The well know WWE interviewer, Gene Okerlund, who was also known by the nickname, Mean Gene, passed away on January, 2, 2019 causing a huge grief among the WWE community.
The WWE announced Gene Okerlund’s death with an online statement .
These are some facts you should know about Gene Okerlund!
- He was born on December 19, 1942, in Sisseton, South Dakota, United States.
- He studied broadcasting journalism .
- He landed a job as a disc jockey at KOIL, a popular radio station in Omaha, Nebraska.
- He started working for a local television station working in the front office, when he moved to Mineapolis.
- In 1970, he got a position at the American Wrestling Association (AWA.
- In his AWA days, Okerlund was given the nickname “Mean Gene” by Jesse “The Body” Ventura.
- The WWE interviewer was a resident of Osprey, Florida.
- He had been married to his wife Jeanne since March 27, 1964 and had two grown children.
- Gene Okerlund stayed with the AWA until the end of 1983, when he was one of many AWA personnel to join the expanding World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
- He would stay with the WWF for nine years as their top interviewer, and was host of such WWF shows as All-American Wrestling and Tuesday Night Titans.
- Okerlund was the first person to sing the National Anthem at WrestleMania doing so at WrestleMania I, on March 31, 1985.
- On November 12, 1985, Mean Gene, along with Hulk Hogan, Bobby Heenan, Ricky Steamboat, Davey Boy Smith, Corporal Kirchner, Dynamite Kid and Big John Studd, appeared on The A-Team.
- He wrestled twice in WCW. The first was in mid-2000 when he and Buff Bagwell faced Chris Kanyon and fellow announcer Mark Madden, with Bagwell and Okerlund winning.
- He was one of the professional wrestling legends on the WWE Network’s show “Legends House”.
- The WWE interviewer passed away in the morning of January 2, 2019, at the age of 76 in Sarasota, Florida at his home .
