Graham debuted his new martial arts look & gimmick when he returned to the WWF in 1982, after an absence of more than three years.  While he made a huge impact initially, and was able to maintain a great deal of his drawing power, it was questionable to many fans at the time whether The Superstar's best days may have been behind him.

In reality, they were.

I can remember being a very naive pre-teen, happy and excited to see him back, chasing after "Howdy Doody" Backlund, ripping the WWF belt in half, and even challenging Morales for the I-C belt.  I can also remember watching the "new" Billy Graham a few months after his return and coming away with the impression that even though I liked his new image, he just didn't seem...I don't know...healthy.

In reality, he wasn't.

I found out several years later that not only was Graham beginning to run into the chronic steroid-related health problems that would dog him for years to come, but that during this time period he was also in the midst of a serious battle with an addiction to prescription drugs...drugs that Graham later admitted robbed him -- to a certain degree -- of his massive, attention-grabbing physique.

Remember kids...don't try this at home!