The legacy of Pat Patterson
Word broke Wednesday morning about WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson passing away and it led me to thinking about what his greatest accomplishment in pro wrestling was.
There are some who will say it was his in-ring career that he should be most remembered for.
He retired from the ring long before I started watching, but Patterson was a star. His debuted in 1958 and he made his WWE debut in 1979. A short time later, he won the North American title from Ted DiBiase on June 19.
At that time, the North American title was WWE鈥檚 secondary title.
That September, WWE introduced the Intercontinental title and Patterson was crowned the inaugural champion.
WWE states that he won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro, however, the tournament never took place meaning that WWE named Patterson the champion.
Perhaps Patterson鈥檚 biggest feud, and match, culminated with a Bootcamp match in Madison Square Garden (MSG) against Sgt. Slaughter in 1981.
He slowly began transitioning to other roles in 1980 when he began doing color commentary with Vince McMahon.
This was a big deal at the time as Patterson was French Canadian.
Patterson called some of the big matches during that era, including The Iron Sheik鈥檚 WWE title win over Bob Backland, Hulk Hogan鈥檚 first WWE title win over Sheik and the match when Jimmy 鈥淪uper Fly鈥� Snuka jumped off of a steel cage and onto Don Muraco with all three taking place at MSG.
Another major MSG moment for Patterson was when he refereed the main event of WrestleMania I between the team of Hogan and Mr. T against Roddy Piper and Paul Orndoff.
By this time, Patterson had fully transitioned into a role as an agent, but Mania I would not be his last match as a ref at a Mania. A decade later at Mania XI, Patterson worked the Lawrence Taylor and Bam Bam Bigelow main event.
During his role as one of Mr. McMahon鈥檚 stooges from 1997 through 2000, along with Gerald Brisco, Patterson was often a hilarious addition to the ever-serious McMahon and the comedy was pure gold.
Patterson defeated Brisco for the Hardcore title in June 2000 and in 2019, Patterson became the oldest performer to ever hold a WWE title when he won the 24/7 title at the age of 79.
Patterson retired as a fulltime agent in 2004, and maybe that is the role he should be best known for.
He helped mold a generation of WWE talent and so many performers have shared their feelings on Patterson since Wednesday.
Maybe some will see Patterson鈥檚 great accomplishment as being the man who invented the Royal Rumble match. Not only did Patterson create it, but he played a big role in booking every single Rumble from its inception in 1988 through this past January.
Lastly, some will see Patterson coming out as the first openly gay pro wrestler as being his biggest feat. Patterson came out in the 1970s, decades before it would be accepted, to a point, in society.
Regardless of which aspect of his career you think was Patterson鈥檚 biggest accomplishment, he was a pro wrestling lifer and a visionary who will be sorely missed by those who were close to him, who learned from him and who he provided inspiration for.
NXT TakeOver War Games tonight
NXT presents TakeOver War Games tonight on the WWE Network. There will be a pair of War Games cage matches, one featuring men and the other women.
Leon Ruff defends the North American title against Damian Priest and Johnny Gargano, Dexter Lumis faces Cameron Grimes in a strap match and Tommaso Ciampa faces Timothy Thatcher.
AEW鈥檚 big week
AEW delivered an excellent edition of Dynamite on Wednesday, and we will look at the company in more detail next week.
Among the newsworthy happenings were Jon Moxley losing the AEW title to Kenny Omega, Omega showing up on Impact this coming Tuesday and Sting debuting.
This Day in History
In 2006, Big Show walks away from WWE stating that, 鈥淚鈥檝e reached a point in my career right now where I am a little run down and hurt pretty bad physically. I鈥檝e been wrestling the past three months pretty much in pain every night. I can鈥檛 compete at the level I want to compete at, and that鈥檚 the most heartbreaking thing.鈥�
The quote was part of WWE confirming Show鈥檚 decision to walk away the day after losing a match to Bobby Lashley.
Show would return to WWE in 2008 to set up his WrestleMania 鈥渨restler vs. boxer鈥� bout against Floyd Mayweather.
Email questions/comments to powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III.