SLAGLE:  Now, Bob, as a longtime fan of professional wrestling, I'm sure you remember the famous "Superbowl of Wrestling" card, which took place late in 1977 in Miami, at the Orange Bowl.

"Superstar" Billy Graham, the WWWF Heavyweight champion, took on Harley Race, the NWA World champion.  I'm sure the hype was, you know, months in advance...what was that like back then, do you have any memories of The Superbowl?

Because, I mean, that's a concept that everybody had always dreamt about, even back in the seventies before the promotional wars, but it never happened.  And, then one day, it did happen...

RYDER:  Over the years, those kinds of championship matches happened a handful of times, and that one [Graham vs. Race] was one of the biggest, without a doubt.

But, because of the delay that we had in reading about it, if you weren't in the Miami area, or that Florida area, you didn't know that it had happened until after the event was over.

We read about it, and certainly it was a big deal and was covered in the media of the time, the wrestling media anyway, and the magazines.  But, it was something that you always knew might happen, but never really thought that it would.

The way it was positioned then, wrestling fans were not near as educated as they are now, so, it was something that you kind of read the story as it was presented, and it was built to monumental proportions.  You weren't disappointed that there wasn't a decisive ending to the match, you weren't upset because there was a match that didn't unify the belts.  You really just took it for what it was, a special match between to champions that got together to try to do something that had never been done.

SLAGLE:  Now, one thing that I always thought was kind of cool about that era was that the WWWF, and even Vince Jr.'s WWF, was a full-fledged member of the NWA, yet they positioned their product in such a manner that as a fan, you would think that it was a totally outside organization.  Kind of like...it was similar to how they do it now, but they were actually working together, and the way they presented it at the time, it was very good, very different...

RYDER: Yeah, for a long time they were a member of the NWA.  They had their problems, you know, early on, that actually led to the formation of the WWWF.  But, then for a time they were a member and were not actualy allowed to refer to their belt as a World title.  But very seldom did you see an NWA champion go into that promotion.  So, yeah, it was a different time, and certainly, that would be much more difficult to have happen today given the tremendous competition.

You have to realize that back then when that was happening, there were other players in the game.  You had the NWA, which was a group of literally dozens of different members, you had the AWA, you had, you know, various alphebetic formations that were all very strong...the WWA, you know, WWC, so many different promotions...

SLAGLE:   The IWA...the NWF...

RYDER:  Yeah, they were everywhere.  And, it was really easier for that to happen then because there was not as much at stake.  As far as licensing or merchandise or rating on a Monday night program.  They were more inclined to do this because they made a lot of money off of the event itself in Miami.  The gate was probably a huge gate, and that was something that was important then.  But if you were to put the Rock into a match with Goldberg, it would be huge from a PPV standpoint, but it would be something that both sides would have to worry about how it would effect them after the event, and whether their character would look weak, because they didn't win the match.

SLAGLE:  You hear a lot of people, fans, always wishing that there would be a WWF vs. WCW thing, and I just don't ever see that happening.  At least not with the way things are currently.

RYDER: Yeah, I think if it did happen, there would have to be a lot of changes on both sides, and I just can't see that happening.

SLAGLE:  Now, Graham, as you alluded to earlier, had a very wide scope of influence in the business, and he's had so many people have taken from him, even guys that we din't mention, like Austin Idol or "Superstar" Steve Strong, there's so many out there.  And then, of course, Jesse and the Hulk and everybody else, Big Poppa Pump...do you have a favorite Graham-esque type wrestler that came after him that really stood out to you and made you think that this guy had the charisma, the whole package.  Is there anybody that stood out to you?

RYDER:  Um, yeah, strangely enough probably Steve Austin.  For a time, he was that kind of a character.  Not to the extent that Graham was....

SLAGLE:  You're talking about "Stunning" Steve...

RYDER:  "Stunning" Steve Austin, and you know, he wrestled briefly as "Superstar" Steve Austin I think in ECW.  So, they were looking at him as that kind of a guy.  And certainly, he emerged into one of the top characters, the most popular wrestlers in history...not using the Graham persona, but to get to that point, there was the influence along the way.

SLAGLE:  Well, also, you know, early in his career he used the long, colorful tights and everything, too, so there was a definite Graham influence there.  Now Bob, I know you need to get going, you've got the WCW Live program coming up pretty soon, but I have one last question for you.  It's kind of a theoretical question, but I was wondering if you could give us your comments on how you think the wrestling busines would be different had "Superstar" Billy Graham not existed?

RYDER:  It's hard to really say.  I don't know.  Certainly, a lot of people were influenced by him.  I think that wrestling was probably going to be moving in a more flamboyant direction anyway, but I don't know exactly what that direction would've been.  Graham was the kind of guy who was a trensetter.  He opened some doors, and he made it acceptable to be flamboyant, to be a musclular performer that could go into the ring and move around and wasn't limited in how he could perform.  And I think that it did set the stage for a lot of what came after him.  Whether it would've happened with or without him, I don't know.  But, certainly, nobody can argue the fact that he was a very important factor in the growth of wrestling during his time period.

SLAGLE:  Fair enough.  Well, I'd really like to thank you for you time today, we really do appreciate you coming on the show...

RYDER:  Glad to do it, and congratulations on the website, it's tremendous!