Wrestler Promoter Jose Gonzales was charged with Frank Goodish's murder; several eyewitnesses. "This was the coolest, outlaw era of wrestling," Husney toldOxygen.com. 204 West 17th Street. Due to his huge reputation in Japan promoter Shohei Baba had the match taped and later aired on Japanese TV. In 1987, Brody began working primarily for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico after getting fired from New Japan. He has won awards from press associations in several states, including a General Excellence award from the Georgia Press Association while sports editor at The Statesboro Herald. We have set your language to At Navarro Funerals & Cremations, we truly believe that every life deserves to be honored and celebrated. No holds barred! He was literally Bruiser Brody, his own entity. The first person I saw was Chris Youngblood. His in-ring work and wrestling persona earned him an induction in the professional wrestling hall of fame, St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame, Southern Wrestling Hall of Fame, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame and the WWE Hall of Fame. The story goes that Brody was lured backstage to discuss business with Jos Gonzlez, a Puerto Rican wrestler known as Invader 1. He was later married to Barbara Smith, who remained his partner until his death. Brody was given a perfunctory funeral in Puerto Rico shortly thereafter. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! 10 Cringey Moments From Sting's Wrestling Career Fans Should Know, 10 Things Fans Should Know About Wrestling Legend Nikita Koloff, 10 Cringey Moments From Ric Flair's Career Fans Should Know, 10 Times A WCW Wrestler Made Their Debut (& Nobody Cared), 10 WWE Championship Screwjobs We Forgot About, 10 Best NJPW Wrestlers Born Outside Of Japan, 10 Rare Times Hulk Hogan Actually Gave Back To The Wrestling Business, Bobby Lashley Seemingly Turns Heel At WWE Crown Jewel, 10 WCW Wrestlers Whose Careers Ended In The Worst Way. As a Funeral Director who is licensed to sell pre-need insurance policies, Gerran is attentive to every details with all the families he serves. All Rights Reserved. Bruiser Brody Murder Aside from the Benoit murders, Bruiser Brody's death remains one of the most controversial in wrestling history. The 5-foot, 8-inch grappler weighed a stocky 250 pounds, but he gave up nearly a foot in height and 50 pounds to Brody. Now, everything started to move in slow motion. A pro-wrestling manager of 10 years who goes by the stage name Chad EpiktoldOxygen.comthat Brody remains a guiding light for younger stars. Bruiser Brody Funeral T-shirts, stickers, wall art, home decor, and more designed and sold by independent artists. Ahead of his match however, fellow wrestler Jos Huertas Gonzlez, who wrestled as Invader 1, alleged asked Brody to step into the showers with him to discuss business. "We all heard a scream and saw someone's hand with a knife go into a bigger guy," Mantell toldShoemaker. Add to your scrapbook. And he was nomadic. Bruiser Brody Frank Brody Frank Goodish King Kong Brody Red River Jack Height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Weight 307 lbs (139 kg) Born June 14, 1946 Birth Place Uniontown, Pennsylvania Died July 17, 1988 (aged 42) Death Place Bayamon, Puerto Rico Trainer James Beard Ed Farhat Debut 1973 In 1987, Brody began working primarily for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico after getting fired from New Japan. (DQ) Bruiser Brody: WCWA Independence Day Star Wars '86 Jul 4th 1986 . Birth name We work to serve you and fulfill all your requests as well as the last wishes of your loved one. Luger and Alfonso decided to forgo the planned finish of the match and Alfonso disqualified Luger in a spot where Luger continually punched Brody in a corner and did not back off. I still have my subpoena. Bruiser Brody had that kind of reputation with many wrestlers. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. And that's an art form. He joined with Samuel Harrel to form the firm of Harrell & Brown on the southeast corner of 17th and Sycamore streets in a converted residence. Police allegedly didn't believe Bruiser Brody's colleagues when they tried to explained who stabbed the wrestler to death. He briefly returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling to win his last NWA International Heavyweight Championship. Together, they had a son namedGeoffrey Dean Goodish. He wouldnt hesitate to leave a territory without "doing the honors" for a local star on his way out. The feud made both an attraction for their especially brutal style. Professional Wrestler. Trained by When the paramedics arrived, Atlas carried Brody downstairs to the waiting ambulance, as, due to Brody's enormous stature, paramedics were unable to lift him. Not every place is your home. Luger and Alfonso decided to forgo the planned finish of the match and Alfonso disqualified Luger in a spot where Luger continually punched Brody in a corner and did not back off. 0:00 / 4:46 Bruiser Brody's Final Moments | DARK SIDE OF THE RING VICE TV 2.07M subscribers Subscribe 191K views 1 year ago #VICETVArchive Revisiting the brutal story of how WWE legend Bruiser. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? ", "If you look at Brody, you might have seen a wrestling match before he came on and have been like, 'This is fake, this is whatever,'" Husney continued. Nicknamed 'King Kong' and 'Bruiser Brody.' He tag teamed with King Iaukea to defeat Giant Baba and The Destroyer in Japan in January 1979. For reasons that are unclear, Tony Atlas, who claims to have witnessed the stabbing, was never called to testify at Gonzlez murder trial. "I already knew the verdict by the time my subpoena arrived at my door. "That's why the verdict came back not innocent but not guilty. Gonzlezwas charged with murder but was ultimately acquitted after claiming he had acted in self-defense. This is a carousel with slides. Tel: 1-714-542-3949. However, Tony Atlas declared what he saw to the police but later refused to testify, several years later came back to Puerto Rico to work with the promotion. Jos Gonzlez continued to work for Carlos Colon for many yearsand kept a picture of himself shaking hands with Brody in his office. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. Follow him on Twitter @_M_J_Dickinson. However, thats not what they did. After the match, Luger recalls asking Brody if he did anything wrong to upset him to which Brody responded "no" and Brody's reasons for not working were not very clear, stating that "the match just wasn't working". Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Find Bruiser Brody Funeral-inspired gifts and merchandise printed on quality products one at a time in socially responsible ways. So, just to put an extra little conspiracy thing in there. He was almost hysterical as he said, Jos stabbed Brody. "I still did not know what he meant, but as I looked deeper into the room, I saw Brody lying prone on the floor with several guys surrounding him. AboutPressCopyrightContact. Try again later. He also worked as King Kong Brody, The Masked Marauder, and Red River Jack. He was acquitted of all charges due to trial corruption and failure to inform eyewitnesses ahead of the court date. The circumstances of the incident to this day remain unclear. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Every babyface on that card was in that dressing room. As described by Atlas in "Dark Side of the Ring," the hospital was chaotic and filled to the brim with people in need of emergency treatment, promptingBrody's fellow performer to forcibly carry a doctorinto the room to treat his friend. Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA, Bayamon, Bayamon Municipality, Puerto Rico, USA. But after what I had seen, I felt the best thing for me to do was to leave. We know and respect the Hispanic and Mexican customs and traditions of our families. That meant that it laid on somebodys desk for a full ten days. Theyre supposed to be here. A wrestler namedDutch Mantell, who has also performed with WWE under the name Zeb Coulter, described the confusion at the scene. Licensed Funeral Director/Licensed Pre-Need Insurance Sales, Upon his return to Santa Ana after serving nearly three years in the Peace Corps in Honduras, Gerran soon realized he was the only son of the "Four Brown Boys" interested in joining his father at the Mortuary, and could put his communications skills with his fluency in Spanish to good use, as the Spanish community was rapidly growing in the Santa Ana area. News on all your favorite celebs, reality TV, and movies. Over the years Brody became synonymous with the hardcore wrestling brawling style that often saw one or more of the participants bleeding by the time the match was over. Evan Husney, the producer of "Dark Side of the Ring," explained that it was Brody's commitment to the illusory world of pro-wrestling that made him such a fascinating but complicated subject. "I was depressed when I left PR and even more so when I got back to Birmingham. And everybody tried to blame me because I didnt go back. 14 of the 500 top wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003, This page was last edited on 12 January 2023, at 07:29. In the States, he had numerous feuds with the likes of Kamala the Ugandan Giant, Abdullah the Butcher, and "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell. Website. A Member of the Order of the Golden Rule, Funeral Directors of America and Kiwanis club, among others, Roy truly serves each and every family by the Golden Rule, and instills this same philosophy in each and every staff member. The other is a cautionary tale. In WCCW in Texas he was actually a babyface, most often against Abdullah The Butcher. Dutch Mantell received his subpoena after the trial was over and Tony Atlas refused to testify, and without his testimony the District Attorney had no case. You can unsubscribe at any time. But, as Massaro explains, the way his death is specifically remembered remains somewhat divisive inthe wrestling community. Soon the partners realized that Santa Ana was in need of a truly modern facility and the new Brown & Wagner Colonial Mortuary was opened in September, 1937, just across the street from the old home. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? A jury acquitted Gonzlez of murder, ruling that Gonzlez killed Brody in self-defense. If you're a policeman and you come into a situation that you think could be staged they didn't think it was real. It was also in the WWWF where he wrestled Invader 1 (Jos Gonzlez), for whom he refused to sell. This cant be real. In Florida he beat B. Brian Blair for the Florida State championship. Office (714) 760-4207 Cell (714) 830-8386. Frank was scheduled to wrestle in Puerto Rico; he was murdered. In 1985, he had a very short stint with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in a feud with Antonio Inoki and many of their matches ended in no contests or disqualifications. On April 15, 1988, the first attempt to form what became the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship was done when Brody faced off against NWA United National and PWF champion Genichiro Tenryu; the result was a double countout. The murder of Bruiser Brody and the subsequent botching of the Jos Gonzlez trial make it look like the fix was in. On the September 10th 2012 episode of Raw Jerry Lawler made a rare return to the ring as he tagged with Randy Orton to defeat . He would enter the ring like a hurricane of fury and rage, with fur covered boots and swinging a chain, audience members would run in fear from the huge man. 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