Brutus Beefcake

Edward Harrison "Ed" Leslie (April 21, 1957) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name Brutus The Barber Beefcake. He later worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under a variety of ring names. He is a former WWF Tag Team Champion with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.
==Professional wrestling career==
===Early career===
Edward Leslie began his career at the side of Hulk Hogan in the 1976-1977 time frame. At the time, the two were billed as brothers; Ed was known as either Ed Boulder or Dizzy Hogan, to match Terry's Terry Boulder and Hulk Hogan.
Leslie wrestled briefly in Bill Watts' Mid-South territory and also wrestled sporadically between 1980 and 1982 in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
===World Wrestling Federation===
====1984–1990====
Leslie entered the WWF as a heel under the ring name Brutus Beefcake in late 1984 with manager "Luscious" Johnny Valiant. Beefcake debuted as a vain individual who dressed in outlandish outfits. As a singles competitor, he feuded with David Sammartino and Hulk Hogan, the latter who sought revenge on Beefcake after he and Valiant injured Hogan's protege Hillbilly Jim. Brutus got some "cheap heat" when he would come uninvited to ringside during Tony Atlas's matches.
During the summer of 1985, Beefcake began teaming with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, and they formed a tag team known as The Dream Team. The Dream Team began challenging The US Express (Mike Rotunda & Barry Windham) for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Initially, the US Express fought off their challengers, but the Dream Team soon gained momentum, and at an August 24, 1985, show at the Philadelphia Spectrum, the Dream Team won the tag team titles from the U.S. Express when Beefcake rubbed Valiant's lit cigar in Windham's eye. The Dream Team held the titles for eight months, with their primary challengers being a reformed US Express (with Dan Spivey replacing the departed Windham) and The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid). At WrestleMania 2 in Rosemont, Illinois, the British Bulldogs defeated the Dream Team to win the tag team titles. The Dream Team failed to regain the titles and soon reverted to mid-card status.
The Dream Team broke up at WrestleMania III. Despite a win over the Rougeau Brothers at the pay-per-view, the team had a falling-out when Beefcake was left in the ring while Valentine and Valiant left with Dino Bravo. This was caused by a miscommunication during the match in which Beefcake hit Valentine by accident. Bravo interfered to allow the Dream Team to win the match. This provided the impetus for Beefcake — along with having had his hair cut inadvertently by Adrian Adonis in a six-man match shortly before WrestleMania — to turn face. Later that night, he acquired the nickname "The Barber" after Rowdy Roddy Piper's match against Adonis. Adonis lost the match when Beefcake revived Piper from the effects of the sleeper hold, and it was stipulated he would have to have his head shaved. Beefcake entered the ring and began to clip away at Adonis' blond locks to avenge the inadvertently haircut from before the event.
Thereafter, Beefcake started bringing garden shears with him to the ring, with the handles taped to resemble barber poles, and using a sleeper hold as his finishing maneuver. After each match, he would strut around the ring, "snipping" his fingers like a scissors to indicate that he was about to cut the hair of his defeated opponent. As he cut the hair — using either his shears or an electric razor — he would throw handfuls of hair into the air to the delight of the crowd; usually, the recipient of these haircuts were jobbers, who either wore wigs or had ponytails attached to their head.
After gaining the upper hand in a feud with former partner Valentine and ex-manager Johnny Valiant (who by the end of their feud was completely bald, thanks to Beefcake), Beefcake's next big feud was against then WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man. Starting at WrestleMania IV and extending through summer of 1988, Beefcake vowed to not only win the title but, after putting Honky to sleep, cut his ducktail hair. Beefcake never won the title, since Honky managed to get himself disqualified in most of his matches; since the title could not change hands on a disqualification, Honky kept the title. Often, Honky had assistance from a mysterious woman named Peggy Sue; while Sherri Martel sometimes played the role, more often than not, "Peggy Sue" was Jimmy Hart dressed in drag; Beefcake countered with a "woman" of his own: "Georgina" (George "The Animal" Steele in drag). The feud concluded at WrestleMania IV, where Beefcake won the match through disqualification after interference by Jimmy Hart, but Honky retained the title. However, Beefcake got his revenge by cutting Jimmy Hart's hair following the match.
