Black Widow
10-19-2008, 06:33 PM
Brutus Beefcake is one of the most famous wrestlers from the ‘80s era of the WWE. He was a former tag team champion with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine before becoming “The Barber”.
Both inside of the ring and outside of it, Brutus and Hulk Hogan have worked together. The two men teamed together at both a SummerSlam and a WrestleMania event. Outside of the ring, Brutus has appeared in some of Hulk’s Hollywood projects. Brutus will be teaming up with Hulk Hogan again in the upcoming television series Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling. I had the opportunity to speak to Brutus a few days prior to the premiere of the show.
Eric: Can you tell me about the role you will be playing on the upcoming show Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling?
Brutus Beefcake: Absolutely. There are 2 coaches or trainers or whatever you want to call them. I am one of them. It’s Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Brian “Nasty Boy” Knobbs. Our role is to take 10 celebrities, teach them some of the basics of professional wrestling. Help them to learn a little bit about what it is like to be in the ring, ring psychology. A whole little overview of what it is like to be a wrestler. Take them in the ring. Let them have actual matches, let them do interviews on camera, in front of crowds, and take them throughout the whole process.
Eric: As a trainer, did you find it more difficult to teach the physical or the mental aspect of wrestling?
Brutus Beefcake: I’m in the best shape that I’ve ever been in my life, so the physical wasn’t a problem. Although there was some grueling 12, 14, 16 hour days in 100 degree heat in an old, dirty, filthy building. So the conditions weren’t exactly ideal for training somebody. They were pretty tough. Teaching the mental aspect, teaching psychology to people that have no idea about wrestling is very difficult.
Eric: Now that the cat is out of the bag about the legitimacy of the sport, how does the current training aspect of the sport differ from the era when you began?
Brutus Beefcake: The training aspect when I began, the wrestlers took me into the ring and taught me simple basics. I had a basic overview of wrestling from high school, what it was like to get on the mat, the sit out, the escape, the basic wrestling moves. They showed the basic headlock, how to take a slam, how to do a backdrop, how to hit the ropes.
With some basic knowledge, I was taken into the ring right away and I learned basically on the job. I was in the ring and I learned to wrestle. That’s how I learned to wrestle, in the ring. That’s really the only way you ever really learn anything about wrestling, any psychology, anything. You have to get into the ring and wrestle every day, day in and day out, year after year. Because it takes a long time to teach somebody the real psychology of the true art of wrestling.
Eric: One of the biggest questions I get on this site is about becoming a pro wrestler. What advice would you give to someone that was thinking about becoming a wrestler?
Brutus Beefcake: Unless he is 6’8”, 270 pounds, rock-hard, young and stupid, and has a lot of money, I’d tell them to go to school, get an education, and get a job because he is going to wind up on skid row probably. He is going to get beat up, he is going to lose everything he’s got, all his friends, and the chances of making it in the business right now, unless you are somebody’s son or somebody’s cousin or brother, are about slim to none.
Eric: How did your tag team with Greg Valentine come about?
Brutus Beefcake: Greg and I were friends from years before. We worked together in the Carolinas. I met Greg was I was in NY in 1978 when I was there with Hulk and we worked for Vince McMahon Sr. So Greg and I were friends.
They wound up putting us together kind of by accident on a couple of shows to have tag matches. They were shocked because the styles of Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake were so different. His style was methodical, slow, very rough and tough. Brutus Beefcake was very flashy, flamboyant. You know completely different styles that somehow opposites attract. I don’t know what you’d want to call it but the styles seemed to meld.
The people loved to see that. Pretty boy Brutus strutting around the ring and Greg the Hammer, the tough son-of-a-gun, second generation wrestler that just wanted to get out there and fisticuff, fight, beat up people, break people’s legs. The combination of the two just attracted a lot of attention and caught the fans eyes. The fans liked it.
Eric: How did the Barber persona come into being?
