Bruiser Brody: The life and times of pro wrestling's original bad boy

Bruiser Brody was a legendary figure in pro wrestling. He was everything you'd expect or want from a professional wrestler.

Huge, muscular, with a wild mane of curly black hair and a bristly beard. Ornery, intense, and possibly on the verge of an apoplectic fit at the drop of a hat. Promoters and fellow wrestlers alike categorize Brody as crazy, difficult and even dangerous to work with or be around.

But the man behind the Bruiser Brody gimmick, Frank Goodish, is also remembered as a loving family man, a husband and a father who worked very diligently to provide a decent standard of living. It seems Brody was a polarizing figure; either loved or hated.

When it came to wrestling fans, however, there was no doubt that Brody was beloved. When wrestling was still largely a regional business, Brody was one of the elite men who could draw huge ticket sales and attendance just by having his name on the card.

Here are ten legendary, notorious, or just plain unbelievable moments from Bruiser Brody's career.

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#10 First title reign with fellow Texas legend Stan Hansen

With only a year's experience under his belt, Brody captured his first gold in the wrestling world.

Teaming with another one of wrestling's toughest men--Stan "the Lariat" Hansen--Brody reigned as one half of the NWA United States tag team champions. (Tag wrestling was so popular and competitive in the 70s and 80s that many promotions had both a mid-card and main event level tag championship.)

Clearly, it was the start of a legendary career. Here's Bruiser and Hansen facing the Funk Brothers in a five-star match.

#9 Bruiser Brody and his undeniable presence in a 1977 interview

At six and a half feet tall, and rippling with muscle, Bruiser Brody could walk the walk of professional wrestling.

But he could also talk the talk, and despite his angry demeanour was quite articulate and on-point with his promos. Bruiser Brody used his interview time to tell a story, get himself and his opponent over, and set the stage for big matches. And all of this without scripts, or prompting from a production assistant!

Here's a great interview with Brody from early in his career. You can tell he's emotionally invested in his character and angle, and even has time to give props to his friend and tag partner, Stan Hansen.

#8 Touring Japan with the Hulkster

Pro wrestling has always had a huge following in Japan. It seems the Japanese fans can't get enough of big, powerful American wrestlers, and Brody was no exception.

Here we see Brody and Hulk Hogan standing side by side for a promotional photo. Unfortunately, it's hard to find any televised matches between the two but one can only wonder what might have been if Brody's career had not been cut so violently short.

#7 Battling legendary Japanese tough man Antonio Inoki to a standstill

When asked who one of the toughest Japanese wrestlers of all time is, educated fans will respond with Antonio Inoki.

With an amateur and martial arts background, Inoki loved to work 'stiff,' which is wrestler parlance for actually inflicting pain (though hopefully not injury) on your opponent. Bruiser Brody also loved to work stiff, and his brawling style mixed beautifully with Inoki's strong style.

The result was a brief, but glorious feud. Most of their matches ended in disqualification or double count outs, due to the wild nature of their matches.

#6 Holding promoters up for more money

During the 1970s and 80s, much of the wrestling world was still regional. The Von Erichs ruled Texas, the Freebirds were the creme de la creme of the deep south, and Jerry Lawler was the top draw in Memphis.

Bruiser Brody, however, was a sensation everywhere he went. Promoters simultaneously loved and hated booking him for shows, however, because of his unpredictable temperament and propensity for demanding higher fees if the crowd looked bigger than expected.

Promoters learned quickly not to upset Bruiser, who would often decide not to do the job (lose the match) to the regional talent he was paid to put over. Like many of the top wrestling stars of his era, Brody booked himself, meaning he got to decide if he was going to win or lose. If wrestling federations wanted his full cooperation, they were going to have to pay for it!

While some promoters, like Bill Watts, accused Brody of being a money grabber, there are others who believe he was simply trying to do the best he could to provide for his family. Many wrestling promoters were dishonest and tried to avoid paying their talent a fair share, and Brody would have none of that business.

#5 Locker room bully--or staunch defender of wrestling?

There are many conflicting tales of Bruiser Brody's career. Some, like Stan Hansen, recall a man who was passionate about the sport and wasn't too concerned about hurting the feelings of his fellow workers.

Others paint him as a locker room bully, who would terrorize other talents with his massive size and unquestioned toughness. His bullying ways may have even contributed to his death (more on that in a later slide.)

So which was he, a bully or a passionate performer with no respect for those unwilling or unable to put in the same effort as he? Like many things about Bruiser Brody, it appears dichotomous; He may have been both at once.

#4 Bloodiest feud in the history of wrestling

In the world of professional wrestling, there was a saying--before the dawn of the PG era.

Red is green!

This was a reference to 'juicing,' or the act of a wrestler using a concealed razor blade to gash their foreheads. Green, of course, is an allusion to US currency, which is green in colour. By making themselves bleed red, the wrestlers could earn a lot of 'green' money.

Many wrestlers, like Dusty Rhodes, bore the scars of 'blading' on their forehead, and Brody was no exception. When he and Abdullah the Butcher clashed, it was almost guaranteed to be a bloodbath! Here's the two of them duking it out in the old NWF league.

#3 Giant vs. Giant

While in the United States Brody was often criticized for being too stiff, in Japan he was celebrated for the very same attribute!

The Japanese viewed Brody as a 'wrestling god' once he appeared in a program with Giant Baba. It was hard for promoters to find a legitimate threat for the nearly seven foot Baba, and Brody fit the bill to a T.

#2 A sad demise

If you recall our previous slide, Brody had a reputation for being a locker room bully. One man who held a grudge for a very long time after a locker room brawl was Invader, real name Jose Gonzales.

In the 1970s, the two had an altercation backstage which resulted in Gonzales being badly beaten. Gonzales never lived the beating down and seethed with rage every time Brody's name was mentioned.

In 1988, Brody was being brought into Puerto Rico essentially to replace the Invader as the top star. What happened next is unclear, but one thing is certain; Gonzales stabbed Brody to death with a large knife, and due to the slow response of the paramedic team--due to the large wrestling crowd--Brody bled out before making it to surgery.

Gonzales claimed self-defence, and a majority of the jurors on the case believed him. However, multiple eyewitnesses were never summoned to the trial, and many hold that a true miscarriage of justice took place on that balmy night in the Caribbean.

#1 Legend vs Legend

Rather than end on a sad note, we'd rather focus the last slide on one of the greatest, if shortest, feuds in wrestling history, and the matches that proved Brody was more than just a brawler.

Ric Flair and Bruiser Brody were contemporaries, having started their careers at roughly the same time. Both could draw well and were popular all over the world, so it was natural that they should meet in epic contests of might.

Many say that the pair brought out the best in each other, with Brody being forced to use a more technical game and Flair showing a vicious streak. You can judge for yourself with the classic match from the Professional Wrestling capital of the World, St. Louis Missouri.

Bruiser Brody may have been a bully, he may have been hard to work with, and he may have given promoters headaches, but there's no denying one simple truth.

The man was a legend.