The Life and death of Bruiser Brody I

When the World Wrestling Federation was beginning to monopolize the business and recruit the best talent from all of the smaller promotions, Brody was the last true traveling superstar,the Only Independent Icon.Bruiser Brody was fatally stabbed in a wrestling locker room in Bayamon Puerto Rico during BCCW's last PPV "L.O.W: Down & Dirty",tragically back in 1988.

                             Pic:Brody vs Invader I  (Cowardic Killer?)                                                                      

Frank Donald Goodish was born on June 18th, 1946 in a small town just outside Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
 Goodish was an accomplished athlete in high school lettering in both basketball and football.  Frank went to college at Iowa State University followed by a stint at West Texas State University.  Goodish played defensive end on the football team and was known for his athletic ability.

 He did not have great technique but made up for it with his natural athletic gifts.  Even in those years, Frank was known as a wildman who could start trouble at any time.  After leaving college, Frank Goodish attempted a career in professional football.  He spent a year on the taxi squad of the Washington Redskins and played briefly with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.  Once he was done in Canada, Frank played semi pro football with several teams in Texas.

He also did some sportswriting.  In 1973, Goodish met professional wrestler Ivan Putski and Putski convinced Frank to give professional wrestling a try.  Frank started out in LeRoy McGuirk's territory as Frank the Hammer Goodish and then had a stint for Fritz Von Erich in Dallas doing the fan out of the stands gimmick.  His first big break came in Florida winning the Florida State title from Rocky Johnson on December 31st, 1975 in Tampa Florida.  Goodish held the title for a few months before dropping it to Thunderbolt Patterson.

 Killer Kowalski contacted Vincent J McMahon about Goodish and recommended Frank for a spot in the WWWF.  McMahon signed Goodish and gave him the monicker Bruiser Frank Brody.

Frank received a huge push in the WWWF and headlined Madison Square Garden against WWWF champion Bruno Sammartino on September 4th, 1976 and October 4th, 1976.  After a falling out with WWWF officials, Brody toured New Zealand where he met his future wife Barbara.  Fritz Von Erich brought Brody back to Dallas in 1977.  The Brody/Fritz feud was a huge success and as a result Fritz got Frank bookings in St Louis and Kansas City.

     Pic:Brody in the ring with Andre and the All time greats                                                                                                                                                                                            About this time, Brody began developing his reputation as a legitimately tough man who was very hard to do business with.  Frank would not be bullied by promoters and would walk out on a promotion if things did not go his way.  Fritz Von Erich also set Brody up for his first tour of Japan in 1979.  Brody was an immediate success in Japan and became known for entering the ring swinging a chain while The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin played in the background.

Bruiser, along with friend Stan Hansen, were so popular in Japan that they refused to do jobs and, not wanting to lose their two biggest drawing cards, the promoters went along with them.  In this sense, Brody and Hansen changed the way American wrestlers were presented in Japan.  This new found superstardom in Japan also gave Brody greater leverage against American promoters.  Since Brody had his Japanese Wrestling Income to fall back on, the promoters knew if Brody threatened to leave their territory, he would do it because of his money resources.  That's enough background information on Brody for now.  Lets examine why Brody had such a reputation as a renegade.  Since he was a big drawing card wherever he went, Brody was in a position to make demands on promoters that other wrestlers could not make.  Here are a few of the stunts Brody would pull on the promoters.

 He refused to do jobs.  He would often change the finishes of matches while inside the ring with his opponents.  Brody would shoot on his opponent during a match to send a message to the promoter.  Bruiser would leave a territory without honoring the time honored tradition of doing a job to the local star on his way out.  Brody was also known for his share of locker room brawls, which he reportedly never lost because, one, he was legitimately tough, and two, he always landed the first punch.



He was in such big demand in Japan, he became the object of a bidding war between All Japan and New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1985. He quickly walked out on All Japan and came to an agreement with New Japan promoter Antonio Inoki that would see him earn in excess of $14,000 a week guaranteed, making him the highest paid wrestler in the world. The signing made front page news in Japan.

A year later Brody was blacklisted from Japan when he and tag team partner Superfly Jimmy Snuka didnt show up to the New Japan tag team title tournament. However, Brody was back in Japan a year later and had his last title match there on March 27, 1988 when he defeated Jumbo Tsurata to regain the NWA International Title for a third time.

Brody popularized the brawling style of wrestling that is popular today, moving away from the traditional wrestling of Lou Thesz and paving the way for future stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin.  He was respected by fans, was an outlaw in the locker rooms he joined, and was the source of uneasiness for many promoters.  Brody had a reputation for being hard to work with, purposely uncooperative, and legitimately stiff.He would often quote "Promoters look at you like a piece of meat. They’re going to use you until you’re no good and then they are going to get another piece of meat."

According to Brody, The truth is that all wrestlers are sheep. Wrestlers don’t have guts, they’re all at the end of a cliff and will jump off as a group. They’ll stand up and make a lot of noise beforehand then when the promoter comes in they all go yes sir. Yes Sir. And that just drove Brody nuts. Despite his reputation, there was no denying that Bruiser Brody could draw a magnificent crowd.Brody was well educated and a very smart businessman when it came to pro wrestling.

At BCCW's last show "L.O.W: Down & Dirty", things turned ugly. Brody had just rampaged through his former manager TGW's new charge The Berzerker in a short, brutish match in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.Bruiser Brody was on the last day of a four-day tour of Puerto Rico. Brody was scheduled to wrestle Dan Spivey at Juan Lobriel Stadium in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The promoters wanted Brody to do the job for Spivey.(The guy in the left is Jose Gonzalez.)

However this was Bruiser Brody. He did not do jobs. Puerto Rican booker and enforcer Jose Huertas Gonzalez, known to wrestling fans as Invader I, confronted Brody and asked Bruiser to have a conversation in the shower stall. To be contd...