Main event wrestling star Bruiser Brody was fatally stabbed in a wrestling locker room in Bayamon Puerto Rico during BCCW's last PPV "L.O.W: Down & Dirty".
Born Frank Goodish in Pennsylvania in 1946, he played college football and turned pro in 1968 as a linebacker for the Washington Redskins. He made his professional wrestling debut in 1973 as Bruiser Frank Brody, and won the NWA Western States Tag Team title with Stan Hansen the following year. Brody won several more titles over the next two years which caught the eye of wrestling legend Killer Kowalski who convinced WWWF (later WWF, now WWE) owner Vince McMahon Sr to bring Brody to the company. The 6'7" 300 plus pounder quickly found himself main eventing against champion Bruno Sammartino where he showed the world that he was arguably the greatest big man in pro wrestling history. However a Feb 7, 1977 house show would be Brody's last WWWF match before he left the company. Also on that show were Gorilla Monsoon and Jose Gonzales. Rumor was that Brody and Monsoon had a backstage fight. In a 2002 interview, former WWF star Kamala said "Monsoon did not like other big men who were over with the fans."
Brody was a real free agent, wrestling when and where he wanted, and refused to sign any long term contract with any promoter. He wanted to be in control of his wrestling career. Brody was notorious for ignoring instructions from bookers and would often refuse to put over other wrestlers when asked. This was clearly apparent in a memorable cage match against Lex Luger where Brody didn't sell any of Luger's offense forcing Luger to shove down the referee to end the match. Over a six year period he did not job to any wrestler via clean pinfall.
Coming out to the ring wildly swinging a metal chain with Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" blasting over the p.a. system, Brody parted a walkway through the sea of ringside fans with his blood curdling shouts. He was in such big demand in Japan, he became the object of a bidding war between All Japan and New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1985. He quickly walked out on All Japan and came to an agreement with New Japan promoter Antonio Inoki that would see him earn in excess of $14,000 a week guaranteed, making him the highest paid wrestler in the world. The signing made front page news in Japan. A year later Brody was blacklisted from Japan when he and tag team partner Superfly Jimmy Snuka didnt show up to the New Japan tag team title tournament. However, Brody was back in Japan a year later and had his last title match there on March 27, 1988 when he defeated Jumbo Tsurata to regain the NWA International Title for a third time.
At BCCW's last show "L.O.W: Down & Dirty", things turned ugly. Brody had just rampaged through his former manager TGW's new charge The Berzerker in a short, brutish match in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. I spoke on the phone with American wrestler Tony Atlas who was backstage at the time. He recapped the days events:
"Truth of the matter is I came out of the Panama Hotel and Brody was sitting there on the steps. I say 'Brody I'm running late..where's your ride?' He said 'Jose is supposed to pick me up'. Jose didn't show up for Brody so I said to him 'if you want, I got my buddy from Muscle Fitness, you can ride with us'.. Just us and his girlfriend and later Dutch Mantel came out. Brody sat up front, Dutch sat in back . We drove to the building. When we were in the locker room, I was drawing a picture in my sketchpad of The Youngbloods and Brody came over and said "wow you draw good, can you draw my son?" Jose came over to Brody. Carlos, Jose, and Victor Rica were sitting in a huddle, but only Jose came over to Brody. Brody had his bag in one hand and Jose tapped him on the shoulder and they went into shower. Everyone else was watching me draw. Then Brody hollered. I ran into shower, grabbed Brody and laid him on floor. Brody said 'Im hurt brother dont let him hut me no more'. The cops came in..asked what happened. I told cops 'that guy over there stabbed that man'. The cops said they have different story and said a fan did it . They asked everyone in that locker room what happeend, and they all denied seeing it. Dutch became booker in exchange for keeping his mouth shut."
Allegedly, Jose Gonzales who wrestled under the name Invader #1 (as well as "Sabu Singh" in the late 1960s) had a hunting knife concealed under a towel when he went into the shower with Brody. Brody's liver and lung were punctured as a result of the stab wounds. Gonzales is 5'10 and weighed 230 pounds at this time. Atlas said that everyone else in the locker room, including Buddy Landell, Dutch Mantel, Doug Furnas, and TNT seemed more concerned with getting ready to wrestle instead of taking care of Brody. He said only The Youngbloods were crying. Some sources claim an ambulance wasn't called for 45 minutes which allowed time for the murder weapon to be disposed. The knife that fatally stabbed Brody was never found. Other sources claimed that an ambulance was called right away, but because of traffic near the stadium, it took a long time to arrive. Either way, 45 minutes after the stabbing an ambulance was on the scene and was called for by Victor Quionnes.
