Sell me on the late Bruiser Brody

[dlg3000]

What could I tell a young wrestling fan about the late Bruiser Brody and his legacy? I only remember him for two things: his run in World Class and his tragic death. How talented a wrestler was he?

[MolotovMocktail]

From what I've seen of him, he was one of the first hardcore wrestlers.

[Hit Girl]

Terrifying on the mic, he looked like a maniac, had star presence, and could wrestle.

He had it all.

[Deleted]

Weird, I was going through some of my old wrestling magazines yesterday and read about Brody.
He was called "The Mercenary Of Mayhem" for good reason; he was willing to work for whomever would pay him the most money. That was pretty much his gimmick. He wasn't a face or a heel, he was a loner. One day, Gary Hart would hire him to take out the Von Erichs. The next day, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaisee got him to the AWA to beat up (or team with, depending on when it happened) Crusher Blackwell and Greg Gagne.

If you ever watched a Stan Hansen match around the AWA in the mid-80s, that was Brody in a nutshell. Just get in the ring and beat the living crap out of someone.

Wild hair, unkempt beard, furry boots, unpredictable offense mainly consisting of boots and punches to the face and body. He wasn't the most technical wrestler around; he was like a Road Warrior.

Another similarity (at least as far as the look): The Berserker.

[bitteroldman]

Brody never stayed in a territory for too long and rarely did jobs or put anyone over which made him seem invincible, much as Andre the Giant was. With his appearance, mannerisms and wild brawling style in the ring he was close to the perfect wildman character and his unfortunate early death has just added to his aura.

[Deleted]

It's probably hard to get a true understanding of how much of a wildman Brody was if one is just checking him out now. We've seen so much garbage in the modern era that we've been desensitized to how out of control he seemed to be.

The funny thing is, that much like Stan Hansen, away from the ring he was intelligent, and a decent guy.

[molson5]

He used to be a sportswriter before he got into wrestling. I'm amused by the image of him behind a little typewriter, typing away on the local college sports scene.

Back in Brody's day you had to look like a guy that could beat people up, and then go into the ring and look like you're actually beating people up. If you watch a lot of Bruiser Brody and then watch modern wrestling, it looks like they're just doing a choreographed synchronized swimming routine now.

[Deleted]

Brody not selling for Luger. Luger not knowing what to do. Luger running away.

["Nature Boy" Ric Moranis]

His All-Japan tag stuff with Hansen is awesome. Especially against the Funks. He had some fun tag stuff teaming with Snuka too. All the Brody tag stuff from Japan is good stuff.

[Lupin the Third]

His entrance theme was also perfect to a T for him.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXX4nYyctU8

Yes, it's a cover of the Immigrant Song, but it epitomized Brody. Hard, crazy, and bad ass.

[saintpat]

In the same category with Abdullah the Butcher -- hired gun, more heel than face but could be either when called upon.

Their arrival would be set up by the babyfaces going over big, pretty much ending the threat of the top heels. Looked like it was going to be a long run of babyface heaven ... then some manager would bring in Brodie or Abbie and turn them loose on the faces and they'd clean house for a while -- and either move on to the next gig in the next territory, or (more commonly with Abbie than with Brodie) they'd finally lose in the big revenge match in front of a huge gate in an arena filled with fans wanting to see the faces get their revenge.

Sometimes they'd come in as hired guns for the faces to put a twist on it, after the heels had run roughshod over the territory.

Andre was the biggest (no pun intented) 'independent' contractor of this sort (although unlike Abbie and Brodie, who usually worked short-term in territories, he was on loan from Vince McMahon Sr., and worked as a face -- usually with a surprise appearance when the top heel/heels was in complete command of the terriitory.

[Deleted]

Brody vs. Flair 2 out of 3 falls, 60 minute match from Japanese TV, taped in St. Louis in 1983.

Article with some background on the match: lucharesu.blogspot.com/2010/11/project-33-match-1-ric-flair-vs-bruiser.html

["Nature Boy" Ric Moranis]

^
That's a great match too. Brody could go.

