MINNEAPOLIS — Eugene “Mean Gene” Okerlund, whose deadpan interviews of pro wrestling superstars like “Macho Man” Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan made him a ringside fixture in his own right, has died. He moved to WWE in 1984 and hosted several shows, including “All-American Wrestling,” “Tuesday Night Titans” and “Prime Time Wrestling.” Besides being WWE’s lead locker room interviewer, he also provided ringside commentary. Jesse Ventura, who wrestled as “The Body,” dubbed Okerlund “Mean Gene.”Ventura told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Wednesday that in an interview he “laughingly called him ‘the Mean Gene Hot Air Machine,’ and the ‘Mean Gene’ stuck.”Ventura called Okerlund “the best at what he did, the best straight man interviewer in wrestling history.”A native of Sisseton, South Dakota, Okerlund was known for his natty attire and moustache. In a 2015 interview with the Star Tribune, Okerlund credited the late pro wrestling pioneer Verne Gagne for his start. Gagne approached Okerlund in the hallway when the regular interviewer could not make a taping in the early 1970s, Okerlund recalled.

Source: National Post January 02, 2019 20:13 UTC