Brutus Beefcake: I don’t know who’s idea it was. I think it was something Pat Patterson came up with probably. His roommate was a barber, a hair stylist.
The idea came out of an angle I worked against Adrian Adonis. We had a match with Rick Martel and he (Adrian Adonis) cut my hair kind of by accident. And then we wound up at odds against each another.
When Roddy Piper had the match at WrestleMania III and won and was going to shave Adrian’s head, I came out, I brought Piper the shears, the scissors, and all that stuff because I was friends with Piper. Piper handed them back to me and said that “You know what, he cut your hair, now it’s your turn, you get to cut his hair. Go Get him.” So I did.
After that, the office gave me scissors and a white coat and said “Now you’re the Barber”. Really, I was kind of horrified by it because Brutus Beefcake was super red-hot, a great personality, it was a great gimmick, and why would you want to change something that’s red hot and on fire.
Eric: Back in the day, you used to wear some interesting outfits. Were they created by you or someone in the WWE and who had to pay for them?
Brutus Beefcake: They were created by a guy in Florida that Hulk turned me onto. He made rock-n-roll outfits for rockers like Cher, Jimi Hendrix, and a lot of top performers over the years. He and I worked together to create the outfits and I had to pay for all of them.
Eric: There have been many wrestling autobiographies to hit the market in recent years and I was wondering if you planned on writing one?
Brutus Beefcake: It is in the works right now.
Eric: Is there anything else you would like to let my readers know?
Brutus Beefcake: Well I just want everybody to know that all this stuff with the Hulkster that’s going on, with his family, people say that it’s all put on and everything. People go through trials and have problems in their lives. God knows that I’ve had some hard times and God helped me though it. Hulk has kind of come to that realization too and God has helped him through some tough times. He has split with his wife. His son was going through a tough thing in jail. Tell your readers that Hulk is a very tough individual. He’s a good man and he will prevail. He is going to make a heck of a comeback, he and his family. I am going to be side-by-side right with him because we are and always have been friends for life. I support him 100% and he supports me 100%. Together, there’s nothing that we can’t accomplish.
prowrestling.about.com
Both inside of the ring and outside of it, Brutus and Hulk Hogan have worked together. The two men teamed together at both a SummerSlam and a WrestleMania event. Outside of the ring, Brutus has appeared in some of Hulk’s Hollywood projects. Brutus will be teaming up with Hulk Hogan again in the upcoming television series Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling. I had the opportunity to speak to Brutus a few days prior to the premiere of the show.
Eric: Can you tell me about the role you will be playing on the upcoming show Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling?
Brutus Beefcake: Absolutely. There are 2 coaches or trainers or whatever you want to call them. I am one of them. It’s Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Brian “Nasty Boy” Knobbs. Our role is to take 10 celebrities, teach them some of the basics of professional wrestling. Help them to learn a little bit about what it is like to be in the ring, ring psychology. A whole little overview of what it is like to be a wrestler. Take them in the ring. Let them have actual matches, let them do interviews on camera, in front of crowds, and take them throughout the whole process.
Eric: As a trainer, did you find it more difficult to teach the physical or the mental aspect of wrestling?
Brutus Beefcake: I’m in the best shape that I’ve ever been in my life, so the physical wasn’t a problem. Although there was some grueling 12, 14, 16 hour days in 100 degree heat in an old, dirty, filthy building. So the conditions weren’t exactly ideal for training somebody. They were pretty tough. Teaching the mental aspect, teaching psychology to people that have no idea about wrestling is very difficult.
Eric: Now that the cat is out of the bag about the legitimacy of the sport, how does the current training aspect of the sport differ from the era when you began?
Brutus Beefcake: The training aspect when I began, the wrestlers took me into the ring and taught me simple basics. I had a basic overview of wrestling from high school, what it was like to get on the mat, the sit out, the escape, the basic wrestling moves. They showed the basic headlock, how to take a slam, how to do a backdrop, how to hit the ropes.
