Bulldog Bob Brown

**Robert Harold Brown** (October 16, 1938 – February 5, 1997) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name **"Bulldog" Bob Brown**. He mostly competed as a heel throughout his career and performed in territories both in the Midwest and in his native Canada.

## Early life

Robert Harold Brown was born on October 16, 1938, in Shoal Lake, Manitoba, but grew up in the St. James-Assiniboia area of Winnipeg. He was given the nickname "Bulldog" in grade school and worked as a police officer before becoming a professional wrestler. Brown also played hockey. His brother Doug was a wrestling promoter, and his son David worked as a professional wrestling referee under the name David Puttnam. Brown was the uncle of Kerry Brown, who was a professional wrestler.

## Professional wrestling career

He started wrestling in the late 50s, working in Manitoba, New Brunswick and Alberta. As Bill Green, he would often at times compete for the AWA. From 1969 to 1974 and in the early 1980s, Brown wrestled for NWA All Star Wrestling in Vancouver and formed tag teams with Gene Kiniski and John Quinn. In New Brunswick in the mid 1970s, he fought the likes of Leo Burke and Stephen Petitpas.

He worked as a face for ten years in Kansas City before he turned heel in late 1985. In interviews, he often argued about the events that had happened by turning the facts around. Brown fought with many big names throughout his career including Harley Race and Bill Dundee. Brown was a part of the WrestleRock event on April 20, 1986, where he was defeated by Giant Baba.

"Bulldog" Bob Brown's career is best known, however, for his stint wrestling for NWA Central States. He held the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship 21 times and the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship 12 times with different partners.

On June 14, 1968, Brown won a tournament for his first reign with the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship, last defeating Thor Hagen. He lost it on October 4 to Tommy Martin. For nearly five years, he didn't win the title until May 28, 1973, when he dethroned Danny Little Bear. He lost the title on September 22 to Harley Race before beating him for it on October 11.

During a match against Mike George on December 14, the title was held up, but Brown won it back on January 4, 1974 before dropping it back to George on March 21. Brown would win the title again on July 4 but dropped it to Harley Race just a week later, until gaining it back in early August. He dropped it on December 26 to Terry Martin. On April 10, 1976, Brown would again defeat George to regain the title and held it for a week, dropping it to George but winning it back on May 18.

He dropped the title to Race on July 8 and won it back from him on September 5, holding it until Ricky Gibson dethroned him on October 1. It would be a year since Brown would win the title. On October 30, 1977, Brown defeated Bob Sweetan for the gold, but he is listed to have never lost it during his tenth reign.

On February 4, 1980 Brown won the title again by defeating Jody "The Assassin" Hamilton, losing it on April 10 to Bruiser Brody. He won it back from defeating Killer Karl Kox on August 16 but lost it to Mike George on September 11. On October 23, he won it back from George until losing it to Buzz Tyler on April 1, 1981. On December 14, Brown ended Sweetan's four day reign to win the gold. It seemed like he also had a short reign as Brown held up the title, but on January 7, 1982, he won it back. He won the title again on May 12, 1983, from Dewey Robertson until losing it back to him a week later.

On December 17, 1985, Brown won the title from Brett Sawyer in Ames, Iowa. However, he suffered an injury to his ankle, thus on May 30, 1986, he vacated the championship. He won the title from Marty Janetty in June, but promoter Jim Crockett Jr. decided to use his own wrestlers, so on September 26, Brown vacated the title yet again. However, he won it from Bill Dundee on February 27, 1987, before losing it on April 18 to Earthquake Farris, whom he defeated on May 10 to win back the title; he lost it four days later to Rufus R. Jones. On October 30, Brown defeated Earthquake Farris again for his final reign with the title, holding it until he dropped the championship on Christmas to Dave Peterson.

Brown's first reign with the Central States Tag Team Championship was on April 6, 1968, with Alexis Smirnoff, last defeating Kevin Sullivan & Ken Lucas in the finals of a four-team tournament. On April 24, they dropped the titles to Sullivan and Lucas. Brown next won the title with Bob Sweetan on October 14, before the title was declared vacant in 1979. On July 12, Brown and Gama Singh were defeated in a tournament final for the championships by Jerry Brown and The Turk, but they won the titles from them on August 11 before the titles went vacant again.

On March 20, 1980, Brown won the tag titles with Dick Murdoch by defeating Bruiser Brody and Ernie Ladd, before losing them on April 17 to Takachiho (Great Kabuki) and Pak Song. He won the titles with Pat O'Connor on June 18 before they were defeated three days later by Takachiho and Killer Karl Kox. He won the titles from them on August 14 with Rufus R. Jones and held them until dropping them on October 30 to Mike George and Bob Sweetan.

Brown didn't hold the tag titles for a few months until winning them with Terry Taylor from Pat and Mike Kelly on April 9, 1981, but were later vacant again after Taylor left the Kansas City area. November 21, 1982 saw Brown's next tag title reign as he teamed with Buzz Tyler to defeat Dewey Robertson and Hercules Hernandez but they lost them on March 3, 1983, to Yasu Fuji and Kim Duk. Another tournament was set thereafter because of another tag title vacancy. Brown and Tyler last defeated Baron Von Raschke and Blackjack Lanza to win the straps.

On July 28, they dropped the belts to the Sheiks (Roger Kirby and Abdullah the Great), but later won them back on September 22. However, the belts were yet again vacant after Brown was injured in an angle with 666 (Jim Starr).

On December 9, 1984, he won the tag team titles with future rocker Marty Jannetty. However, while wrestling Brad and Bart Batten on November 21, Brown refused to tag in Jannetty so they split and lost the titles. On February 6, 1988, Bob Brown's final reign with the tag gold came when he and the Cuban Assassin defeated the Montana Cowboys (Mike Stone and Rick Patterson). They dropped the titles on March 17 to Patterson and Stevie Ray.

He often worked as booker for the Central States and several other promotions. Brown even wrestled for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico, forming a tag team with Dale Veasey known as the Hunters. They won the WWC World Tag Team Championship from Mark and Chris Youngblood on August 26, 1987, before dropping the titles back to the Youngbloods on September 20.

Brown also wrestled for Stampede Wrestling with Kerry Brown, who was billed as Brown's son, but was actually his nephew. On June 9, 1989, the Browns won the Stampede International Tag Team Championship from Chris Benoit and Biff Wellington. That same year, Brown began working as the color commentator for Stampede's television show, alongside Ed Whalen.

## Death

In 1996, Brown suffered a heart attack, and was pronounced dead twice before being revived, causing his retirement from in-ring competition.

Following his retirement, he worked as a security guard at a horse and dog racing track in Kansas City, and the formally named Flamingo Casino, now known as Isle of Capri Casino in Kansas City, Missouri. On February 5, 1997, Brown died of a heart attack the age of 58 while working at the casino.