Eddie Graham Edward Gossett ( better known as Eddie Graham ) ( January 15 , 1930 – January 21 , 1985 ) was a professional wrestler . He was also the promoter and booker for Championship Wrestling from Florida and President of the NWA in the 1970s . His son , Mike Graham , was also a professional wrestler . Career . Edward F . Gossett started wrestling in 1947 John Molinaro , " The Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of All Time " , ( Winding Stair Press : 2002 ) , page 200 . in Texas at the age of 17 after being trained by Cowboy Luttrell . He was sometimes billed as the brother of " Nature Boy " Buddy Rogers under the name of Rip Rogers . He lost a loser - leaves - town match to Pepper Gomez in May 1958 . In June 1958 , he changed his ring name to Eddie Graham and was billed as the brother of Dr . Jerry Graham and " Crazy " Luke Graham . Jerry and Eddie were a very successful heel tag team on the east coast of the United States . They had popular feuds with teams such as The Fabulous Kangaroos , the Bastien Brothers , Mark Lewin and Don Curtis , and Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez . They held the NWA United States Tag Team Championship " ( Northeast version ) together in Capitol Wrestling ( the forerunner of World Wrestling Entertainment ) four times , winning the belts three times in victories over Miguel Perez and Don Curtis , and once against Red and Lou Bastien . In the spring of 1960 , Eddie left the team and went to the National Wrestling Alliance ' s territory in Florida to wrestle . While there , in 1966 , he had a famous feud with Professor Boris Malenko . In 1968 , Graham was lacing his boots in the locker room and a 75 - pound steel window fell on his head , detaching both of his retina s and causing him an injury that required three hundred stitches . The Florida State Legislature awarded him $ 23 , 000 for the incident . According to Jim Wilson in his book " Chokehold " , Graham ' s eyesight was poor because of blade jobs , and because he needed surgery to correct the problem and could not afford the money , he had some wrestlers tamper with the window in order to pass it off as though it was the responsibility of the building . This allegation is disputed by eyewitnesses . Due to the injury , Graham was unable to wrestle for fifteen months . Eddie took over booking and promoting for Championship Wrestling from Florida in 1971 . He wrestled with his son , Mike Graham , until 1977 , when he retired from the ring due to health problems . He made a one - shot return to the ring for one final match in 1979 when he defeated Killer Khan by pinfall after the referee was knocked out and subsequent interference by Mr . Hito and Kazuo Sakurada on Khan ' s behalf was fought off by Mike Graham and Ray Stevens . He was the President of the NWA from 1976 to 1978 , thanks in part to Gordon Solie and Dusty Rhodes . Graham was absent as NWA President in 1977 and 1978 due to serious health problems he suffered from , and was forced to step down as a result . Eddie remained as the promoter in Florida until January 21 , 1985 , when he committed suicide by gunshot wound after a lifelong battle with alcoholism . He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 29 , 2008 . He was inducted posthumously by Dusty Rhodes , while his son , Mike Graham , accepted the honor on behalf of his father .