[doguncle]

Interesting that the Berserker got mentioned upthread. John Nord was a protege of Brody's.

[molson5]

Jul 23, 2012 19:07:26 GMT -5 @kudohdriver said:

Brody not selling for Luger. Luger not knowing what to do. Luger running away.

I don't know what the hell that was, but one thing nobody can sell someone on is Bruiser's professionalism. He was lucky he came around when he did, jumping from promotion to promotion, always protected, usually refusing to job, and then on occasions like this - totally crapping all over the paying fans because of some issue he has with a green guy.

He was great when motivated, of course, but he was definitely selfish. People think guys like HHH are only looking out for themselves, but HHH was a team player compared to some of the guys from the territory days, like Brody.

[Deleted]

Aug 2, 2012 13:13:25 GMT -5 doguncle said:

Interesting that the Berserker got mentioned upthread. John Nord was a protege of Brody's.

They did team pretty frequently in the AWA. That was a pretty good tag-team, one of a rare few world-wide who could give the Road Warriors a few headaches.

[rzombie1988]

You either love Brody or hate Brody. There's no inbetween. I'm not a fan of his.

[Squirrel Master]

Jul 22, 2012 1:48:44 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Terrifying on the mic, he looked like a maniac, had star presence, and could wrestle. He had it all.

Jul 22, 2012 11:13:29 GMT -5 bitteroldman said:

Brody never stayed in a territory for too long and rarely did jobs or put anyone over which made him seem invincible, much as Andre the Giant was. With his appearance, mannerisms and wild brawling style in the ring he was close to the perfect wildman character and his unfortunate early death has just added to his aura.

I've always suspected that he hid a horseshoe in his boot.


AWA aired a video heralding the arrival of "King Kong" Brody, set to the tune of ZZ Top
"Bad, Nationwide" (excellent tune, BTW). Gary Hart is seen assisting Brody in all sorts of foul play and one opponent went for the ambulance ride.
I loved his feud in AWA with Crusher Jerry Blackwell and Greg Gagne, when he attacked Gagne as he was doing play-by-play commentary. Gagne was game, however, as he took off his cowboy boot and sent Brody back to the locker room. Gagne and Blackwell then delivered a terrific live promo.
Find it on YouTube, it's worth a search.

In Japan, the Gaijin team of he with Stan Hansen could not be stopped. In singles matches, his entrance music was "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin. He would swing a long chain and cause the audience to scatter. His notable feuds were vs. Antonio Inoki and Genichiro Tenryu.

Brody was a heel in Puerto Rico, where he hospitalized several local stars.
Whilst on holiday there I saw Bruiser Brody vs. a local favorite, Maelo Huertas.
It was a one-sided vicious beating, meant to send a message to the owners of World Wrestling Council, Carlos Colon and Jose Huertas Gonzalez, that Brody was not there to play ball.
People were gonna get hurt; it was the Brody way.

In a televised match to revenge his cousin, the Invader No. 1 (Gonzalez), who would later get away scot-free in his murder, was beaten to within a inch of his life.
Abdullah the Butcher became a mercenary and fans witnessed some of the bloodiest wrestling ever. They sold out all the baseball stadiums as the main event, and police with automatic weapons patrolled ringside.

Brody refused to pay taxes on his earnings in P.R., and flew off the island without doing so, further enraging WWC management. This, along with his stiffing and disrespect of the local talent, led to the conspiracy that cost him his life.

As molson5 mentioned, Brody would often go into business for himself, so the opportunity cost to him was high. For example, he could have challenged for the WWF title picture in the 1980s, as he did years earlier, when he worked for Vince McMahon Sr.
I once heard a rumor that a planned Brody run-in to attack Hogan at the end of Wrestlemania was nixed because Brody could not be trusted before live PPV cameras.

It is indeed a shame that Frank Goodish died so muttley, and that his antics cost the fans the opportunity to see what could have been surely legendary matches vs. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.