To me Gorgeous George one of the greatest wrestlers. He posed great wrestling skills, but so much more. He knew what it took to take the most important thing of the buisness; money! Gorgeous George wrestled in the era of the television and because of this he discovered the way to become a great wrestler was to sell himself to his viewers.
Gorgeuos George grew his hair out, dyed his hair blonde and put it in locks, he wore beautiful robes, he sprayed girly perfume onto the ring before every fight, he had rose pedals sprinkled onto the ring, and even had a collection of "Georgie pins." All of this was part of his character that he played for his audience. He was once of the first people to really recognize wrestling for what it really was; entertainment. His strongest tactic was making the audience hate him. This may sound bad, but it was what really sold out the houses for his matches, at least in my opinion. People would come in for his matches just for the chance to see Gorgeous George get his ass handed to him.
When sales seemed to be getting low, he probably responded by thinking of new ideas to entertain his audience. Gorgeous George had a series of hair versus hair matches where he put his own beautiful golden locks on the line. I feel like this type of match was ahead of his time. Something like if the dog collar match were performed in the 70's as I previously thought. Gorgeous George made these matches more than just a regular match, he put more than titles on the line. We see these types of matches today, where the title doesn't matter as much as what each wrestler has to lose. These matches entized the audiences and they would sell out the house. Once Gorgeous George lost his hair in a loss, he put up his wife's hair on the line.
Gorgeous George was all buisness and he was great at it. He was hated by all, but in reality he was loved and he opened the gates to the future of wrestling and what it would ultimately become.
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I agree with a lot of the points XP makes, except Gorgeous George being the greatest wrestler because we all know the Ultimate Warrior was. I think that he did really aim at entertaining the audience, rather than just winning a belt. When I first saw Gorgeous George I couldn't help but think of the antics of The Narcissist Lex Luger, the early Hunter Hearst Hemsley, and of course Ric Flair. George's impact on wrestling is very obvious and should be recognized as an icon. His revolutionary ideas really helped pave the way for the world of wrestling today.
He is a template that many others based what a heel character should be on, and the characters you would mention were influenced, directly or indirectly, by George. By indirectly, I mean that the writers who helped create the characters may have been influenced as well, or some of George's antics have passed down through the generations. As for the Warrior...I don't know to what to say. :)
Gorgeous George definitely knew what he was doing. He was able to invent a personality that people loved to hate and kept people tuned into his antics (which they probably despised).
What made George particularly special is that he could actually wrestle. He could back up his ridiculous behavior in the ring with real physical skill. Wrestling today has a slew of different characters and personalities that play off different peoples' interests. But I'm not so sure how much ability and physical ability matter anymore. Hulk Hogan, for example, is a veritable cultural icon but was never lauded for possessing great wrestling skill. Nevertheless, the acrobatics that constitute a cornerstone of modern pro wrestling makes some of these guys' athleticism undeniable.
I think he really did something that incredibly revolutionary. I think he really set the standard for what a heel is today. He was hated by the audience and brushed it off and used it to make them hate him more. It also made it very easy for a face to show his dislike of George. His influence and be seen in all heels today. He really started a new trend in making the people watch so that they could possibly watch him lose which is what many times has driven storylines during wrestlings time on television.
Ultimate warrior was an incredible fighter, but I don't think he could touch what Gorgeous George did for the world of wrestling.
Ultimate Warrior was an insane interviewer and he had some incredible gimmicks, but the originality of Gorgeous George made him legendary. By the time of the Ultimate Warrior, there were several wrestlers that were selling themselves to the audiences in different ways, but at the same time similarly.
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