On December 29th, 2024 the 39th president of the United States Jimmy Carter passed away at the age of 100 years old. He lived an amazing and fascinating life. Something interesting about Jimmy Carter that doesn’t get talked about is his involvement/ties to the professional wrestling industry. He wasn’t a professional wrestler, but behind the scenes he was both a fan of it and was closely connected to the Georgia Wrestling Championship promotion. So, in remember Jimmy Carter, I would like to talk about his involvement and ties to the industry.
In the territory days of professional wrestling, it was huge in the state of Georgia. It still was huge in the 90’s as WCW headquarters was in Atlanta, Georgia. Going back to the territory days one wrestler who was huge in those days was Mr. Wrestling II. Jimmy Carter on the record with the media stated that his favorite pro wrestler was Mr Wrestling II. Who also loved Mr Wrestling II in the Carter Family? Jimmy’s mother Lillian.
Lillian Carter was a tremendous fan of professional wrestling and would always go to the weekly shows held in Georgia while helping Jimmy with his campaigns in the late ’60s. Lillian went to shake hands with Voters, but after seeing the shows she got hooked. She was a big fan of Mr Wrestling II and so was Jimmy Carter.
One of my favorite photos of Jimmy Carter was when he put a headlock on Mr Wrestling II. In the photo above, he is smiling, and I don’t know why it’s one of his best smiles. The picture was all over multiple newspapers across the United States. This picture was used on occasion in the 1976 election between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Something fascinating too was that Carter invited. Mr Wrestling II to attend his inauguration into the White House. However, Mr Wrestling declined as The Secret Service themselves made it clear that he couldn’t attend with the mask. He wanted to keep Kayfabe and not reveal his identity to the public, so it never materialized.
This was mentioned in the Dark Side of the Ring episode on Black Saturday. But Jim Barnett was one of the big promotors during the Territory days of professional wrestling. Especially within the Georgia Championship Wrestling which was big in the 70’s and 80’s. Barnett at the time was the most connected person in the business. He knew everybody from top Media people, Lawyers, People in the Arts, Politicians, etc.
How did he get those top connections? Well, thank Jimmy Carter for that. When he became president, he appointed Barnett to be a member of the Office of Counsel to the President. Barnett was mainly a part of the National Council on the Arts as well throughout Carter’s presidency. It was during that tenure that Barnett had so many connections to make things happen to benefit him and whoever he worked with.
When he got kicked out from Georgia Championship Wrestling by Ole Anderson, Barnett wanted revenge and went to work for Vince McMahon who was planning to dominate and monopolize the business. When Barnett joined Vince, it was pretty much game over for the Territories. If you haven’t go watch Dark Side Of The Ring’s Episode on Black Saturday and they do a great job discussing Jim Barnett and the rise of Vince McMahon in pro wrestling.
A fascinating fact about Jim Barnett is in his final years he recommended a person for Vince McMahon to push as his next big superstar. That man’s name is John Cena. If it wasn’t for Barnett’s recommendation, who knows if John Cena ever becomes a big superstar in WWE? At the time Vince McMahon was close to releasing Cena until Barnett gave him that recommendation.
Today is the national funeral for Jimmy Carter and saying goodbye is a tough one. Many do not know that his ties to pro wrestling were very deep in the Territory days of pro wrestling. Especially with Mr. Wrestling II and Jim Barnett, which is very fascinating. Rest in peace, Mr President. My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to his family and Family.
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