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* DownerEnding: Adonis was in a minivan with three other wrestlers when the driver, blinded by the sun, swerved to avoid a moose and drove off a bridge into a river. Only one of the four survived; Adonis was rescued from the river but subsequently died from severe head injuries.
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* {{Acrofatic}} Despite his weight gain, he was still known for his ability to move around the ring and take bumps, including the Ray Stevens upside down turnbuckle bump.
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Not to be confused with similar wrestler Wrestling/ExoticAdrianStreet.
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As usual, you can find more info about his career at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Adonis his page]] at [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]].
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adrian_adonis_0.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:"Adorable" Adrian Adonis with Wrestling/JimmyHart.]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see his original persona]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adrian_adonis_7.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]
Keith Franke (September 15, 1953 – July 4, 1988) was an American {{professional wrestl|ing}}er better known by his ring name Adrian Adonis. He was best known for his appearances with the Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation and the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Federation]] throughout the 1980s.
He debuted in 1974 as Keith Franks and worked for various territories. It was Wrestling/RoddyPiper who turned him into Adrian Adonis while wrestling in Los Angeles. He died in a car crash in 1988.
As for his in-ring achievements, he was a 1x NWA PNW Tag Team Champion with Ron Starr, a 2x NWA (Los Angeles) Americas Tag Team Champion as Keith Franks (1x w/Black Gordman, 1x w/Roddy Piper), a 1x NWA (Los Angeles) Americas Heavyweight Champion, a 1x AWA World Tag Team Champion with Wrestling/JesseVentura, the inaugural SCW (Southwest) World Heavyweight Champion, a 1x SCW Southwest Heavyweight Champion and a 1x WWE World Tag Team Champion with Dick Murdoch.
As usual, you can find more info about his career at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Adonis his page]] at [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]].
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!!"Golden Boy Tropes":
* AlliterativeName: '''A'''drian '''A'''donis.
* BadassBiker: His early wrestling persona was that of a tough biker from New York, complete with the attire. (Ironically, his tag team partner around that time was [[Wrestling/JesseVentura Jesse "The Body" Ventura]], who claims to have rode with the San Diego chapter of the Mongols before entering the pro wrestling business, but didn't make it part of his gimmick.)
* BrooklynRage: Billed from New York and for a long time had a gimmick of a tough biker.
* CampGay: As "Adorable" Adrian Adonis. He acted effeminate, wore lots of pink and heavy amounts of eye shadow and rouge, and one ambush against Roddy Piper ended with Adonis smearing him with lipstick.
* TheCorrupter: He helped accelerate Wrestling/PaulOrndorff's FaceHeelTurn against Wrestling/HulkHogan, with Adonis relentlessly needling Orndorff about living in Hogan's shadow on ''The Flower Shop''.
* FatBastard: A long-time {{Heel}}, his transition to the "Adorable" gimmick began after Adonis (who in his previous biker gimmick was a well-conditioned wrestler, if muscular and stocky) gained a considerable amount of weight. Reportedly, the "Adorable" gimmick was a punishment ''because'' of him getting out of shape.
* FinishingMove: A sleeper hold he called "Good Night, Irene".
* GorgeousGeorge: One of the many wrestlers who took off after the original [[Wrestling/GeorgeWagner Gorgeous George]] of being pretty boys who acted androgynous (with the twist that he was fat). More specifically, the "Adorable" gimmick was an homage to Wrestling/ExoticAdrianStreet, who visually was very reminiscent of Adonis in his "Adorable" gimmick.
* HellBentForLeather: As part of his biker gimmick, he had the whole leather-clad getup. In fact, he is the reason why Wrestling/RoddyPiper wore a leather jacket; Adonis gave his to Piper on an edition of ''Piper's Pit'' when Adonis began transitioning into the "Adorable" gimmick.
* RealMenWearPink: As "Adorable", he was still a savage wrestler despite his ''very'' femenine traits.
* RedBaron: "Golden Boy", "Adorable".
* SissyVillain: His gimmick went from tough biker to flamboyant, effeminate gay, while remaining a heel all the way through.
* TagTeam:
** (in the AWA): The East-West Connection, with Jesse Ventura.
** (in WWE): The North-South Connection, with Dick Murdoch.
* TalkShowWithFists: He had his own talk segment, ''The Flower Shop'', until Roddy Piper destroyed it.
* TraumaticHaircut: Gave Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake one, but he retaliated by shaving Adonis bald at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania III'', after helping Roddy Piper defeat Adonis at the event. In fact, this is the reason why Beefcake (who up until then had a gimmick of what was basically a PG-rated stripper) became Brutus '''"The Barber"''' Beefcake, as he apparently liked cutting Adonis's hair so much that he made it a signature taunt of his own afterwards.
