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Flowers for Adrian: The Life and Death of Adrian Adonis
Flowers for Adrian is a detailed and engaging look at the life, death and legacy of professional wrestler Keith Franke, who competed as “Gorgeous” Keith Franks and “Adorable” Adrian Adonis during the 1970s and 1980s before his untimely death in 1988.
This biography, the first of its kind, takes the reader through Franke’s start in life as an orphan, through to achieving his childhood dream of becoming a pro wrestler. The tale plays out across the colourful background of wrestling’s territories era, where Franke learned his trade the 'old-fashioned' way in Vancouver, the Carolinas, California, and Florida.
As his talent developed, so did his persona, and ‘Adrian Adonis’ was born. Through Amarillo, to Portland, and to the AWA, to team with future Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura. Finally, Adonis arrived in the WWF. On wrestling’s premier circuit, Adonis headlined Madison Square Garden and was part of the company’s international expansion. What could go wrong?
With contributions from Franke's friends, family, and former colleagues including "Magnificent" Don Muraco, Tully Blanchard, Jerry Brisco, Lanny Poffo, and more, Flowers for Adrian is the definitive story of the man behind the make-up.
This biography, the first of its kind, takes the reader through Franke’s start in life as an orphan, through to achieving his childhood dream of becoming a pro wrestler. The tale plays out across the colourful background of wrestling’s territories era, where Franke learned his trade the 'old-fashioned' way in Vancouver, the Carolinas, California, and Florida.
As his talent developed, so did his persona, and ‘Adrian Adonis’ was born. Through Amarillo, to Portland, and to the AWA, to team with future Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura. Finally, Adonis arrived in the WWF. On wrestling’s premier circuit, Adonis headlined Madison Square Garden and was part of the company’s international expansion. What could go wrong?
With contributions from Franke's friends, family, and former colleagues including "Magnificent" Don Muraco, Tully Blanchard, Jerry Brisco, Lanny Poffo, and more, Flowers for Adrian is the definitive story of the man behind the make-up.
273 pages, Paperback
Published February 19, 2023
34 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
John Ellul
1 book1 followerJohn Ellul is a freelance journalist, media and communications professional, and NCTJ-qualified newspaper reporter. In addition to being a lifelong wrestling fan, he has been a regular contributor to Wrestletalk Magazine and website since 2020, and has also written for Voices of Wrestling. Flowers for Adrian: The Life and Death of Adrian Adonis is his first book.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 27, 2023
This fell into my lap not long ago and I had to drop everything and dig in. I have to admit, I wasn't that interested in Adonis other than booing him against Roddy Piper back in the day and only had exposure to him when he was about seventy pounds overweight and doing the gay heel gimmick. It wasn't until he won the World Heavyweight title in my Legends of Wrestling fed that I became more intrigued.
Anyway, this is the biography of Adrian Adonis, from being adopted as an infant and named Keith Franke to breaking into the wrestling business. I'll skip the rant about the death of the territories leading to a homogenized wrestling product for another day. Eventually, he becomes Adrian Adonis, biker bad ass, goes to AWA, Japan, the WWF, and eventually becomes Adorable Adrian Adonis once his weight gets out of control and Vince McMahon hands him the gay gimmick.
First off, the tone is a little dry. I like my wrestling books to be full of road stories. Since Adrian has been gone about 35 years at this point, I think John Ellul did great with the resources he had, though.
Since Adonis died in 1988, he wasn't in the forefront of my wrestling mind until the last couple years and I didn't know most of this stuff. I didn't know he and Roddy Piper teamed as The 22s when they were first starting out or that they were so close behind the scenes. I didn't know the reason the Reverse Atomic Drop is also known as the Manhattan Drop is because of Adrian Adonis' Japan run. I also didn't know Adrian was legit fighting people from out of the crowd in Amarillo in the early 1980s, which I found insane.
Like a lot of wrestling books, the ending is sad. Adonis works the AWA and small independents until the accident that killed him just when he was getting his shit together. I didn't realize the WWF didn't acknowledge Adrian's death at all on TV and he still isn't in the WWE hall of fame.
This isn't among my favorite wrestling books but it's easily in the keeper tier, not going to half price books any time soon. Four out of five stars.
