Bruiser Brody's Cageside Evaluation

What you loved:

1. Pioneer - One of the first to popularize hardcore, garbage, brawl-style wrestling.
2. Look - A legit tough guy, who scared many of you as kids. The wide-eyed, scruffy hair/beard, mixed with yelling "HUSS! HUSS!" just worked perfectly in the ring.
3. Worker - Physically imposing at 6'8"/283 lbs, he could fly off the top rope, and put on good quality matches in between the brutality. For a modern day comparison, think Luke Harper, not the Berzerker, please no.
4. Draw - Never was in the WWE, but traveled all over the world pulling in the crowds.
5. Butcher Feud - Fair to say these two beat the hell out of each other many times over. Both with crimson-masks, the chaos would run into the crowds and all throughout the arenas.

Best comment comes via GrecoRomanGuy:

"The dude pretty much popularized if not straight-up invented the concept of garbage wrestling, in that instead of giving us a technically proficient match he’d just chase his opponent around the arena with a trash can and a baseball bat because he wants bloooooddd. If you’re brave enough, go watch some of his matches with Abdullah the Butcher. Those guys shed blood like sweat against each other. But even then we can’t forget that Bruiser Brody could give you a good match too."

Bonus best comment comes via alexpkeatonIII:

"He was the first wrestler to ever have a conversation with me. I was probably 8 or 9 and he was working in Maine for Savoldi’s ICW promotion. I think his opponent that night was Ox Baker. Toward the end of the show a lot of the wrestlers, including Brody, were watching from the side of the auditorium. I walked up and asked to have his autograph and, like most wrestlers, he was kind, but as a character, he intimidated me more than anyone. He asked my name and my age and mentioned he had some kids and I flat out asked if Bruiser Brody was his real name and he said it wasn’t, his name was Frank. I asked him why he didn’t use the name Frank in the ring and he said that Bruiser Brody was a side of him he didn’t take out of the ring. He was Bruiser in the ring, but Frank outside of it, and Daddy to his kids.

I told him that I used to be scared of him but I wasn’t anymore and he said that him being a wrestler was his job like my mom and dad had jobs and everybody wants to be the best at their job and he found that if he could scare his opponents, it made him better and he didn’t mean to scare anybody else. He asked about what I liked to do in school and if I played sports and while it was only a 2-3 minute exchange, it still one I tell the story about 4-5 times per year when I talk to hardcore wrestling fans. I don’t think there’s any other story from my youth told that much….and if you can check out his "shoot" interview with that TV station on YouTube, it’s an amazing look at the guy that I got to talk to, Frank Goodish, not the Bruiser Brody character."

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What you loathed:

1. Unruly - Bruiser was a legend at doing whatever he wanted. If he didn't like his opponent, he wouldn't wrestled. If he had a problem with the promoter, his dissatisfaction would be shown by making a fool out of the match and event.
2. R.I.P. - It looked like Bruiser made some enemies backstage, but being murdered (at 42) in a shower was not the ending that he deserved.
3. Luger Match - One his most famous "I'm not doing shit" moments, was against Lex Luger. He literally stood in the ring and did nothing until Luger got a DQ finish for tossing the ref aside.
4. Time - Bruiser was unfortunately way ahead of his time, the internet and an ECW-like environment would have helped him mightily.

Best comment comes via JakeTheMilkmanMilligan'sMilkman:

"He was sometimes hard to work with in a match. And the way he left us absolutely sucked."

On to the poll! With 194 votes, Bruiser Brody's average score is 4.1.

Thanks, Cagesiders! Tomorrow's pick found great success outside of the U.S.

Until then!