobia and general bigotry. I think there's something there, but I'm not in any position to know.

Certainly an all time great mind and from all accounts a great in-ring performer.

One of the all-time great wrestling minds. WWE hasn't been the same since he stopped having a hand in the creative process.

I know footage of his career is sparse, but his 1979-81 run in WWF is out there and full of great matches, angles and promos. Check it out if you can. Feud with Sarge is of course an all timer

RIP 

Him winning a tournament in Rio de Janeiro will always be my favorite kayfabe stat.

May he rest in peace.

He was truly a great performer whose contributions far exceeded his in-ring career. He will be missed.

8 minutes ago, Shrike02 said:

He was truly a great performer whose contributions far exceeded his in-ring career. He will be missed.

Considering he was one of the all time greats in ring and this statement is still true says all that needs to be said about the guy.

I think it also says volumes about him that he was open about who he was in a time period that was very much not welcome of that, (in a business that was even more so) and people were like "cool". It shouldn't be understated how amazing that was for him to be able to pull off.

It's also hard to judge how much of the scum factor seems to apply to him, law of averages seems to dictate there has to be something there just for how long he was in the wrestling business, but it does seem like a lot of it is based on bigotry and is highly suspect. It seems like the only complaint about Pat that seems to be easily confirmed is all the tales of him only singing the same few songs at karaoke. 

You got no idea how many "pedophile" comments I've seen about Pat Patterson today on social media.

3 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

You got no idea how many "pedophile" comments I've seen about Pat Patterson today on social media.

Well he was roped in to the ring boy scandals, and most folks outside of the hardcore wrestling fan bubble don't know it was because of the "well he's gay so he must have been involved" mindset. It's still gross but I get where it comes from. 

I know. Personally, I met Pat Patterson in 2001 for a meet & greet when they released tickets for the first Smackdown in Montreal. Lita was also a part of that but Pat was extremely popular. I remember when we got to talk to him and we mentioned that we drove 3 hours to go all the way to Montreal just to meet them, his immediate answer in French was "Ah ben, vous venez d'la campagne, câlisse!" (Which could be roughly translated as "Well, goddamn, people from the countryside!")....We had a blast and he couldn't have been nicer to everyone he met that day.

28 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

You got no idea how many "pedophile" comments I've seen about Pat Patterson today on social media.

Lots of people who are trying to be worker than woke completely uncritically accusing one of the only out gay men of being a pedophile without doing the slightest bit of research.

10 minutes ago, FMKK said:

Lots of people who are trying to be worker than woke completely uncritically accusing one of the only out gay men of being a pedophile without doing the slightest bit of research.

And then doubling down and insulting the people who ask them to do research. 

He was Terry Garvin's boss so you can attribute some kind of vicarious liability to him, since he either didn't realize what Garvin was doing or didn't try to stop him. But this was a particularly shitty time in a shitty business and I don't blame the only openly gay person for not wanting to step on any toes. 

His booking of the Royal Rumbles used to be excellent. None of the modern Rumbles have been half as good, despite having much more talented wrestlers. 

Am I correct in saying that the Observer was reporting that HHH and Stephanie were trying to manoeuvre Patterson out of the inner circle in like the early 00s? I'd be interested to know when his influence really waned and if that could be felt in the product. I'm sure Vince has been in touch with him on and off for advice even when he wasn't there all the time. Is Bruce the only once left from Vince's inner circle?

I think Bruce is the last one, yes. Unless you consider Dick Ebersol as part of his inner circle during the SNME days.

About the only thing I could blame Pat for would be keeping Mel Philips around when his behavior was openly known in the company to the point Gorilla would make joking references to it on TV (along with the infamous "Terry Garvin School of Self Defense" jokes). Even then, it's not like he was the guy who had direct hiring and firing powers, but he certainly could have convinced Vince to do something considering he's one of the few people Vince would listen to. 

11 minutes ago, FMKK said:

Am I correct in saying that the Observer was reporting that HHH and Stephanie were trying to manoeuvre Patterson out of the inner circle in like the early 00s? I'd be interested to know when his influence really waned and if that could be felt in the product. I'm sure Vince has been in touch with him on and off for advice even when he wasn't there all the time. Is Bruce the only once left from Vince's inner circle?

Yeah, you are right about HHH and Steph trying to do that. The Observer reported that and Dave also said that Pat recognised what was happening and decided to resign. But he used to be backstage frequently until very recently, so I am sure Vince made sure he was always welcome and the young wrestlers must have loved picking his brain on everything related to wrestling. 

It's been pretty cool to see people from all across wrestling like Cody, Jericho, and even Dixie Carter paying their respects as well as the official Twitter account for the Cow Palace. 

49 minutes ago, FMKK said:

Is Bruce the only once left from Vince's inner circle?

Kevin "shittiest director ever" Dunn says hello. 

At Jim Ross' Hall of Fame speech he spoke glowingly of Pat, hinting that he stopped being homophobic because of their friendship. I found that kind of moving, being a believer in the better angels of our nature and all that. 

19 minutes ago, El-P said:

Kevin "shittiest director ever" Dunn says hello. 

In my alternate universe, he doesn't exist.

29 minutes ago, flyonthewall2983 said:

At Jim Ross' Hall of Fame speech he spoke glowingly of Pat, hinting that he stopped being homophobic because of their friendship. I found that kind of moving, being a believer in the better angels of our nature and all that. 

There seems to be a lot of stories where people who were previously not supportive of gay people changed their minds because of Pat. That might be his greatest legacy.

If Pat Patterson had only created the Royal Rumble, he'd be a legend. If Pat Patterson was only the first Intercontinental Champion, he'd be a legend (yeah, yeah, I realize the tournament never really happened). If Pat Patterson was only responsible for mapping out some of the best matches in WWE history, he'd be a legend. If Pat Patterson was only the first openly gay wrestler, he'd be a legend. But he was all of those things and more. 

Anyway, I've never believed the Pat Patterson allegations - not for a single split second. There is an ugly history of homosexuality ignorantly being equated to interest in underage boys. I wish I could say that was a relic of the past, but there are still people who think that way. Yes, in 2020. Plus, Superstar Billy Graham admitted to lying about the whole thing, so there's that...

This is utterly crushing. I don't really know what to say other than that.