Anyway, this is the biography of Adrian Adonis, from being adopted as an infant and named Keith Franke to breaking into the wrestling business. I'll skip the rant about the death of the territories leading to a homogenized wrestling product for another day. Eventually, he becomes Adrian Adonis, biker bad ass, goes to AWA, Japan, the WWF, and eventually becomes Adorable Adrian Adonis once his weight gets out of control and Vince McMahon hands him the gay gimmick.
First off, the tone is a little dry. I like my wrestling books to be full of road stories. Since Adrian has been gone about 35 years at this point, I think John Ellul did great with the resources he had, though.
Since Adonis died in 1988, he wasn't in the forefront of my wrestling mind until the last couple years and I didn't know most of this stuff. I didn't know he and Roddy Piper teamed as The 22s when they were first starting out or that they were so close behind the scenes. I didn't know the reason the Reverse Atomic Drop is also known as the Manhattan Drop is because of Adrian Adonis' Japan run. I also didn't know Adrian was legit fighting people from out of the crowd in Amarillo in the early 1980s, which I found insane.
Like a lot of wrestling books, the ending is sad. Adonis works the AWA and small independents until the accident that killed him just when he was getting his shit together. I didn't realize the WWF didn't acknowledge Adrian's death at all on TV and he still isn't in the WWE hall of fame.
This isn't among my favorite wrestling books but it's easily in the keeper tier, not going to half price books any time soon. Four out of five stars.
March 31, 2023
To be honest, before reading this book, I didn’t know much about Keith Franke, aka Adrian Adonis. His rise to the national stage of the WWF and subsequent passing in 1988 precedes my fandom by a few years and even then, he hasn’t been featured in many of WWE’s documentaries since the advent of DVD box sets and recently, specials on WWE Network. Further to that, I only really knew him as the obese, flamboyant host of The Flower Shop and subsequently, the man who had his head shaved at WrestleMania III giving birth to Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. Author John Ellul likely realises that many modern-day fans are in the same boat as myself and therefore, tasked himself with uncovering Franke’s early years as well as his pre-WWF career.
Like many from his era, Franke was quite the journeyman, spending time in Mid-Atlantic, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Japan, the WWWF, Don Owens’ Portland territory, NWA Hollywood, the Funk’s Amarillo territory in Texas and many others. Given that he found himself falling into wrestling at an early age, being able to travel all over North America to learn and grow as a performer helped him to establish a reputation as an eager student of the game. Franke refused to overstay his welcome in any one promotion, feeling the urge to move on after seemingly hitting both his creative and performing heights. It’s a far cry from today when performers like Randy Orton spend the entirety of their careers in one promotion. I was particularly blown away by his time in Amarillo where he routinely challenged members of the audience to legitimate fights. The number of ways this could have gone wrong is staggering to say the least, but outside of one occurrence, he handily beat his opponents and kept the cash prize he had offered in exchange for his defeat.
The research here is exhaustive to say the least. Ellul pulls from a variety of sources including the memoirs of many of Adonis’ contemporaries including Terry Funk, “Rotten” Ron Starr, Bret Hart, Bob Backlund, Freddie Blassie, and many others. John also includes excerpts from many “shoot” interviews, magazine articles, documentaries and of course, Franke’s family as well. One surprising note included a reference to a 1983 match against Bob Orton Jr in Joe Blanchard’s Southwest Championship Wrestling that contained commentary from Dave Meltzer and Jim Cornette. At the time of this match, Meltzer notes, it would not be an overstatement to say that next to Ric Flair, Adrian Adonis could be considered the best wrestler in America. It’s a shocking thing to hear given that Adonis is rarely mentioned or showcased by WWE or any other modern promotion.
Devoting a good chunk of Adrian’s story to his long-standing friendship with Roddy Piper helped to really flesh out the importance of their clash at WrestleMania III, arguably the biggest stage Adonis ever worked. The two travelled up and down the highways of North America and shared the spotlight in some of the biggest territories on the map. Their brutal months-long feud that made both performers careers in California consisted of street fights, cage matches and blood baths abound. Interestingly, this was the opposite dynamic of their program in WWF with Adonis playing the scrappy babyface and Piper the ruthless heel. Ellul uncovers the evolution (or devolution depending on how you see it) to the character he is most known for; the bleached-blond, overweight, homosexual stereotype that he portrayed in his final years on a national stage. Looking back, it’s painful to watch given how far we’ve come with openly gay performers working in many of the top companies.
