I just read that WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson has passed away at age 79, due to cancer. I feel like most people in my generation will remember Patterson’s on-screen antics as one of Mr. McMahon’s Stooges, along with Gerald Brisco, during the (then-)WWF’s Attitude Era of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The duo were a pair of oafish, bumbling henchmen to their evil corporate overlord. But, Pat Patterson had a full career as a wrestler before transitioning into being part of the WWE’s office.
In September of 1979, Patterson was the WWF North American Champion. When the company wanted to change the name of that title belt and begin its legacy anew, they held a fictional tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Patterson supposedly unified the North and South American championships, and was dubbed the first-ever Intercontinental Champion. He held the title until April of 1980 when he illegally lost the title to Ken Patera.
Patterson’s in-ring career ended shortly after, but he moved to become part of Vince McMahon, Jr.’s creative team. He refereed the main event of the first Wrestlemania, which saw Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, with “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka as their corner man, face off against “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, who had “Cowboy” Bob Orton (father of current WWE Superstar Randy Orton) in their corner. Patterson would also later referee the main event of Wrestlemania XI, between Bam Bam Bigelow and football player Lawrence Taylor.
In the late 1980s, Patterson innovated the idea of a reverse Battle Royale, and created the Royal Rumble, which has turned into one of the biggest WWE events every year, as well as probably my favorite match to watch.
Throughout the late 80s and 1990s, Patterson basically became Vince McMahon’s right-hand man, and helped him conceptualize and book all of the events of WWF programming. So if you grew up watching wrestling during that time, a lot of your favorite moments very well may have come from Pat Patterson’s mind.
I personally was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Patterson briefly in 2000, at the Wrestlemania weekend fan festival event, titled “Axxess,” where I got his autograph in that year’s program guide. Additionally, he happened to be right next to Gerry Brisco, so I got both “stooges” at once.
I asked Mr. Patterson if he could personalize the autograph “from the first Intercontinental Champion,” and I remember the look on his face being either kind of surprised that nobody else had asked for that personalization, or that he hadn’t thought of it himself. As the first person to hold a championship as important to the WWF/E as the Intercontinental title, I felt it deserved to be recognized. And apparently he agreed, because, as you can see in the photo below, that’s exactly what he did.
There is so much more to say about Pat Patterson, not the least of which is that he was one of the first known homosexual people to work in pro wrestling. But I’ll leave the rest to the wrestling historians and Wikipedia editors.
My personal interaction with Mr. Patterson was brief, but I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to meet someone who was so influential behind the scenes in a form of entertainment that was so important to me for so long.
Thank you, Pat.