Brute Bernard

**James Prudhomme** (June 6, 1921 – July 14, 1984), was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring names **Brute Bernard** or **Jim 'Brute' Bernhard**. He spent much of his career wrestling as part of a tag team with Skull Murphy. He competed for several wrestling promotions associated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He also worked for the Australia-based World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as well as the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).

## Professional wrestling career

Bernard was discovered by wrestling promoter Jack Britton while he was at a gym in Montreal, who convinced him to become a wrestler. He made his debut in 1957, competing in Ontario. He initially wrestled under his real name, but he later took on the name Brute Bernard. He also competed in Detroit for Ed Farhat's promotion.

He teamed up with fellow Canadian wrestler Skull Murphy throughout the 1960s. Their first championship came on May 16, 1963, when they defeated "Killer" Buddy Austin and The Great Scott to win the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship. They held the title belts for almost six months before dropping them to Killer Kowalski and Gorilla Monsoon on November 14. Bernard and Murphy then began competing for Championship Wrestling from Florida, one of the many NWA territories.

On January 28, 1964, Bernard and Murphy defeated Don Curtis and Haystacks Calhoun in the finals of a tag team tournament to win the vacant Florida version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Bernard and Murphy feuded with Hiro Matsuda and Duke Keomurka over the belts and traded the belts back and forth before losing it to them for good. Bernard and Murphy worked for World Championship Wrestling in 1966, where they won the IWA World Tag Team Championship twice.

Murphy remained in Australia, while Bernard returned to the United States to compete for World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas. On June 6, 1966, he faced Fritz Von Erich for the inaugural Texas version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated. Sometime after March 22, 1967, he defeated Fritz for the title, until losing it back to him not long after. He had four more title reigns, as he won the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship twice and teamed with manager Mike Paidousis to win the NWA American Tag Team Championship twice.

Bernard and Murphy reunited in Australia, where they won the IWA World Tag Team Championship twice more in 1968 and 1969. They also competed for Jim Crockett Promotions in the Carolinas, where they participated in a series of "battle of the bullies" matches. These bouts went against the tradition of having faces (fan favorites) competing against heels (villains), as Bernard and Murphy competed against fellow heels the Blond Bombers (Swede Hanson and Rip Hawk).

On March 23, 1970, Murphy died of a sleeping pill overdose at the age of 39. This ended the tandem and caused Bernard to find a new tag team partner, which turned out to be Larry Hamilton. The pair won the NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Championship on October 12, 1971 by defeating Johnny Weaver and George Becker, and held the titles until dropping them to Weaver and Art Neilson on March 31, 1972. They also competed in Texas, where that same year they would win the NWA American Tag Team Championship.

Bernard continued to wrestle in Australia and won the NWA Austra-Asian Heavyweight Championship by defeating Spiros Arion on November 4, 1972. He held the belt for three weeks before dropping it back to Arion. He also won the country's World Brass Knuckles Championship twice. Back in Jim Crockett Promotions, he formed a tag team with Jay York. They had rivalries with the team of George Scott and Nelson Royal as well as the Anderson family (Gene and Ole). Bernard and York were managed by Beauregarde, who also teamed with them in six-man matches. Bernard and York won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship by defeating Scott and Royal on November 26, 1973 but lost the belts to the Andersons one month later.

Bernard wrestled for several promotions in his final years as a wrestler. He returned to Detroit, where he competed as The Brute. He and Frank Morrell also won the NWA Western States Tag Team Championship on December 15, 1977 by defeating Ted DiBiase and Ervin Smith. He returned to the Carolinas and wrestled for Jim Crockett Promotions until he was released due to his age. He continued to wrestle occasionally; in his final match, he refused to go along with the scripted finish. The referee, Dave Routh, declared the result a double countout. Bernard got upset in the locker room and attacked Routh. He broke Routh's nose and was fired as a result. After this, he retired to work in a factory.

## Death

On July 14, 1984, Bernard died at the age of 63. His cause of death is listed as an accidental gunshot wound, and there have been many theories of his death, including the following:

* Bernard was allegedly cleaning his gun.
* Bernard was working in a factory when coworkers came over to his farm to shoot some guns; one of them went off which killed him.
* Bernard shot himself accidentally target practicing in his backyard. Someone told him that the bullet was a "hollow point" and he thought that meant blank and put it to his head.
* Bernard was playing Russian Roulette; he removed five bullets, leaving one, before placing the gun to his temple.
* Bernard's son believes that he died of suicide after the loss of long-time tag team partner Skull Murphy.