The last time Graham appeared on WWF programming in the early eighties, he had morphed from a wildly colorful and flamboyant muscleman into the leaner, meaner pseudo-karate fighter.  It was an interesting experiment, an unexpected detour that added dimension to his character, but his fans (even the ones who loved to boo him) craved The Superstar of old.  So, too, did a certain "Superstar" Graham mark by the name of Vince McMahon, Jr.

So, when he made his return to the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-eighties, it was as the familiar tie-dyed, barrel-armed, psychedelic wrestling prophet of years gone by.  But to the WWF's young, highly naive and uninformed fanbase of the mid and late eighties, "Superstar" Billy Graham was a brand new wrestler, someone they'd never seen before.  The still colorful and exciting Graham, now a legendary former WWF champion from waaaaay back in the seventies was an instant hit with this new breed of WWF fan, just as his heelish persona had been with old school WW(W)F fans a decade earlier.   Actually, it had only been 7 years since he lost the belt to Bob Backlund, but we're talking about mizarks, er, fans who didn't even know who Backlund was, let alone Billy Graham.  His role as the then-young Hulkster's mentor/partner solidified The Superstar's incredible babyface popularity.

And then, somewhat abruptly, it all ended.  Wayne Coleman's body was simply unable to take the rigorous demands placed upon it by a career in professional wrestling.  However, this final brief run in the mid-eighties proved that The Superstar character -- even a somewhat sugary, slightly watered-down and aging version -- could still captivate and maintain an audience, and a large one at that.