Bruiser Brody

Infobox Wrestler
name=Bruiser Brody


names=Red River Jack
Bruiser Brody
King Kong Brody
height = 6 ft 8 in (203cm)
real_height = 6 ft 5 in (196cm)
weight = 285 lb (130 kg)
birth_date =birth date|1946|6|18|mf=y
death_date =death date and age|1988|7|17|1946|6|18|mf=y
Bayamón, Puerto Rico
birth_place =Detroit, Michigan
resides_in = San Antonio, Texas
debut=1973|

Frank Donald Goodish (June 18, 1946 - July 17, 1988) was a professional wrestler who earned his greatest fame under the name Bruiser Brody. He was born in Detroit, Michigan. Goodish was an All-State football and basketball player at Warren High School, Michigan, and played football at West Texas State. As a wrestler, he helped innovate the "brawling" style and was infamous for his wild and legitimately uncooperative demeanor. Goodish was nevertheless a highly sought free agent who worked for various major wrestling promotions worldwide, attaining fame, notoriety, and several championship titles until his murder in 1988.

Career

Brody was a major star in the United States, having competed as a freelancer in several companies including the National Wrestling Alliance, Central States Wrestling, World Wide Wrestling Federation, Southwest Championship Wrestling, Windy City Wrestling, Texas All Star Wrestling, World Wrestling Council, Deep South Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, American Wrestling Association, and World Class Championship Wrestling. In the States, he had numerous classic feuds with the likes of Kamala the Ugandan Giant, Abdullah the Butcher, and Jerry Blackwell. He was revered in Japan and made a dominant tag team with Stan Hansen. Brody was perceived as both an asset and a liability by promoters because he was a major draw wherever he competed, but he also had a reputation for refusing to job to other wrestlers. He also competed under the moniker of Red River Jack in Texas, during an angle against Gary Hart's men and Skandor Akbar's Army in World Class Championship Wrestling. Brody also competed as the Masked Marauder for one time in the AWA.

Brody achieved his now-legendary status in Japan and Puerto Rico. In 1985, he became the highest paid wrestler in the world at one point, as he was earning $14,000 per week over a bidding war between "New Japan" and "All Japan Pro Wrestling". He had a very short stint with New Japan in a feud with Antonio Inoki, where both men were apparently unwilling to put the other over (Inoki was wary of someone who had put over old dojo classmate and rival promoter Giant Baba), and many of their matches ended in no contests or disqualifications.

In January 1987, Brody was involved in a steel cage match against a young Lex Luger. Luger had been told by a number of veterans (mostly as a gag) that Brody was violent and dangerous in the ring, and Brody had issues with Luger's ego concerning putting other wrestlers over. Shortly after the match began, Brody began standing still and no-selling Luger's punches and other offense. Frustrated, Luger left the ring.

Brody later informed Luger personally that the stunt was not a personal issue between the two, but a business one between Brody and the office about pay and a booking dispute although Luger has said in a shoot interview that Brody said he was a face (good guy) in World Class in Texas and that he didn't want to mess that up by being a heel in Florida.

In 1987, Brody began working primarily for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico, after getting fired from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Brody would continue his feud with Abdullah the Butcher, as well as engaging in a feud with homeland hero Carlos Colon. He briefly returned to AJPW to win his last NWA International Heavyweight Championship. On April 15, 1988, the first attempt to form what became the AJPW Triple Crown was done when Brody faced off against NWA United National and PWF champion Genichiro Tenryu; the result was a double countout [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAnfDfUinrI] . Brody ended up losing the title back to Jumbo Tsuruta four days later.

Death

On July 16, 1988, Brody was in the locker room before a match with Abdullah the Butcher and Dan Spivey in Bayamón (a city near San Juan, Puerto Rico), when Jose Huertas Gonzalez, AKA Invader I (a fellow wrestler and booker) [Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.115)] came up to him in the locker room and asked him to go into the shower to discuss business. It is contested by several wrestlers in the locker room that Huertas was holding a knife wrapped inside a towel when he was waiting for Brody to arrive to the locker room. At the time, Huertas was one of the men who made decisions at the WWC meetings and was also a good friend of Carlos Colón (WWC Promoter and main superstar), and it is rumored that Brody had upset him on numerous occasions by refusing to do jobs. It is also believed that Brody was planning to take control of WWC (as Brody apparently began to invest in the promotion), which may have additionally upset Huertas.

Tony Atlas who was there at the time of the attack recounts a different set of events occuring. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA6fEGwRxro]

Huertas got into the shower area first and, when Brody bent his head to enter the shower area, Huertas allegedly grabbed his hair and stabbed Brody several times in the stomach and the chest. [Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.115)] Brody was taken by ambulance to Centro Medico, the main hospital facility in San Juan, but he died hours later while undergoing a second surgery. Huertas, who always maintained his innocence, was tried for murder, but was acquitted by a jury of his peers, citing self-defense. [Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.115)] Afterwards, a number of wrestlers (including Mick Foley) refused to work in Puerto Rico in protest of the jury verdict, which temporarily crippled the Puerto Rican wrestling scene.