A brief feud with "Outlaw" Ron Bass took up most of the rest of 1988, and was instigated when Bass attacked Beefcake during a match aired on Superstars of Wrestling; the attack caused Beefcake to miss his scheduled WWF Intercontinental Championship match against the Honky Tonk Man at the first SummerSlam event on August 29. Beefcake ultimately gained revenge on Bass in a hair vs hair match in early 1989.
His next major feud was with Randy "Macho Man" Savage during 1989, and heated up when Beefcake cut a promo on The Brother Love Show (an interview segment on WWF Superstars of Wrestling), calling Savage's new manager, Sensational Sherri, "Scary Sherri," and an angered Savage attacked Beefcake - before the both of them cut Beefcake's hair. Eventually, the feud crossed paths with a feud between his now on-screen friend Hogan and Hogan's rival, Zeus, who were embroiled in a dispute over billing in the motion picture No Holds Barred; Hogan, the WWF Champion, was simultaneously involved in a feud with Savage over the title, while Beefcake's involvement began when he was brutally attacked by Zeus (during Beefcake's match against Savage). At the 1989 SummerSlam, Hogan and Beefcake teamed to defeat Savage and Zeus. The tag team rivalry resumed when No Holds Barred was aired December 27, 1989, as part of a pay-per-view special called "No Holds Barred: The Movie-The Match." In the match portion of the pay-per-view special (taped two weeks earlier in Nashville, Tennessee), Hogan and Beefcake defeated Savage and Zeus in a steel cage match.
At the Royal Rumble in 1990 Beefcake had a match against The Genius and while the match ended in a no contest, Beefcake gave the Genius an ugly looking "moon cut". Mr. Perfect attacked Beefcake (Perfect and the Genius were a team at the time) and that led to match at WrestleMania VI. At the event Beefcake was the first person to pin Mr. Perfect in a televised match, thus ending Perfect's lengthy undefeated streak in most fans' eyes.
====Parasailing accident and return (1990–1993)====
In 1990, a near-fatal parasailing accident put Leslie out of action. He was helping his parasailer friend prepare for takeoff when the driver of the boat mistakenly took a cue to take off, sending the would-be-parasailer's bare feet directly into Leslie's face. His face had to be surgically repaired with over 100 metal plates, putting his WWF career on hiatus for nearly two years. The accident marked one of the few times the WWF broke kayfabe during the promotion's pre-Attitude era, as a real-life — and potentially life-threatening — injury had to be accurately explained to the audience.
In early 1991, to facilitate his return to wrestling, Leslie was put in a mask and randomly attacked heels, notably Rick Martel, Dino Bravo and Earthquake, by running in on their matches. He would hit the heel a few times, headbutt him, and escape. He never wrestled a match in this persona and was never given a name.
Leslie returned under his Brutus Beefcake persona in the summer of 1991, in an short-lived interview segment called "The Barber Shop." The most notable segment involved the split of the tag team The Rockers, where Shawn Michaels superkicked Marty Jannetty and threw him through a (kayfabe) plate glass window which shattered it to which Michaels then proceeded to take a magazine and rip it in half; this turned Michaels heel and began his run toward superstardom. The final "Barber Shop" segment took place in February 1992, when newly turned heel Sid Justice attacked Beefcake and destroyed the set, to advance Sid's building feud with Hogan.
In early 1993, Beefcake's injury was used in an angle with Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster, who had formed the tag team Money Inc. In what was billed as Beefcake's "comeback match" (the February 1 match from New York City was his first since 1990), Beefcake defeated DiBiase by disqualification when DiBiase and Schyster began double-teaming Beefcake. The two then tried to "aggravate" Beefcake's injuries when Schyster hit Beefcake with his steel briefcase. This match facilitated a face turn for longtime-heel manager Jimmy Hart. Hart, the manager of Money Inc., had unsuccessfully tried to stop his team from hurting Beefcake – and Hogan's return to the WWF (after Hogan had taken a year's hiatus). Hogan and Beefcake, teaming for the first time since December 1989, formed a tag team called The Mega-Maniacs, choosing Hart as their manager. The Mega-Maniacs wrestled Money Inc. at WrestleMania IX, with Beefcake wearing a special protective face mask. Hogan and Beefcake got their revenge but lost via disqualification.
