Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Actor and author Ed Asner, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 91, has been announced as part of The California Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
Best by modern audiences for his lead role in Disney's Up and his turn as Santa Claus in Will Ferrell's classic Elf, he was legendary for his role as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show before taking the character onto its own dramatic spin-off series. In doing so, Asner became one of only two actors to ever win Emmys for comedy and drama playing the same character. Asner won seven Emmys over the course of his career, five alone for his portrayal of Lou Grant.
Asner had an incredible career in TV, movie and theater that ran decades, including starring in the 1974 Verne Gagne production The Wrestler, playing promoter Frank Bass, who was more or less a stand-in for Gagne himself since Gagne was playing the role of Mike Bullard, the World Champion. In the film, Asner's character is working on building towards a big title bout for Bullard against Billy Taylor (Billy Robinson) while also dealing with a mobster who wants to get involved in his business (leading to a great scene with The Crusher and The Bruiser) as well as everything else you can imagine, including the death of a wrestler in the ring, leading to a great Asner scene where he rips on the local media for not taking the sport and the death seriously:
The film is available for streaming and is quite the representation of that era of pro wrestling with cameos of everyone from Dusty Rhodes to Vincent J. McMahon to Ric Flair popping up. It is well worth checking out with Asner as the glue holding it together.
PWInsider.com congratulates the Asner family on Ed's deserved posthumous honor.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