With some basic knowledge, I was taken into the ring right away and I learned basically on the job. I was in the ring and I learned to wrestle. That’s how I learned to wrestle, in the ring. That’s really the only way you ever really learn anything about wrestling, any psychology, anything. You have to get into the ring and wrestle every day, day in and day out, year after year. Because it takes a long time to teach somebody the real psychology of the true art of wrestling.
Eric: One of the biggest questions I get on this site is about becoming a pro wrestler. What advice would you give to someone that was thinking about becoming a wrestler?
Brutus Beefcake: Unless he is 6’8”, 270 pounds, rock-hard, young and stupid, and has a lot of money, I’d tell them to go to school, get an education, and get a job because he is going to wind up on skid row probably. He is going to get beat up, he is going to lose everything he’s got, all his friends, and the chances of making it in the business right now, unless you are somebody’s son or somebody’s cousin or brother, are about slim to none.
Eric: How did your tag team with Greg Valentine come about?
Brutus Beefcake: Greg and I were friends from years before. We worked together in the Carolinas. I met Greg was I was in NY in 1978 when I was there with Hulk and we worked for Vince McMahon Sr. So Greg and I were friends.
They wound up putting us together kind of by accident on a couple of shows to have tag matches. They were shocked because the styles of Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake were so different. His style was methodical, slow, very rough and tough. Brutus Beefcake was very flashy, flamboyant. You know completely different styles that somehow opposites attract. I don’t know what you’d want to call it but the styles seemed to meld.
The people loved to see that. Pretty boy Brutus strutting around the ring and Greg the Hammer, the tough son-of-a-gun, second generation wrestler that just wanted to get out there and fisticuff, fight, beat up people, break people’s legs. The combination of the two just attracted a lot of attention and caught the fans eyes. The fans liked it.
Eric: How did the Barber persona come into being?
Brutus Beefcake: I don’t know who’s idea it was. I think it was something Pat Patterson came up with probably. His roommate was a barber, a hair stylist.
The idea came out of an angle I worked against Adrian Adonis. We had a match with Rick Martel and he (Adrian Adonis) cut my hair kind of by accident. And then we wound up at odds against each another.
When Roddy Piper had the match at WrestleMania III and won and was going to shave Adrian’s head, I came out, I brought Piper the shears, the scissors, and all that stuff because I was friends with Piper. Piper handed them back to me and said that “You know what, he cut your hair, now it’s your turn, you get to cut his hair. Go Get him.” So I did.
After that, the office gave me scissors and a white coat and said “Now you’re the Barber”. Really, I was kind of horrified by it because Brutus Beefcake was super red-hot, a great personality, it was a great gimmick, and why would you want to change something that’s red hot and on fire.
Eric: Back in the day, you used to wear some interesting outfits. Were they created by you or someone in the WWE and who had to pay for them?
Brutus Beefcake: They were created by a guy in Florida that Hulk turned me onto. He made rock-n-roll outfits for rockers like Cher, Jimi Hendrix, and a lot of top performers over the years. He and I worked together to create the outfits and I had to pay for all of them.
Eric: There have been many wrestling autobiographies to hit the market in recent years and I was wondering if you planned on writing one?
Brutus Beefcake: It is in the works right now.
Eric: Is there anything else you would like to let my readers know?
Brutus Beefcake: Well I just want everybody to know that all this stuff with the Hulkster that’s going on, with his family, people say that it’s all put on and everything. People go through trials and have problems in their lives. God knows that I’ve had some hard times and God helped me though it. Hulk has kind of come to that realization too and God has helped him through some tough times. He has split with his wife. His son was going through a tough thing in jail. Tell your readers that Hulk is a very tough individual. He’s a good man and he will prevail. He is going to make a heck of a comeback, he and his family. I am going to be side-by-side right with him because we are and always have been friends for life. I support him 100% and he supports me 100%. Together, there’s nothing that we can’t accomplish.
prowrestling.about.com