Bruiser Brody

Frank Donald Goodish (June 18, 1946 – July 17, 1988) was an American professional wrestler who earned his greatest fame under the ring name Bruiser Brody. He also worked as King Kong Brody, the Masked Marauder, and Red River Jack.

Over the years Brody became synonymous with the hardcore wrestling brawling style that often saw one or more of the participants bleeding by the time the match was over.

In his prime he worked as a "special attraction" wrestler in North America, making select appearances for various promotions such as World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), Central States Wrestling (CSW), Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), and the American Wrestling Association (AWA) among other events.

He worked regularly in Japan for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW).

Behind the scenes Brody was very protective of his "in-ring" image, hardly ever agreeing to lose matches and building a reputation of being volatile; he would on occasion intentionally hit or hurt opponents during a match contrary to the pre-determined nature of professional wrestling.

His in-ring work and wrestling persona earned him an induction in the professional wrestling hall of fame, St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame, Southern Wrestling Hall of Fame, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame and the WWE Hall of Fame.

In 1976, he went to Vince J. McMahon's WWWF where he challenged WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino, but was unsuccessful in winning the championship.

Brody also teamed with Big John Studd.

It was also in the WWWF where he wrestled Invader 1 (José González), for whom he refused to sell.

In 1985, he had a very short stint with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) 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.

Brody had an infamous cage match with Lex Luger in Florida on January 21, 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 shoved Alfonso to the ground.

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".

Brody died in 1988 from stab wounds suffered backstage in a shower during a wrestling event in Puerto Rico.

The killer was José González, better known as Invader 1.

A jury acquitted González of murder, ruling that González killed Brody in self-defense.

Key witnesses to the killing did not give testimony at González' trial due to their summonses only being received after the trial had concluded.

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 four teams over three seasons in the TFL and the COFL.

He stood 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 251 lbs.

After attending West Texas A&M and working as a sportswriter Goodish was trained to wrestle by Fritz Von Erich.

He first wrestled in Dallas - Fort Worth and later Louisiana.

As Bruiser Brody and King Kong Brody (the latter, a name he used in Midwestern promotions out of respect for Dick the Bruiser), Goodish competed as a freelancer in several companies including the Central States Wrestling (CSW), World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), Southwest Championship Wrestling (SCW), Windy City Wrestling, World Wrestling Council (WWC), Deep South Wrestling (DSW), Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF), American Wrestling Association (AWA), and World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW).

In the States, he had numerous feuds with the likes of Kamala the Ugandan Giant, Abdullah the Butcher, and "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell.

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 at one time in the AWA.

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 lost the title to Jumbo Tsuruta four days later.

In WCCW in Texas he was actually a babyface, most often against Abdullah The Butcher.

However against Abdullah in Montreal he was a heel managed by Floyd Creatchman.

While there Tim "Killer" Brooks acted as his brother Buster Brody.

Brody was in an ongoing feud with The Russian Brute who later went on to AWA fame with Manager Ox Baker.

Due to his huge reputation in Japan promoter Shohei Baba had the match taped and later aired on Japanese TV.

In Florida he beat B. Brian Blair for the Florida State championship.