The wrestling community is in mourning this week after the news came down that Hall of Fame wrestler and longtime WWE employee Pat Patterson died at the age of 79.
Patterson is best known for being crowned the first intercontinental champion in WWE history in 1979, but he also put in a ton of work behind the scenes in WWE for decades as one of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s most trusted advisers.
“WWE extends its condolences to Patterson’s family and friends,” the company said Wednesday in a statement.
Patterson — who considered himself wrestling’s “first gay superstar” — joined up with WWE in the late ’70s where he had awesome matches with Sgt. Slaughter.
In his book — “Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE” — Patterson explained how the Rumble came to be.
“The first Royal Rumble was on January 24, 1988, in Hamilton, Ontario. The difference between WWE’s Royal Rumble and a traditional over-the-top rope battle royal is that the participants come into the match at two-minute intervals — not all at the same time at the beginning of the match. I wanted to create something special.”
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It was back in 2014 when Pat came out as gay during an episode of “WWE Legends House.”
Here was that moment:
Patterson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996.
