WWE legend “Mean” Gene Okerlund has passed away

As memorable and legendary as all the wrestlers he interviewed, “Mean” Gene Okerlund has passed away at age 76.

The wrestling and sports entertainment world lost a legend on Wednesday morning, as “Mean” Gene Okerlund has passed away at age 76.

As memorable and legendary as any of the wrestlers he interviewed upon arriving in the then-WWF in 1984, and in WCW for time in the 90s before coming back to WWE in 2001, Okerlund was the voice for a generation of wrestling fans and he’s a WWE Hall of Famer.

Beyond asking the reaction-inducing “tough questions” of the wrestlers he interviewed before or after matches, often when big titles were at stake, “Mean Gene” was hardly mean in any real or personal way. That left Okerlund to finally explain the origin of the nickname, given to him by Jesse “The Body” Ventura, in a 2017 interview with Sports Illustrated. The article title rightly dubbed Okerlund as the “Vin Scully of wrestling.”

Beyond his memorable interview duties, captured forever via YouTube, Okerlund hosted multiple shows during his time with WWE. He also sang the national anthem at the first WrestleMania.

"Jesse and I were talking on the air in Minneapolis with the AWA,””Jesse said something about once serving as the bodyguard for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and I said, ‘Tom Petty, that’s a pretty big name.’ Jesse didn’t miss a beat and responded, ‘You don’t even know who Tom Petty is!’ I corrected him and said, ‘I certainly do, Jesse, he is the famous race car driver.’“That’s when Jesse said, ‘That’s mean, Gene,’ and that is how the origin of ‘Mean Gene’ started."

As expected, the reactions to Okerlund’s death are pouring in.

Here are a couple clips of Okerlund interviewing Ventura.

Prayers and condolences go out to Okerlund’s family and friends. Via clips like the ones above, we fans can work through our memories of “Mean Gene” quite easily.