WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson has died aged 79 following a long battle with cancer.<\/p>\n
Starting his professional wrestling career in 1958, Patterson eventually joined what was known as the WWF at the time, in 1978. He became the first-ever titleholder of the Intercontinental belt and was the key figure behind the creation of the infamous Royal Rumble Match.<\/p>\n
Patterson was also famously known for being the first openly gay performer in the wrestling industry when he came out during the early 1970s.<\/p>\n
Just before retiring from in-ring duties in 1984, Patterson became a colour commentator for the company alongside Gorilla Monsoon and WWE CEO Vince McMahon. In 1996, Patterson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
"WWE is saddened to learn that Pat Patterson has passed away at the age of 79," the wrestling organisation said in a statement.<\/p>\n
"A true trailblazer of the industry, Patterson was linked to many 'firsts' in sports entertainment throughout his storied career, including the first-ever Intercontinental Title reign and the creation of the Royal Rumble Match."<\/p>\n
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson led an outpouring of tributes from past and current WWE superstars, describing the wrestling great as a "father figure" and "mentor".<\/p>\n
"Rough phone calls to get this morning to tell me, our dear family member Pat Patterson who was also a father figure and my pro wrestling mentor has passed away," he wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n
"A WWE hall of famer, true trailblazer and one of the most brilliantly creative wrestling minds the industry has ever known."<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DwayneJohnson\/photos\/a.448580834383\/10159494162434384\/<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWERomanReigns\/status\/1334167122969317379?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnCena\/status\/1334161963748904966?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/TripleH\/status\/1334141741105094661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/shanemcmahon\/status\/1334136903478677504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1334136903478677504%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwe.com%2Farticle%2Fsuperstars-and-legends-react-to-the-passing-of-pat-patterson<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/RealKurtAngle\/status\/1334160772046446594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1334160772046446594%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.news.com.au%2Fsport%2Fsports-life%2Fwwes-first-openly-gay-superstar-dead-at-age-79%2Fnews-story%2F8052a91bb1d71862f35d773ae80b0e3d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson has died aged 79 following a long battle with cancer. Starting his professional wrestling career in 1958, Patterson eventually […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4687"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4687"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4689,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4687\/revisions\/4689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}