Bruiser Brody

Frank Donald Goodish (June 18, 1946 – July 17, 1988) was an American professional wrestler who earned his greatest fame under the ring names King Kong Brody and Bruiser Brody. Goodish was an All-State football and basketball player at Warren High School, Michigan, and played football at West Texas A&M University (then known as West Texas State) and with the Washington Redskins in the NFL. As a wrestler, he helped innovate the "brawling" style and was infamous for his wild and legitimately uncooperative demeanor.
==Career==
Known for his wild hair, big bushy beard and bulging eyes, Bruiser Brody was a madman in the truest sense of the word. After 15 unpredictable years in the ring, the brawler earned the reputation as one of the toughest of his time, but instead will be remembered best by his tragic passing.
After making his professional debut in 1973, Brody 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 feuds with the likes of Kamala, Andre the Giant, Abdullah the Butcher, Dick the Bruiser, Jerry Blackwell, and The Von Erichs. In Japan, he was in a tag team with Stan Hansen. Brody 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.
In 1985, he had a very short stint with New Japan Pro Wrestling in a feud with Antonio Inoki and many of their matches ended in no contests or disqualifications. In 1987, Brody began working primarily for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico after getting fired from New Japan. Brody continued his feud with Abdullah the Butcher, as well as engaging in a feud with Carlos Colon. He briefly returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling to win his last NWA International Heavyweight Championship. 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. Brody ended up losing the title back to Jumbo Tsuruta four days later.
Brody had an infamous cage match with Lex Luger in Florida in Championship Wrestling from Florida in January 1987. In the middle of the match, Brody stopped "working" and stood around. Luger and Bill Alfonso, the referee of the match, were puzzled and attempted to speak to Brody who did not respond. 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. 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". In Larry Matysik's book, Wrestling at the Chase, Matysik states that before the match Brody told him "I'm not putting up with any of his bullshit" and that Brody was upset that Luger wouldn't sell for him. However, when watching the match, it is clear that Luger did sell for Brody. In a later shoot interview, Bill Alfonso said that there was a miscommunication issue on who would lead the match and there was no ill will ever between the two. Another scenario was that Brody was upset with the promoters (Brody had a contentious history with wrestling promoters for much of his career) and decided to embarrass the promotion by being uncooperative in the match.
==Death==
Internationally, Brody was seen as a legend, especially in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, the Puerto Rican ring would be the last he would ever compete in. On July 16, 1988, Brody was in the locker room before his match with Dan Spivey in Bayamón (a city near San Juan, Puerto Rico), when José Huertas González, a fellow wrestler and booker, asked him to go into the shower to discuss business. Brody entered the shower stall and a few minutes later a scuffle ensued, followed by two groans, loud enough for the entire locker room to hear. Tony Atlas ran to the shower and saw Brody bent over and holding his stomach. Atlas then looked up at González and saw him holding a knife. 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. Brody's last words (as told to Atlas) were, "Tell my little son I love him, and tell my wife I love her, too." González, who always maintained his innocence, was initially charged with first-degree murder but was later reduced and tried for involuntary homicide. Dutch Mantell received his subpoena after the trial was over and Tony Atlas, who had given a statement and said he witnessed what happened refused to return to give his version in court and without his testimony the District Attorney had no case. Some wrestlers (the Youngbloods) were scared to death and made no declaration to the police at the time of the events. However, Tony Atlas declared what he saw to the police and came back to Puerto Rico several years later to work with the promotion. In January 1989, González was acquitted on all counts, citing self-defense. Carlos Colón testified against Brody during the trial.
==In wrestling==
*Finishing moves
:*Jumping knee drop, sometimes from the top rope
*Signature moves
:*Big Boot
:*Atomic drop
:*Backbreaker rack
:*Diving overhead chop
:*High knee
:*One-armed body slam
:*Piledriver
:*Running big boot
:*Running leg drop
:*Vertical suplex powerslam
*Managers
:*Downtown Bruno
:*Oliver Humperdink
*Tag teams and stables
:*Bruiser Brody & Kerry Von Erich
:*Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen
:*House Of Humperdink
*Entrance themes
:*"Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin
==Championships and accomplishments==
*All Japan Pro Wrestling
**NWA International Heavyweight Champion (3 time)
*Central States Wrestling
**NWA Central States Heavyweight Champion (1 time)
**NWA Central States Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Ernie Ladd
*Championship Wrestling From Florida
**NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion (1 time)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI Stanley Weston Award (1988)
*World Class Championship Wrestling
**World Class World Television Champion (1 time)
**World Class Texas Tag Team Champion (3 time) - Kerry Von Erich (1), Gino Hernandez (1), Mike York (1)
**NWA American Heavyweight Champion (4 time)
**NWA American Tag Team Champion (3 time) - with Kerry Von Erich
*World Wrestling Association
**WWA World Heavyweight Champion (1 time)
*World Wrestling Entertainment
**WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2019)
==External links==
* WWE.com Profile
* Profile
de:Bruiser Brody
Category:American wrestlers
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Category:Wrestlers who have died
Category:All Japan Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:American Wrestling Association alumni
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Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni
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Category:1946 births
Category:1973 debuts
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Category:NWA International Heavyweight Champions
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Category:Male wrestlers
Category:Frank Gotch Award Winners
Category:WWE Hall of Fame inductees
Category:WWE Hall of Fame Legacy Inductee