Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, my father and I use to go to the old Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis to watch wrestling. One of the characters on the card was a guy by the name of Frank Goodish (aka Bruiser Brody, King Kong Brody, and Red River Jack.) He stood 6-8 and weighed about 285 pounds. He had a black beard and long black hair. When he entered the ring, the crowd came alive with excitement. He wrestled the best. Dick the Bruiser, Rick Flair, Kamala, Jerry Blackwell, and just about every wrestler at the time.
He never made it to the WWF later named WWE. However, he traveled all over the world to wrestle on a given card. At one point he was the highest paid wrestler in the sport. It was not unusual for him to make at least $14,000 a week. He was in high demand by everyone. Brody did not like the idea of putting one over. This term meant letting another wrestler win. It is also called a job. Where a wrestler would look good but lose. In 1987, he had a match with Lex Luger in a steel cage match. Brody refused to take punches thrown by Luger. A young and confused Luger left the cage. Needless to say, this didn’t sit very well with the fans in attendance.
Later in 1987, Brody headed south to join the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico. there he continued his ongoing feud with Abdullah the Butcher and fan favorite Carlos Colon. He briefly returned to All Professional Wrestling in Japan where he won the title in the National Wrestling Alliance. The title would be short lived. He headed back to Puerto Rico to continue his feuds and try to buy into World Wrestling Council of Puerto Rico. This move upset many of the performers.
On July 16,1988 in Bayamon just outside San Juan, Puerto Rico, a fellow wrestler by the name of Jose Huertas Gonzalez (aka Invader) asked him to step into the shower room area to talk about the up coming match that night. As he stepped into the shower room, Gonzales stabbed him with a knife repeatedly. At the time Gonzalez was one of the men that made the decisions for the WWC. He was rushed to the hospital. Several hours later after two operations, he died from the poisoning of his own bile.
Gonzalez went on trial but was acquitted. He had many wrestlers that said he acted in self defense of Brody. After that, many wrestlers decided not to perform in Puerto Rico. The WWC basically fell apart.
Frank Goodish was named to two wrestling hall of fames. The Japan Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newspaper Hall of Fame. On September 14, 2007, he was named to the St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame. In late 2007 a book written by Larry Matysik and Frank’s wife Barbara was released with the simple title, “Brody”. Also in 2007 , Crowbar Press released a book entitled “Bruiser Brody.”
When you think of wrestling in the St. Louis area, the names that always come to mind are the likes of Lou Thez, Pat O’Conner, Angelo Poffo, Dick the Bruiser, Stan Hansen, Rick Flair, Harley Race, and Bruiser Brody. I often wonder how these guys would have done in the WWE or with TNA and todays new breed of wrestlers. After all these guys didn’t have steroids or HGH back then.
sources; Brody by Larry Matysik and Barbara Goodish
