{"id":34157,"date":"2019-01-02T11:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=34157"},"modified":"2019-01-02T11:05:09","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T16:05:09","slug":"mean-gene-okerlund-passes-away-at-age-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/01\/02\/mean-gene-okerlund-passes-away-at-age-76\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Mean&#8221; Gene Okerlund Passes Away at Age 76"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>He&#8217;s arguably the most iconic backstage interviewer in the history of pro wrestling. During the 1980s, he was one of the voices of the WWF during the Rock N&#8217; Wrestling Era and WCW during the Monday Night Wars of the 1990s. WWE announced today that &#8220;Mean&#8221; Gene Okerlund passed away today at the age of 76.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Gene Okerlund, the most recognizable interviewer in sports-entertainment history, has passed away at age 76. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DyPiEiVLoV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/DyPiEiVLoV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1080488900890628101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A former radio disc jockey, Gene Okerlund joined the American Wrestling Alliance (AWA) in 1970 as a fill-in interviewer, becoming one of the AWA&#8217;s most recognizable presenters by the end of the decade. It was while in the AWA that he was first given his &#8220;Mean Gene&#8221; tag, bestowed upon him by Jesse &#8220;The Body&#8221; Ventura.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Adonis and Ventura promo 1\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pLZ1dlfo190?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In 1983, Okerlund departed the AWA for the WWF, where he became a house hold star and one of the biggest on-screen fans of WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan. His interviews with WWF Superstars were always fun moments and Okerlund&#8217;s genuine performances and interactions were endearing to the WWE Universe.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hulk Hogan training Mean Gene Okerlund\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QwyUVfOQhgQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In 1993, Okerlund jumped ship to World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he remained until WCW&#8217;s closure in 2001. He returned to the WWE family shortly after, working sporadically for special events ever since. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A voice and sound track to an entire era of our industry. He was the star of some of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@WWE<\/a>\u2019s most memorable segments. \u201cMean Gene\u201d was beloved by all who got to work with him. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9ddj6372eE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/9ddj6372eE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Triple H (@TripleH) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TripleH\/status\/1080494046924193792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Devastated to hear the news of my friend Gene Okerlund\u2019s passing. He was, and will always be, pro wrestling greatest stick man <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/meangene?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#meangene<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tony Schiavone (@tonyschiavone24) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tonyschiavone24\/status\/1080492923677036544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">RIP MY BROTHER GENE MEAN. YOU PUT ME OVER LIKE NOBODY. I LOVE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY SINCE THE MINNESOTA. GIVE MY BROTHER NIKOLAI BUG HUG. GOD BLESS YOU. CAMERA MAN ZOOM IT. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5k0VRXbKMI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/5k0VRXbKMI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/the_ironsheik\/status\/1080492306954776576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mean Gene was the voice of millions of childhoods. Mine certainly. An honor to meet him. Condolences to his family. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/krsMtbeNIl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/krsMtbeNIl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ettore \u201cBig E\u201d Ewen (@WWEBigE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWEBigE\/status\/1080494344203837440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">RIP \u201cMean\u201d Gene. Thanks for the memories and being a Gentleman. <\/p>\n<p>God Bless. \ud83d\ude4f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AJn3HsY7Am\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/AJn3HsY7Am<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bully Ray (@bullyray5150) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bullyray5150\/status\/1080491549702664192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He&#8217;s arguably the most iconic backstage interviewer in the history of pro wrestling. During the 1980s, he was one of the voices of the WWF during the Rock N&#8217; Wrestling Era and WCW during the Monday Night Wars of the 1990s. WWE announced today that &#8220;Mean&#8221; Gene Okerlund passed away today at the age of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":34162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,547,3],"tags":[4082],"class_list":["post-34157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-memorium","category-wwe-universe","tag-gene-okerlund"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}