It’s a shame that later in his career, his substance abuse and weight problems hindered his ability to be viewed as a top star despite his overwhelming talent. Near the time of his death, reverting back to the independents with a few options still on the table for a national platform, Franke had dropped over one hundred pounds and looked to turn his life around. Tragically, he would pass away during a small tour of Newfoundland following a horrific car accident. Much of the aftermath is covered here including a story about several ring-hands who attempted to get away with money and personal items from the performers who passed away in the accident, Adrian included.
Much like Liam O’Rourke’s 2018 biography of Brian Pillman (Crazy Like A Fox), John Ellul's FLOWERS FOR ADRIAN is one of the most complete examinations of a performer’s career. I would go so far as to say that Ellul's work could also be considered a history of the territory system between the mid-70s to Franke’s passing in the late 80s; it’s that extensive. This is an easy recommendation to those looking to learn more about a special performer who never quite got his flowers.
Like many from his era, Franke was quite the journeyman, spending time in Mid-Atlantic, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Japan, the WWWF, Don Owens’ Portland territory, NWA Hollywood, the Funk’s Amarillo territory in Texas and many others. Given that he found himself falling into wrestling at an early age, being able to travel all over North America to learn and grow as a performer helped him to establish a reputation as an eager student of the game. Franke refused to overstay his welcome in any one promotion, feeling the urge to move on after seemingly hitting both his creative and performing heights. It’s a far cry from today when performers like Randy Orton spend the entirety of their careers in one promotion. I was particularly blown away by his time in Amarillo where he routinely challenged members of the audience to legitimate fights. The number of ways this could have gone wrong is staggering to say the least, but outside of one occurrence, he handily beat his opponents and kept the cash prize he had offered in exchange for his defeat.
The research here is exhaustive to say the least. Ellul pulls from a variety of sources including the memoirs of many of Adonis’ contemporaries including Terry Funk, “Rotten” Ron Starr, Bret Hart, Bob Backlund, Freddie Blassie, and many others. John also includes excerpts from many “shoot” interviews, magazine articles, documentaries and of course, Franke’s family as well. One surprising note included a reference to a 1983 match against Bob Orton Jr in Joe Blanchard’s Southwest Championship Wrestling that contained commentary from Dave Meltzer and Jim Cornette. At the time of this match, Meltzer notes, it would not be an overstatement to say that next to Ric Flair, Adrian Adonis could be considered the best wrestler in America. It’s a shocking thing to hear given that Adonis is rarely mentioned or showcased by WWE or any other modern promotion.
Devoting a good chunk of Adrian’s story to his long-standing friendship with Roddy Piper helped to really flesh out the importance of their clash at WrestleMania III, arguably the biggest stage Adonis ever worked. The two travelled up and down the highways of North America and shared the spotlight in some of the biggest territories on the map. Their brutal months-long feud that made both performers careers in California consisted of street fights, cage matches and blood baths abound. Interestingly, this was the opposite dynamic of their program in WWF with Adonis playing the scrappy babyface and Piper the ruthless heel. Ellul uncovers the evolution (or devolution depending on how you see it) to the character he is most known for; the bleached-blond, overweight, homosexual stereotype that he portrayed in his final years on a national stage. Looking back, it’s painful to watch given how far we’ve come with openly gay performers working in many of the top companies.
It’s a shame that later in his career, his substance abuse and weight problems hindered his ability to be viewed as a top star despite his overwhelming talent. Near the time of his death, reverting back to the independents with a few options still on the table for a national platform, Franke had dropped over one hundred pounds and looked to turn his life around. Tragically, he would pass away during a small tour of Newfoundland following a horrific car accident. Much of the aftermath is covered here including a story about several ring-hands who attempted to get away with money and personal items from the performers who passed away in the accident, Adrian included.
Much like Liam O’Rourke’s 2018 biography of Brian Pillman (Crazy Like A Fox), John Ellul's FLOWERS FOR ADRIAN is one of the most complete examinations of a performer’s career. I would go so far as to say that Ellul's work could also be considered a history of the territory system between the mid-70s to Franke’s passing in the late 80s; it’s that extensive. This is an easy recommendation to those looking to learn more about a special performer who never quite got his flowers.