* TrashTheSet: Adonis destroyed the set of Roddy Piper's ''Piper's Pit''. A week later, in retaliation, Piper hobbled onto the set of Adonis's ''The Flower Shop'' with a baseball bat in his hands and began smashing the set apart before screaming bloody revenge.
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[[caption-width-right:300:"Adorable" Adrian Adonis with Wrestling/JimmyHart.]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see his original persona]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adrian_adonis_7.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]
Keith Franke (September 15, 1953 – July 4, 1988) was an American {{professional wrestl|ing}}er better known by his ring name Adrian Adonis. He was best known for his appearances with the Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation and the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Federation]] throughout the 1980s.
He debuted in 1974 as Keith Franks and worked for various territories. It was Wrestling/RoddyPiper who turned him into Adrian Adonis while wrestling in Los Angeles. He died in a car crash in 1988.
As for his in-ring achievements, he was a 1x NWA PNW Tag Team Champion with Ron Starr, a 2x NWA (Los Angeles) Americas Tag Team Champion as Keith Franks (1x w/Black Gordman, 1x w/Roddy Piper), a 1x NWA (Los Angeles) Americas Heavyweight Champion, a 1x AWA World Tag Team Champion with Wrestling/JesseVentura, the inaugural SCW (Southwest) World Heavyweight Champion, a 1x SCW Southwest Heavyweight Champion and a 1x WWE World Tag Team Champion with Dick Murdoch.
As usual, you can find more info about his career at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Adonis his page]] at [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]].
----
!!"Golden Boy Tropes":
* AlliterativeName: '''A'''drian '''A'''donis.
* BadassBiker: His early wrestling persona was that of a tough biker from New York, complete with the attire. (Ironically, his tag team partner around that time was [[Wrestling/JesseVentura Jesse "The Body" Ventura]], who claims to have rode with the San Diego chapter of the Mongols before entering the pro wrestling business, but didn't make it part of his gimmick.)
* BrooklynRage: Billed from New York and for a long time had a gimmick of a tough biker.
* CampGay: As "Adorable" Adrian Adonis. He acted effeminate, wore lots of pink and heavy amounts of eye shadow and rouge, and one ambush against Roddy Piper ended with Adonis smearing him with lipstick.
* TheCorrupter: He helped accelerate Wrestling/PaulOrndorff's FaceHeelTurn against Wrestling/HulkHogan, with Adonis relentlessly needling Orndorff about living in Hogan's shadow on ''The Flower Shop''.
* FatBastard: A long-time {{Heel}}, his transition to the "Adorable" gimmick began after Adonis (who in his previous biker gimmick was a well-conditioned wrestler, if muscular and stocky) gained a considerable amount of weight. Reportedly, the "Adorable" gimmick was a punishment ''because'' of him getting out of shape.
* FinishingMove: A sleeper hold he called "Good Night, Irene".
* GorgeousGeorge: One of the many wrestlers who took off after the original [[Wrestling/GeorgeWagner Gorgeous George]] of being pretty boys who acted androgynous (with the twist that he was fat). More specifically, the "Adorable" gimmick was an homage to Wrestling/ExoticAdrianStreet, who visually was very reminiscent of Adonis in his "Adorable" gimmick.
* HellBentForLeather: As part of his biker gimmick, he had the whole leather-clad getup. In fact, he is the reason why Wrestling/RoddyPiper wore a leather jacket; Adonis gave his to Piper on an edition of ''Piper's Pit'' when Adonis began transitioning into the "Adorable" gimmick.
* RealMenWearPink: As "Adorable", he was still a savage wrestler despite his ''very'' femenine traits.
* RedBaron: "Golden Boy", "Adorable".
* SissyVillain: His gimmick went from tough biker to flamboyant, effeminate gay, while remaining a heel all the way through.
* TagTeam:
** (in the AWA): The East-West Connection, with Jesse Ventura.
** (in WWE): The North-South Connection, with Dick Murdoch.
* TalkShowWithFists: He had his own talk segment, ''The Flower Shop'', until Roddy Piper destroyed it.
* TraumaticHaircut: Gave Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake one, but he retaliated by shaving Adonis bald at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania III'', after helping Roddy Piper defeat Adonis at the event. In fact, this is the reason why Beefcake (who up until then had a gimmick of what was basically a PG-rated stripper) became Brutus '''"The Barber"''' Beefcake, as he apparently liked cutting Adonis's hair so much that he made it a signature taunt of his own afterwards.
* TrashTheSet: Adonis destroyed the set of Roddy Piper's ''Piper's Pit''. A week later, in retaliation, Piper hobbled onto the set of Adonis's ''The Flower Shop'' with a baseball bat in his hands and began smashing the set apart before screaming bloody revenge.
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