"Mean" Gene Okerlund, whose deadpan interviews of pro wrestling superstars like "Macho Man" Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan made him a ringside fixture in his own right, has died. He was 76.
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World Wrestling Entertainment announced Okerlund's death on its website on Wednesday.
Okerlund's son, Tor Okerlund, told The Associated Press that his father died early on Wednesday at a hospital in Florida with his wife, Jeanne, by his side.
Tor Okerlund said his father, who had undergone three kidney transplants, fell ill a few weeks ago "and it just kind of went from bad to worse."
Okerlund started as an interviewer in the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association. He moved to WWE - then the World Wrestling Federation - in 1984 and hosted several shows.
Former wrestler and ex-Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, who wrestled as "The Body," dubbed Okerlund "Mean Gene."
Ventura told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Wednesday that Okerlund was "the best at what he did, the best straight man interviewer in wrestling history."
"You only had to tell him once" how to pitch and sell a wrestling story, Ventura said.
"He's like a carnival barker. ... He was the best salesman. And he never did retakes. ... Ninety per cent of the time if there was a screw-up on an interview, it was not because of Gene. That's how good he was."
Okerlund was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006.
Australian Associated Press