Personal life

Goodish was married twice, firstly on June 4, 1968 to Nola Marie Neece, [ [http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/25456?c=search&first=Frank&last=Goodish Family Tree Legends] ] however the marriage was brief and ended in divorce on October 12, 1970. [ [http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/31992?c=search&first=Frank&last=Goodish Family Tree Legends] ]

Goodish's second wife Barbara remained with him until his untimely death in 1988. Together they had a son named Geoffrey, born in 1980.

Honors and influence

He has been honored by two wrestling Halls of Fame in Japan, and was named to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996. Brody was posthumously awarded the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Editors' Award in 1988.

Barbara Goodish (his widow) signed a "Legends" contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), allowing them to produce and distribute merchandise in his likeness, as Brody had spent 1976 and 1977 feuding with the likes of Bruno Sammartino and Ivan Putski in the WWWF (later renamed WWF and then WWE). As a result, the first WWE Bruiser Brody action figure was made and released as a part of the WWE Classic Superstars line by Jakks Pacific.javascript:insertTags(' [','] ',")The modern "hardcore" "brawling style" of wrestling has been heavily influenced by the work of Bruiser Brody, and wrestlers such as Mick Foley, The Predator, "The Necro Butcher" Dylan Keith Summers, and The Berzerker have all patterned their styles off of Brody. In addition to this, Brody is also the man who helped break in Vader (Leon White) and The Undertaker, wrestling both of them in their first professional matches in the AWA and WCCW, respectively. Both men have said Brody played a big role in the style they wrestle.

In late '07, Larry Matysik and Barbara Goodish (Frank's Widow) wrote a book entitled 'Brody'. Released by ECW Press. Also in '07, Crowbar Press also released a quote book about Bruiser Brody. Simply titled "Bruiser Brody", the biography features a foreword by Stan Hansen, as well as interviews with several people from both Brody's personal and professional life. Bruno Sammartino, Abdullah the Butcher, Dory Funk, Jr., Dave Meltzer, Jim Duggan, Carlos Colon, and Harley Race are among those who are featured in this book of quotes.

On September 14, 2007, Bruiser Brody was inducted into the St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame.

In wrestling

*Finishing and signature moves:*Running or a jumping knee drop, sometimes from the top rope:*High knee strike:*Running leg drop:*One-armed body slam:*Piledriver:*Atomic drop:*Suplex powerslam:*Running big boot:*Backbreaker rack
*Signature illegal weapon:*Chain

Championships and accomplishments

*All Japan Pro Wrestling:*NWA International Heavyweight Championship (3 times) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/int-h.html NWA International Heavyweight Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*PWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Stan Hansen [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/pwf-t.html PWF World Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] (First):*World's Strongest Tag Team League (1981) - with Jimmy Snuka:*World's Strongest Tag Team League (1983) - with Stan Hansen

*Central States Wrestling:*NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/centralstates/nwa/cs-h.html NWA Central States Heavyweight Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*NWA Central States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ernie Ladd [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/centralstates/nwa/cs-t.html NWA Central States Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*Championship Wrestling from Florida:*NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/fl/fl-h.html NWA Florida Heavyweight Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*NWA Big Time Wrestling | World Class Championship Wrestling:*NWA American Heavyweight Championship (4 times) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/wccw/am-h.html NWA American Heavyweight Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*NWA American Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Kerry Von Erich [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/wccw/am-t.html NWA American Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship (6 times) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/texas-bk.html NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/tx-h.html NWA Texas Heavyweight Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*NWA Texas Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Mike York (1), Gino Hernandez (1), and Kerry Von Erich (1) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/tx-t.html NWA Texas Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*WCCW Television Championship (1 time) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/wccw/am-tv.html World Class Television Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*NWA Tri-State:*NWA United States Tag Team Championship "(Tri-State version)" (1 time) - with Stan Hansen [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midsouth/nwa/tri-us-t.html NWA United States Tag Team Title (Tri-State version) history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*NWA Western States Sports:*NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/amarillo/ws-h.html NWA Western States Heavyweight Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*Southwest Championship Wrestling:*SCW Southwest Brass Knuckles Championship (1 time) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/san_antonio/scw/scw-sw-bk.html SCW Southwest Brass Knuckles Title history] At wrestling-titles.com] :*SCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Dick Slater [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tx/san_antonio/scw/scw-t.html SCW World Tag Team Title history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*World Wrestling Association:*WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) [ [http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/in/wwa/in-wwa-h.html WWA World Heavyweight Title (Indianapolis) history] At wrestling-titles.com]

*Pro Wrestling Illustrated:*PWI Editor's Award (1988) tied with Adrian Adonis:*PWI ranked him # 14 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.

*Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards:*5 Star Match (1984) with Stan Hansen vs. Dory and Terry Funk on December 8:*Best Brawler (1980-1984, 1987, 1988):*Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

*St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame
**(Class of 2007)

References

*

External links

*http://www.kingkongbrody.com/ web site run by Barbara Goodish
* [http://members.shaw.ca/Bruiser_Brody/ Unofficial Memorial Website]
* [http://www.bruiserbrody.com/ BruiserBrody.com (Unofficial Website for Brody's biography)]
* [http://www.crowbarpress.com/ Crowbar Press] (Publisher of the Bruiser Brody biography)
* [http://www.midsouthwrestling.com/BruiserBrody.html TRIBUTE PAGE for Bruiser Brody]