Shortly after WrestleMania IX, Leslie dropped out of the picture in the WWF.
===World Championship Wrestling===
A year later he resurfaced alongside Hogan in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Since the name Brutus Beefcake was trademarked by the WWF, WCW was forced to give Leslie a different ring name. At first, Ed only made short appearances with Hulk Hogan, who referred to Leslie as Brother Bruti (a name Hogan had previously used in WWF promos to refer to Beefcake when they were tag team partners in 1989 and 1993, Beefcake having previously been referred to as "Bruti" by WWF commentator Gorilla Monsoon amongst others.) At Halloween Havoc in 1994, following Hogan's Steel Cage match victory over Ric Flair, Bruti was revealed as the mystery assailant who attacked Hogan just before his title defense against Flair at Clash of the Champions XXVIII (Actually, It was Arn Anderson who wore the mask at The Clash of The Champions). Leslie was subsequently billed as The Butcher and was placed in the 3 Faces of Fear stable with Kevin Sullivan and Avalanche. The feud between these two culminated in a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match at Starrcade.
Leslie continued to wrestle as The Butcher for some time after the 3 Faces of Fear broke up in January 1995, then began wrestling under various gimmicks for the remainder of the year. His first saw Leslie as the supposedly amnesic The Man with No Name. He later rejoined Kevin Sullivan as part of his stable Dungeon of Doom. Leslie became known as The Zodiac, a character with black and white face paint who would only say, "Yes, no, yes, no!" He and the rest of the stable feuded with Hogan for most of the remainder of 1995, but Hogan eventually turned Zodiac against the Dungeon of Doom by revealing him as a planted mole.
After leaving the Dungeon of Doom Leslie became The Booty Man, and his gimmick was that of a man infatuated with his own–seemingly bare–buttocks, shaking them on the way to the ring and during matches. Emphasizing this, his signature move at the time was a high knee (a play on the word hiney, a slang term for buttocks). He was accompanied to the ring by Kimberly Page, who became known as The Booty Babe, and began a feud with Diamond Dallas Page (who was, at the time, Kimberly's real-life husband and who had recently lost her as a valet in a match with Johnny B. Badd; he had been feuding with Badd at the time, but Badd left the company to sign with the WWF and Leslie was added in his place).
This, like Leslie's other gimmicks since he joined WCW, did not last long. When the New World Order started, Booty Man attempted to join and promptly received a beatdown from Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hogan. Leslie then vanished from WCW and was not seen again for nearly two years.
Leslie's last WCW gimmick was the bodyguard of Hollywood Hogan, The Disciple, who would help Hogan illegally in many matches throughout 1998. Debuting early that year, he was almost unrecognizable at first with a full beard, dark sunglasses, and nWo-styled biker attire, however, his identity was revealed by Rowdy Roddy Piper during his feud with Hogan. He would always accompany Hogan to the ring for his matches and would often be called on to assist Hogan in beating down an opponent, often using his new finishing maneuver which was dubbed The Apocalypse. Leslie often used Hogan's WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt while performing the move, draping it over his shoulder and causing the center gold plate to hit the wrestler's jaw on the recoil. The Disciple was later kidnapped by The Warrior during Warrior's feud with Hogan, being seen hanging by his feet backstage. After being brainwashed by Warrior, he turned on Hogan and was the only other member (alongside his kidnapper) of the One Warrior Nation. After Warrior left WCW Leslie's role was largely diminished; although he was employed by the company for several more months his only appearances were either on WCW WorldWide or WCW Saturday Night wrestling against jobbers. He was no longer with WCW by June 1999.
===Semi-retirement===
In May 2000, he appeared with the Extreme Wrestling Federation in a match against Rex Diamond. In July that year he appeared in Australia for i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling under the name of "Brute Force".
In the Summer of 2001, along with fellow professional wrestler John Quinlan, Leslie wrestled for numerous independent promotions throughout the Northeastern United States.