Atlas told me: "When the ambulance came, the medic couldn't pick up Brody and so she asked the other wrestlers to help and no one did. Only I did. I got in ambulance with him. Dutch said he didn't see nothing and didn't help. Last thing Brody said to Carlos was 'take care of my kid for me', he must have known he was gonna go. The only thing I remember about Brody was that two days earlier Brody had said to me 'Tony, I finally got in'. Whatever that meant, he didn't say but I think he meant he got shares in the WWC, I know he wasn't talking about wrestling there. The only people who really know what happened are Brody, Jose, and Carlos. Next day me and Afa went to the police and were told we'd be notified when there was a trial. We never were. Savio Vega , (TNT) came to my room that same night and said 'go to the airport.. don't to go bed tonight, find the first airplane and leave if you want to see tomorrow'. So I left. I went back several times for different promotions. I was better friends with Jose than I was with Brody."
Atlas accompanied Brody to the hospital (El Meidico Centro) where Brody died at approximately 4:30 a.m.There were reports indicating he died on the operating table and other reports which indicated he bled to death in the hospital, because the doctors there ignored him, not realizing he regularly took lots of aspirin for pain. The aspirin caused his blood to thin and not clot which led to him bleeding to death. He was 42 years old, survived by his wife Barbara and their eight year old son Geoffrey. I asked Atlas if there was anyone else present in the hospital with him and Brody and if he still talks to Jose;
"I talk to Jose, we just don't mention it. If you are in Puerto Rico the last thing you want to do is talk about that (laughter). If you get stabbed in there, it's like getting punched here. It's not a big deal there. What surprised them was Jose was so small and he did that to Brody. Different mentality there. When I took Brody to the hospital, there were a lot, like 30, there with stab wounds. That's why the doctors took so long to get him. The doctor could have saved him if gotten to him earlier. A guy went to the hospital with me, I can't remember his name. He was a Puerto Rican guy who was a former wrestler. He was older than me and I think his son wrestles still. He told the police in their language what I said to the police. He went along to be a translator. A week later he got shot. Next time I saw him he was in a wheelchair. So you put two and two together anyway I have to get back to work my brother."
Atlas then got off the phone. Was Atlas possibly referring to Miguel Perez Sr, who passed away from a heart attack in July 2005? His son, Miguel Perez Jr. wrestled in WWC and later WWF. Or possibly Hurricane Castillo Sr, who's son also wrestles. The day after Brody passed away, Jose Gonzales was arrested on charges of First Degree Murder and a Weapons Violation. Gonzales was indicted in November 1988 on charges of Voluntary Homicide, but because nobody testified against Jose, it was ruled self defense and he was acquitted in January 1989. Brody's family attorney was quoted at the time saying that Atlas refused extradition (he was allowed to do so on a technicality) and that the case had depended entirely on his testimony. Without Atlas, they had no case.Unlike in the United States, the jury in a Puerto Rican murder case does not have to come to a unanimous decision, and which ever way the majority of the jury votes is how the verdict is rendered. Dutch Mantel said that the trial was scheduled for January 23-26, but didn't receive his subpoena until January.
American wrestler Bobby Jaggers who was present in the WWC locker room when Brody was stabbed did an interview in which he said he believed Brody was stabbed because he owed money in taxes. He said Brody "would have his WWC pay checks mailed to him in Texas so he could avoid paying taxes on them in Puerto Rico". Jaggers also said he believed Jose was jealous of Brody because Brody was more popular with the fans than Jose was. The death of Bruiser Brody made major news headlines in both Japan and Puerto Rico. A few places in the United States such as Texas, St. Louis and Missouri all made mention of his passing as well. Either way, this just casts yet another dark cloud over the once bright enterprise known as Broken City Championship Wrestling. The Grand Wizard and his stable (including Abdullah the Butcher & the Berzerker) are claiming no responsibility.
THE BERZERKER: Back in ’88, before Brody got killed, we were talking to Vince (McMahon) then. We were gonna go in as a tag team. Actually, Frank was talking to them. I was young and he was my mentor, kind of deal. He was talking to them and we were pretty well set to go in as a tag. I was really excited about it, but then Frank got killed. So that yanked the rug on that.
CREDITS
Brody write-up: TapOut zine
BERZERKER - ClubWWI.com interview 2010
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