The Life and death of Bruser Brody II

Rumor has it that Brody had upset González by refusing to job to Carlos Colón , and by investing heavily in the World Wrestling Council, Puerto Rico’s top promotion.

The guy who's globally suspected to be involved in Bruiser Brody's infamous murder,Carlos Colon is the father of Carlito, and Primo.He is also the uncle of Epico.

 He has been the promoter of WWC territory in Puerto Rico for the past 40 years and also business partner with Vince.  Brody's investments raised suspicion that he was planning to take the company over, and that didn’t sit well with González, who was also a booker for the organization. 

 Pic:Colon with his son 'young' Carlito Colon(Caribbean Cool)

Tony Atlas who was backstage at the time. He recapped the days events:
"Truth of the matter is I came out of the Panama Hotel and Brody was sitting there on the steps. I say 'Brody I'm running late..where's your ride?' He said 'Jose is supposed to pick me up'. Jose didn't show up for Brody so I said to him 'if you want, I got my buddy from Muscle Fitness, you can ride with us'.. Just us and his girlfriend and later Dutch Mantel came out. Brody sat up front, Dutch sat in back . We drove to the building. When we were in the locker room, I was drawing a picture in my sketchpad of The Youngbloods and Brody came over and said "wow you draw good, can you draw my son?" Jose came over to Brody. Carlos, Jose, and Victor Rica were sitting in a huddle, but only Jose came over to Brody. Brody had his bag in one hand and Jose tapped him on the shoulder and they went into shower.

Everyone else was watching me draw. Then Brody hollered. I ran into shower, grabbed Brody and laid him on floor. Brody said 'Im hurt brother dont let him hut me no more'. The cops came in..asked what happened. I told cops 'that guy over there stabbed that man'. The cops said they have different story and said a fan did it . They asked everyone in that locker room what happeend, and they all denied seeing it. Dutch became booker in exchange for keeping his mouth shut.

Allegedly, Jose Gonzales who wrestled under the name Invader #1 (as well as "Sabu Singh" in the late 1960s) had a hunting knife concealed under a towel when he went into the shower with Brody.

Brody's liver and lung were punctured as a result of the stab wounds. Gonzales is 5'10 and weighed 230 pounds at this time. Everyone else in the locker room, including Buddy Landell, Dutch Mantel, Doug Furnas, and TNT seemed more concerned with getting ready to wrestle instead of taking care of Brody.

Only The Youngbloods were crying for poor Brody. Some sources claim an ambulance wasn't called for 45 minutes which allowed time for the murder weapon to be disposed. The knife that fatally stabbed Brody was never found. Others claimed that an ambulance was called right away, but because of traffic near the stadium, it took a long time to arrive. Either way, 45 minutes after the stabbing an ambulance was on the scene and was called for by Victor Quionnes.

When the ambulance came, the medic couldn't pick up Brody and so he asked the other wrestlers to help and no one did. Only I did. I got in ambulance with him. Dutch said he didn't see nothing and didn't help. Last thing Brody said to Carlos was 'take care of my kid for me', he must have known he was gonna go. The only thing I remember about Brody was that two days earlier Brody had said to me 'Tony, I finally got in'. Whatever that meant, he didn't say but I think he meant he got shares in the WWC, I know he wasn't talking about wrestling there. The only people who really know what happened are Brody, Jose, and Carlos. Next day, me and Afa went to the police and were told we'd be notified when there was a trial. We never were. Savio Vega , (TNT) came to my room that same night and said 'go to the airport.. don't to go bed tonight, find the first airplane and leave if you want to see tomorrow'. So I left. I went back several times for different promotions. I was better friends with Jose than I was with Brody.

I accompanied Brody to the hospital (El Meidico Centro) where Brody died at approximately 4:30 a.m.There were reports indicating he died on the operating table and other reports which indicated he bled to death in the hospital, because the doctors there ignored him, not realizing he regularly took lots of aspirin for pain. The aspirin caused his blood to thin and not clot which led to him bleeding to death. He was 42 years old, survived by his wife Barbara and their eight year old son Geoffrey."

Atlas also mentioned still contacting Jose after the murder."I talk to Jose, we just don't mention it. If you are in Puerto Rico the last thing you want to do is talk about that . If you get stabbed in there, it's like getting punched here. It's not a big deal there. What surprised them was Jose was so small and he did that to Brody. Different mentality there. When I took Brody to the hospital, there were a lot, like 30, there with stab wounds. That's why the doctors took so long to get him.

The doctor could have saved him if gotten to him earlier. A guy went to the hospital with me, I can't remember his name. He was a Puerto Rican guy who was a former wrestler. He was older than me and I think his son wrestles still. He told the police in their language what I said to the police. He went along to be a translator. A week later he got shot. Next time I saw him he was in a wheelchair. So you put two and two together anyway I have to get back to work my brother."

American wrestler Bobby Jaggers who was present in the WWC locker room when Brody was stabbed did an interview in which he said he believed Brody was stabbed because he owed money in taxes. He said Brody "would have his WWC pay checks mailed to him in Texas so he could avoid paying taxes on them in Puerto Rico". Jaggers also said he believed Jose was jealous of Brody because Brody was more popular with the fans than Jose was. The death of Bruiser Brody made major news headlines in both Japan and Puerto Rico. A few places in the United States such as Texas, St. Louis and Missouri all made mention of his passing as well. Either way, this just casts yet another dark cloud over the once bright enterprise known as Broken City Championship Wrestling. The Grand Wizard and his stable (including Abdullah the Butcher & the Berzerker) are claiming no responsibility.

However, one wrestler who said he was there when the attack happened and he said that Jose Gonzales was hiding in the shower area and when Bruiser Brody ducked his head to enter the area, Gonzales was said to have grabbed Bruiser Brody by the hair, pull him down a bit and stabbed him repeatedly in the stomach.


Brody would meet Jose Gonzalez, the man who ultimately stabbed Brody to death, during Brody's stay with the WWWF in 1976. Dave Meltzer and Tony Atlas talk about tension from the first meeting that may have led to their problems 12 years later.His original run with Vince Sr. ended when he got into a backstage fight with WWF mainstay Gorilla Monsoon.

The second tension arises early on 1988, January 30 to be exact, there was a tag team match between Bruiser Brody and Rocky Johnson against Japanese wrestlers Kendo Nagasaki and Mr. Pogo in Puerto Rico.

Brody didn't allowed Nagasaki and Pogo to do offense and basically Brody did a brawl, and the Japanese had no other option but to go to the dressing room.  When Brody reached the dressing room after the match, it was said that a heatable argument began between him, Colón and Invader (at the time, the WWC booker).  Brody left the island returning in March and later the last weekend of his life.

The third argument is that Brody attacked Maelo Huertas, Invader's brother, in a televised match , so wild that Maelo couldn't wrestle for weeks.  It is said that this event could also be possible as a cause for revenge.  Money is not believed to be a reason according to this story.  These are the three other personal causes of the incident.  Invader was in jail for a day (July 18-July 19) when he was released on a $125,000 bond that WWC (Carlos Colón) paid.  The ambulance took 45 minutes to reach the building the night of the murder.  Invader left the building and returned back in 45 minutes and did his match.  He changed his clothes and it is probably that he left with the object he used as it wasn't found. After Colon testified in his defense, Gonzalez was acquitted.

In Brody's case, it was a violence so real that it ended up reality.

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...