After retiring, he was a part of the Christian wrestling group, World Impact Wrestling. He has also started a wrestling school. He also made an appearance at Pro Wrestling Syndicate's debut show in Garfield, New Jersey on June 24, 2007. He has appeared at several Memphis wrestling shows, including the 2007 Ultimate Clash of the Legends. On July 28, 2007, Beefcake competed for the IAW World Heavyweight Championship at Clash at the Cove 9 against Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Brian Costello. Beefcake and Valentine lost due to count out while they were brawling outside the ring. They, however, returned to the ring to attack Costello and the ringside announcer announced the return of The Dream Team. He appeared at a WFX event in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
On January 26, 2008- Leslie was the first inductee into the XWF Hall of Fame of 2008 by Jack Blaze at XWF Over the Edge 2008 in Moundsville, WV- once the company folded, it soon became LPW (Legends Pro Wrestling), where Blaze once again honored Leslie on March 26, 2010 at LPW March Madness 2010 on March 26, 2010.
The Dream Team made their tag team return to semi-national television in October 2009 for Pro Wrestling Ohio. The team faced off against The Clash for the PWO Tag Team Championships. Beefcake ended up almost winning the belt single-handedly, as Valentine was injured in the days leading up to the contest. However, after a "dusty finish" The Clash retained.
Leslie was a coach on the reality television show Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling. On July 24, 2009, Leslie competed in "Celebrity Boxing 10" in suburban Philadelphia. He lost in the first round to local competitive eater Bill "El Wingador" Simmons.
He was part of the Hulkamania Let The Battle Begin Tour in late 2009 which toured throughout Australia, including Perth and Sydney.
On July 31, 2010 at the Brockton Rox game, Leslie fought in All-Star Wrestling night match at Campanelli Stadium with Tito Santana in Brockton, Massachusetts.
On August 28, 2010 Beefcake made his Debut for Dynamic Wrestling Alliance Based in Middletown, OH.
==Personal life==
Leslie made news headlines on February 8, 2004 for causing an anthrax scare at one of Boston's MBTA stations, Downtown Crossing, where he was working at the time. He had been found to be in possession of a white powder, which turned out to be cocaine. He promptly checked into a drug rehabilitation facility after admitting that the cocaine found at the station was his. As a result, no charges were filed against him.
Leslie married Kirsten Georgi on July 1, 1987; the couple divorced in 1991. His second marriage was to Barbara McGondel on October 1, 1994. Together, they have one daughter named Alana.
Leslie also worked as a manager at Planet Fitness in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. He became a born again Christian.
==In wrestling==
*Finishing moves
**The Apocalypse – as The Disciple
**Sleeper hold
*Signature moves
**Back suplex
**Full nelson slam
**Running high knee
*Managers
**Johnny Valiant
**Miss Elizabeth
**The Booty Babe
**Jimmy Hart
*Tag teams and stables
**The Dream Team
**The Mega-Maniacs
**3 Faces of Fear
**Dungeon of Doom
**New World Order
*Entrance music
**"Struttin' and a Cuttin'" by Jimmy Hart and JJ Maguire (WWF)
**"Haircut" by Jimmy Hart and JJ Maguire (WWF)
**"March of Death" from the Chappell Recorded Music Library (WCW; as Zodiac)
**"Big Brother Booty" by Jimmy Hart and JJ Maguire (WCW; as The Booty Man)
**"Rockhouse" from the Focus Music Library (WCW; as The Disciple and part of the nWo)
**"Short But Thick" by BRg Music Works (WCW; as The Disciple)
**"Jungle Express" by Abaco Music (WCW; as The Disciple)
==Championships and accomplishments==
*World Wrestling Federation
**WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Greg Valentine
**WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2019)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI ranked him # 75 of the 500 top singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1995.
**PWI ranked him # 173 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.
**PWI ranked him # 94 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Greg Valentine in 2003.
===Lucha de Apuesta record===
Wager	Winner 	Loser 	Location 	Date	Notes
Hair 	Brutus Beefcake	Ron Bass	Tampa, Florida	 	Hair vs. Hair match at Saturday Night's Main Event
==External links==
* WWE.com Profile
* Profile
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