Anti-authority way before Daniel Bryan and Stone Cold, Bruiser Brody personified independence by jumping across territories and bending promoters to his own whim. Defining the modern brawling style, the scraggly bearded 6-foot-8-inch madman terrorized opponents, painted rings with his blood and sold out arenas spanning the globe.
And then on July 16, 1988, Brody was stabbed to death in a locker room shower in Puerto Rico.
Jose González was initially charged with first-degree murder and then later reduced and tried for involuntary homicide.
However, González was acquitted on all counts, citing self-defense.
It’s one of the biggest tragedies in wrestling history, and one that doesn’t get as much attention because Brody was never a WWE Superstar.
Here’s one of the first shoot interviews ever, filmed in 1987 for a small NBC affiliate in southern West Virginia.
John Corrigan
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