December 12, 2023
3.5 stars
This book was ok, not great, and nothing against the author or the way it was written…
Wasn’t ever really an Adonis fan…but it’s a wrestling book, so I gotta read it! Lol
This book was ok, not great, and nothing against the author or the way it was written…
Wasn’t ever really an Adonis fan…but it’s a wrestling book, so I gotta read it! Lol
May 1, 2023
a careful collection of all of the extant material (viewable matches, interviews while in character, interviews w/ his family and friends, etc.) about a wrestler whose legacy has been obscured by a premature death and the passage of time.
May 9, 2023
Nah.
I got as far as the writer off-handedly describing Newfoundland, my home province, as 'far-flung', in the context of the place that Adrian Adonis tragically died. Newfoundland is a 3 hour plane flight to New York City (!). No matter what else anyone can describe it as, depicting Newfoundland as 'far-flung' is simply factually incorrect.
The WWE routinely toured here throughout their first boom-period in the 1980's; I grew up attending many of their house shows. Adonis' demise occuring here is a sad fact but he likely did so chiefly due 'to' our geographical location being so close to the eastern seaboard of the United States. Not to mention his drawing power as a star from the WWE when they did tour here. I disagree with the writer trying to insinuate Adonis was in some remote backwater, plying his trade in the sticks, when he died. Newfoundland was a place of great love for wrestling and sell-out business in Adonis' era. He wasn't slumming it by being here.
I can't speak to the rest of the book beyond those few pages. Though given the writer immediately begins the book by questioning the depiction of Adonis as a gay character and inferring that audiences were therefore programmed to hate him based only on that is odd to me. I was an impressionable young child when Adonis was on TV with WWE. I didn't hate him because he was portraying a gay man...I hated him because he was a rules-breaking heel who was attacking my wrestling heroes, the babyfaces. Watching the presentation of Adonis back then didn't suddenly instill in me any homophobia. It was all entertainment then and should be viewed that way in hindsight now. Even as a kid I knew the difference between booing a bad guy for his actions and hating him simply because he was 'gay'. It felt like the writer was getting on a soap box to condemn decades-old entertainment out of context, so I bailed out.
I got as far as the writer off-handedly describing Newfoundland, my home province, as 'far-flung', in the context of the place that Adrian Adonis tragically died. Newfoundland is a 3 hour plane flight to New York City (!). No matter what else anyone can describe it as, depicting Newfoundland as 'far-flung' is simply factually incorrect.
The WWE routinely toured here throughout their first boom-period in the 1980's; I grew up attending many of their house shows. Adonis' demise occuring here is a sad fact but he likely did so chiefly due 'to' our geographical location being so close to the eastern seaboard of the United States. Not to mention his drawing power as a star from the WWE when they did tour here. I disagree with the writer trying to insinuate Adonis was in some remote backwater, plying his trade in the sticks, when he died. Newfoundland was a place of great love for wrestling and sell-out business in Adonis' era. He wasn't slumming it by being here.
I can't speak to the rest of the book beyond those few pages. Though given the writer immediately begins the book by questioning the depiction of Adonis as a gay character and inferring that audiences were therefore programmed to hate him based only on that is odd to me. I was an impressionable young child when Adonis was on TV with WWE. I didn't hate him because he was portraying a gay man...I hated him because he was a rules-breaking heel who was attacking my wrestling heroes, the babyfaces. Watching the presentation of Adonis back then didn't suddenly instill in me any homophobia. It was all entertainment then and should be viewed that way in hindsight now. Even as a kid I knew the difference between booing a bad guy for his actions and hating him simply because he was 'gay'. It felt like the writer was getting on a soap box to condemn decades-old entertainment out of context, so I bailed out.
January 6, 2024
Entertaining...But...
Overall, this was an entertaining read. However, it could have used a better editor. Typos abound. I don't know if the author is British, but I found the British spellings, such as "programme" and "honour," to be distracting.
Overall, this was an entertaining read. However, it could have used a better editor. Typos abound. I don't know if the author is British, but I found the British spellings, such as "programme" and "honour," to be distracting.
April 24, 2024
3.5 I enjoyed learning about Adonis.
November 8, 2025
Probably closer to 3.5 stars. A name I’ve always known but never really sought out since he was truly before my time. The format drove me nuts but otherwise a well-researched book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews