Dark Side of the Ring 1x3

1. [SOUND]

2. [MUSIC]

3. Good evening everyone, welcome to Championship Sports.

4. Now all of you have heard about the tragic and untimely death of Bruiser Brody.

5. Very disappointing to all.

6. A wrestler prior to a bout in Puerto Rico.

7. His menacing looks gave him the reputation of a madman inside the ring, but

8. a long time wrestling promoter and others remember a very different man.

9. If you could picture a man coming into the ring, 6'6 ", 6'7", 350 some pounds.

10. He looked like danger coming.

11. It was the kind of danger you were drawn to.

12. People would actually run from him.

13. They just all run and scatter.

14. He had a chain.

15. He sometimes hit people with it.

16. He was just a wild guy.

17. Bruiser Brody's larger than life presence and in ring brutality

18. delivered an undeniable authenticity to professional wrestling.

19. Brody coming in and out is like a tornado

20. coming to your house, but you still want to see it.

21. He'd beat you up with two by fours, chairs, anything he could get his hands on.

22. Bruiser Brody was insane.

23. Come back here, come back here.

24. On July 16th, 1988, this insanity bled out of the ring into real life

25. when Bruiser Brody was violently killed in a

26. locker room moments before the opening bell.

27. In the world of professional wrestling, it is still the only sport where

28. its characters live in two worlds, where fantasy bleeds out into reality.

29. [MUSIC]

30. Hi, I'm Mick Foley.

31. In my career, there was one man more than any other I wish

32. I could have had the opportunity to step into the ring with.

33. That person was Bruiser Brody.

34. The day that I got my hands on an old VHS tape with vintage

35. Brody matches was the day that everything changed for me.

36. I wanted to be the next Bruiser Brody.

37. The stories I've heard surrounding Brody's death have always troubled me.

38. After 30 years, we tracked down three wrestlers willing to tell their version

39. of what happened that night and to chronicle the life and

40. death of one of wrestling's greatest outlaws.

41. Just in case you don't know who I am, I'm Tony Mr USA Atlas,

42. Brawley the shoulder, Narrowly the hip, Tower of Power, Too Sweet to Resolve.

43. One of the last people to see Bruiser Brody alive was Mr USA Tony Atlas,

44. a former bodybuilder turned wrestler and a current WWE Hall of Famer.

45. Okay, LT, stand up, take a clothesline over the top.

46. Cameraman, watch out.

47. [SOUND]

48. That was the shittiest finish I've ever seen.

49. Dirty Dutch Mantell is one of the business'

50. most infamous villains in front of the camera.

51. Has the taste returned to your mouth after

52. I slapped it out just a few seconds ago?

53. And one of wrestling's greatest minds behind the scenes.

54. In your experience, did you ever work with Brody?

55. I never did, I never had a match with Brody.

56. Why's that?

57. Well, he beat the shit out of you.

58. And then there's the madman from the Sudan, Abdullah the Butcher.

59. Abdullah was also Bruiser Brody's greatest in-ring Nemesis.

60. And this is a very graphic display of exactly what the world

61. of professional wrestling is all about, the dark side, so to speak.

62. I've been in the business for 53 years.

63. What else can I say?

64. My name is Abdullah the Butcher, right?

65. I'm not a wrestler, I don't grab holds, I use karate, I use jujitsu, okay?

66. I'm not a wrestler.

67. I can beat you up anytime that I wanna beat you up.

68. You understand?

69. And the guy behind the camera, give me the forks so

70. I can stab it all in his head, then you'll know.

71. Let me tell you something.

72. Don't you ever say that me and Brody was fake, we are not fakes.

73. We kept bringing them back and back, and the people would say,

74. when I seen that match, that was no bullshit.

75. [MUSIC]

76. What would a match resemble between Abdullah and Bruiser Brody?

77. A bloodbath every night.

78. We were like killers, we kept pounding.

79. When you get Abdullah, Butcher, and

80. Bruiser Brody in the ring, gonna be a lot of blood.

81. Because Abdullah had his fork, and they

82. did it every night, they were just a formula.

83. Boy, I love the fork, I can stab him in the

84. head, stick it into his mouth, do everything.

85. Probably 85% of the match was outside the ring.

86. He struck fear in the hearts of fans.

87. When he went down to the ring, people moved out of the ring, that's an art.

88. Brody's reputation in the business was, he was a main eventer.

89. He could make you a lot of money.

90. So that's why he was so popular, that's why so many

91. promoters want him, because he could put asses in the sea.

92. [FOREIGN]

93. He was a superstar, and at the time,

94. he was one of the biggest stars in the late 70s, early 80s.

95. One of the biggest stars in the world.

96. Bruiser Brody, he was a legend.

97. He was a legend back before he died.

98. [MUSIC]

99. My gosh.

100. My God.

101. Well, every time I come out here, I find something new.

102. Look at this, another one.

103. Some sentimental stuff associated with it.

104. There's a lot of it though.

105. Here's a whole pile of photographs in here.

106. I mean, take a look at that.

107. Boy.

108. I first met Frank in Australia in the hotel that I was working in.

109. I had no idea of his character, because I only saw Frank Goodish.

110. I never saw Bruiser Brody.

111. Frank was very quiet, very intelligent,

112. even back in those days, just like a regular person.

113. So he never lost sight of who he was.

114. He didn't become the character he created.

115. That's his, that's his football home.

116. In my own case, I spent three years with

117. the Washington Redskins in 1969, 70, and 71.

118. I was an All-American high school football player.

119. I went to school on an athletic scholarship.

120. We're rolling for this, huh?

121. Yeah, keep it rolling.

122. Okay, good.

123. Okay, I'm sorry.

124. I won't, I don't think you said anything, or it's-Yeah, I did.

125. You did? - Yeah.

126. And I don't think it's good that anybody knows that I'm Frank Goodish.

127. No, well, I don't know what happened.

128. Frank was kind of a little bit of a renegade.

129. We were together for a long time, and he just came up with this idea.

130. Why don't we stop off in Vegas and get married?

131. He said, I'm gonna tell you now, it is not gonna be an easy life.

132. Out of a year, he maybe would only be home three months of that year.

133. It was a challenge, but you do it.

134. When Jeff was born, he changed so much, cuz then he wanted to do for

135. his family, and he wanted to provide for his son.

136. So it changed him, even made him softer than who he really was.

137. When he was around his son, they had a really good relationship.

138. I do believe I've subconsciously possibly

139. blocked a lot of things out, unfortunately.

140. So a lot of stories I hear are stories other people have tell me about my dad.

141. At the same time, it's hard to hear these stories because they're stories that

142. people are telling me, and I don't have a lot of stories I'm gonna tell.

143. It was like this character that he created,

144. that it was separate from the person I knew.

145. I would take him to the airport, and he would just be dad, husband,

146. get out of the car, had his hair pulled back, walk through those doors,

147. take his hair down, he became Bruiser Brody on the other side.

148. And I could actually see the whole transformation take place.

149. [MUSIC]

150. In July 1988, Frank departed for a booking in Puerto Rico,

151. an isolated wrestling territory notorious for

152. its wild blood feuds and the zealousness of his fans.

153. Hey, hey.

154. It was Blood City, blood all the time.

155. Big show, you'd have three or four matches blooded.

156. Because remember I told you people believed, and

157. they believed when you saw blood that it was serious.

158. Ricky Brody just wants to stop him.

159. Look, the blood is just coming out.

160. The people are violent people.

161. They wanted violence.

162. They wanted->> People throw rocks at you,

163. they throw piss on you, they throw urine on you, they throw feces on you.

164. They stoned me.

165. They used to take cups, put glass or stones and throw them at me.

166. They wanna see somebody get hurt.

167. They want to see somebody get carried out on a stretcher.

168. Every place you go, they love violence.

169. [MUSIC]

170. Some weekly planners, 1987, 1988.

171. Just as daily activities it appears, this workout

172. scheduling regimen and where he's traveling to.

173. San Juan, Puerto Rico, of all places.

174. Yeah, I believe it was the 16th and 17th that that happens, unfortunately.

175. In July 1988, Frank Goodish left his family in Texas and

176. entered one of the most violent wrestling territories in the world.

177. His family could not have imagined that this would

178. be the last time that they would see him alive.

179. [MUSIC]

180. In the summer of 1988, Bruiser Brody left his family in Texas and

181. entered one of the most violent wrestling territories in the world.

182. It wasn't only his Puerto Rican fans who were waiting for his return, but

183. some unresolved business and a bitter, long standing grudge.

184. The World Wrestling Council is Puerto Rico's main wrestling promotion,

185. which was established by wrestlers Gorilla Monsoon, Victor Jovica and Carlos Colón.

186. Carlos Colón, Carlos Colón.

187. [MUSIC]

188. Carlos Colón was the boss.

189. He's also a WWE Hall of Famer now.

190. He was probably as big a star as Roberto Clemente.

191. Carlos Colón's right hand man was Jose Huertes Gonzalez,

192. a local wrestler celebrated in the ring as Invader number one.

193. Gonzalez also acted as the company's Booker, the person in charge of

194. the creative direction and outcomes of wrestling shows.

195. Frank understood the value of his character consistently appearing as

196. an unbeatable monster to fans as a way to keep them coming back for more.

197. He took this aggression to a new level when he wrestled a young Jose Gonzalez,

198. when Gonzalez was hoping to make a big impression in the WWF.

199. [MUSIC]

200. Brody and Invader, they didn't really care for each other.

201. Their personalities did not match, even their matches.

202. You could tell there was something not quite right with them.

203. He was a pretty decent guy, if he liked you.

204. If he didn't like you, he would beat the living crap out of you.

205. But I just see Brody take people in the ring

206. many a time and just beat them unmercifully.

207. He would just beat them to death.

208. Well, I've tried to piece it together over the years.

209. What brought this on?

210. Let's go back in the past, in the mid 70s.

211. They were grooming, I heard, Jose Gonzalez to be the next Puerto Rican star.

212. Bruiser Brody came in and had a match with Jose

213. Gonzalez and just beat the shit out of him.

214. He ate him up.

215. I mean, the whole face was swollen, the head was swollen up.

216. Looked just like a pumpkin.

217. Brody beat him so bad that SD had to take him to the hospital.

218. SD especially delivered Jones, he was a wrestler.

219. We put him in the car and SD took him to the hospital.

220. He turned to SD Jones and said, one day I'm gonna kill that man.

221. He was angry.

222. I mean, his head looked like a pumpkin, brother.

223. Bruiser Brody was worried about one image, and that was Bruiser Brody.

224. Once the people see you get beat once or twice, that brand, and he knows this.

225. The brand becomes kind of violated, and he didn't want

226. that to happen, and that's why he acted the way he did.

227. I don't know about the other professional wrestlers.

228. I only know about Bruiser Brody.

229. And when I go in the ring, it doesn't matter whether I'm in Texas or

230. New York, it doesn't matter whether people like me or dislike me.

231. I'm gonna be just as aggressive every night.

232. But I also heard that Brody was making huge money in Japan, and

233. he had wanted to invest in a wrestling promotion somewhere.

234. And he had Puerto Rico in mind.

235. And there was an owner, a part owner, a minority owner,

236. named Victor Quinones who had 10% or something.

237. But a lot of it was owned by Gorilla Monsoon.

238. And I think Victor Quinones was brokering a deal between Monsoon to sell his

239. shares to Brody, which would have made Brody probably a minority owner.

240. I think he bought part of that company.

241. They wanted his money, but they didn't want his ideas.

242. And Brody ain't that type of guy.

243. Brody had his opinions.

244. If you didn't like them, too bad.

245. Can you tell us your name?

246. David Manning.

247. I was the booker for World Class Championship Wrestling.

248. I was a little worried because Frank was going to Puerto Rico to wrestle.

249. Frank said they owed him around $20, $25,000.

250. And he had asked for the money, politely.

251. He had been waiting for the money.

252. He told me before he left, remember I said this, I'm coming back with my money.

253. And he said, if I have to beat everyone I'm up, I'm getting my money.

254. Brody had mentioned to people that, and if he took over, he was gonna get rid of Jose.

255. And also, Jose Gonzalez had just lost his three year old daughter.

256. She died in a swimming pool accident.

257. She drowned about three months earlier.

258. Now his job is being threatened.

259. He doesn't like Brody in the first place.

260. So you add all those ingredients, just like fire and

261. gasoline, an explosion was gonna happen and it did.

262. [MUSIC]

263. Can I please tell the story?

264. I beg you, cuz I wanna tell it.

265. Okay.

266. I wanna tell the story.

267. See.

268. Okay, okay, okay.

269. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

270. Because for two days I've been talking about everything but Brody.

271. And I wanna tell this story so bad I'm ready to explode.

272. I've been carrying this story around in my chest for how many years now?

273. This is how me and Brody started our day.

274. Yeah?

275. Yeah, yeah, we were working out in the gym that morning.

276. The same routine we did, this last day here on Earth.

277. I go to gym every morning anyway.

278. And so me and him, we worked out together.

279. And he said, hey Tony, wanna go get something to eat?

280. So I said, sure, I gotta go get something to eat.

281. And then he turned to me at breakfast and

282. he said, I waited a long time to get in down here.

283. So I just got the impression that maybe, just maybe, that he bought in the company.

284. He said, you are gonna see a lot of changes.

285. [MUSIC]

286. We was at the hotel and Bruiser Brody and

287. Dutch Mantell was sitting on the steps outside in the front of the building.

288. And I said, Brody, I figure you'd be gone by now.

289. He said, I'm waiting on Jose Gonzalez.

290. He's supposed to pick me up.

291. And right then I said, that's unusual.

292. Why would Jose, the booker, leave his main eventer?

293. And I said, you could ride with us if you like.

294. So we went to the show and traffic was horrible leading into the stadium.

295. Cuz cars were lined up so you know it was gonna be a sellout.

296. And we hopped out and we took our bags to where the dressing rooms were.

297. Then looking back on it was kinda strange.

298. Cuz when I walked in, I remember I got a strange feeling.

299. But Jose was sitting there.

300. I said, he's here.

301. As soon as I come to the door, I saw the three of them sitting there talking.

302. Jose, Carlos Colón, and Victor, they were sitting there, the football hunter.

303. Yeah, it kinda seemed a little strange.

304. Cuz I've never really seen them together like that.

305. And it didn't look like they were in conversation.

306. They were just sitting there, which was even more strange.

307. Gonzales gets up from his seat, looked me straight in the face, and left.

308. Never looked at Brody, never looked at Dutch, and he walked out of the dressing room.

309. And Brody sat down right beside me.

310. And I sat there maybe five minutes.

311. And that feeling of tension, it just got stronger.

312. So I said, I gotta get out of here.

313. I gotta move, I gotta something, maybe if I move around it'll go away.

314. So I get up and walk out.

315. I go and I sit in the dugout.

316. And I'm watching the crowd come in.

317. So I had my art pad, I set my bag down, I set my chair, and I started sketching.

318. Brody came over and he looked at it.

319. He said, that is freaking fantastic.

320. He get all the sighted, big smile is on his face and everything.

321. And he said, I wonder if you could do one for me.

322. So he opened up his little pouch, reached in, and pulled out a picture of his son.

323. Jose came back into the dressing room.

324. I looked up and Jose was standing there.

325. He had a towel over his hand.

326. Brody, can I talk to you for a minute please?

327. Just like that.

328. Can I talk to you for a minute please?

329. And Brody said yeah.

330. And he walked in there.

331. And that's where it happened.

332. It's not unusual to discuss match plans privately.

333. But on this evening, the conversation between Brody and

334. Gonzalez would descend into an unthinkable nightmare.

335. [MUSIC]

336. In Puerto Rico before his match,

337. Bruiser Brody is summoned to a private meeting with talent booker Jose Gonzalez.

338. There was a history of bad blood between Brody and

339. Gonzalez and wrestler Tony Atlas was witness to the growing tension.

340. He had a bag in his hand.

341. Picture of his son in this hand.

342. And when he turned away with the picture, that's when I noticed Carlos staring at me.

343. As I'm looking at Carlos, I hear this sound.

344. [SOUND] So I looked up.

345. Brody was halfway hunched over.

346. I thought Jose punched him in the stomach.

347. That's what I thought.

348. That the first thought came to me, damn, he hit Brody.

349. I said, this is gonna be a fight.

350. So then he holler again.

351. I looked at Jose face and his eyes was bloodshot red.

352. Then I saw the knife.

353. The knife went in the air like this with blood dripping off of it.

354. I sprung up out of my chair, wrapped my arm around Brody waist just like this.

355. I yank him back just in the Nick of time to keep from his throat getting cut.

356. And because I pulled him back, the knife came and cut his ponytail off.

357. That's how sharp that knife was.

358. Carlos shoot right by me.

359. He grabbed Jose and pushed him up against the wall and said, no Jose, no Jose.

360. And Carlos was keeping people away from Jose,

361. telling the rest of them, y'all stay back, stay back.

362. So I take Brody and I take him and I lay him down on the ground.

363. I felt his intestines and blood all over his arm.

364. And this whole arm was dripped in blood.

365. And he looked up at me, he said, brother, don't let them hurt me no more.

366. Please brother, don't let them hurt me no more.

367. He said, don't let them, not him, them.

368. That's why I didn't know who the hell he was talking about.

369. Who else is involved in this?

370. I'm thinking.

371. I said, ain't nobody gonna do anything to you.

372. Carlos tried to approach Brody after I laid him down.

373. I told Carlos, I said, don't bring your ass over here.

374. I will knock your mother head right off the shoulder.

375. He said, Tony, calm down.

376. I said, calm it down.

377. I said, y'all just stabbed your guy.

378. I had nothing to do with him.

379. I said, you're a goddamn liar.

380. I said, y'all work together.

381. So then Brody tugged at my leg.

382. He said, let him over.

383. So as I make my way back through the tunnel, I could hear the noise.

384. And it was kind of dark in there, but I could see the lights in the dressing room.

385. Something was going on.

386. And that's when I asked Mark Youngblood what happened.

387. He said, invader, invader, stab Brody.

388. The dressing room was in a panic.

389. And I see Brody laying, laying in front of me.

390. And Carlos is leaning over him, talking to him.

391. He said, Brody, is there anything I can do for you?

392. That's what Carlos asked Brody.

393. Brody said, just take care of my family.

394. And I don't know what Carlos was saying,

395. but I'm sure he's saying, hang on there, ma'am.

396. We're gonna get you help.

397. We're gonna get you help.

398. But I do remember Brody looking up at Carlos

399. and telling Carlos, tell my wife I love her.

400. That's the only thing I heard him say.

401. So that right there tells me that he doesn't have a lot of faith in his own survival.

402. The shower had a door on it that wasn't clear.

403. It was translucent, that you could see light behind it in figures.

404. Vader never came out of the shower.

405. He never came out.

406. And he was in there with Joe Vicca, who was part owner of the company.

407. And they were screaming at each other.

408. There was nothing I could really do, just watch.

409. He walked out of the shower, walked around Brody's

410. feet, went to his bag, got his keys, and he left.

411. And his shirt, they said, was torn.

412. Which tells me that whatever happened in that shower,

413. that it was a physical confrontation with Brody ripping the shirt.

414. It took at least 35 to 45 minutes for the ambulance to get there.

415. They tried to put Brody on the girdie.

416. They couldn't lift him.

417. Brody about 300-some pounds, he was too heavy.

418. So I got down in the squat position,

419. squatted all the way down, and slid my arm underneath him.

420. And he looked up at me and said, "Don't you drop me."

421. And I said, "Don't worry, brother, "I curl more than what you weigh."

422. So I pulled him gently and laid him on the girler.

423. The old man walked back to the back of the ambulance to shut and lock the door.

424. He said, "Before I shut the door, "is there anybody

425. here that want to go with him "to keep his company?"

426. So I say, "I go."

427. And I jumped and got on the ambulance, and I remember guys

428. look at me like, "What in the fuck is wrong with Tony?

429. "He just stay out of this."

430. You could almost feel they thinking this.

431. Nobody was saying nothing, but you could almost

432. feel that they were thinking what is wrong with him.

433. - Like I've said before, I'm not a religious person.

434. Never have been, probably never will be.

435. But I did go and say a lot of prayer for Brody, for whatever worth it could be.

436. If it could help him find, it couldn't hurt.

437. - We were sitting in the ambulance.

438. Brody was laying there, and I started crying again.

439. I mean, I couldn't hold back the tears.

440. And I sung this song.

441. If heaven ain't a lot like Dixie, I don't wanna go.

442. My voice got choked up, everything got choked up.

443. I just told him, I said, "You gonna be all right, brother."

444. I said, "I'm gonna stay with you, man."

445. I said, "I'm with you, man, I'm with you."

446. - There's an old saying in professional wrestling.

447. Consider yourself lucky if you make it out with one true friend.

448. On this night, Brody had that true friend in Tony Atlas,

449. but he would need more than that to make it out alive.

450. Tony Atlas finally made it to the hospital with Bruiser Brody in critical condition,

451. although Atlas' struggle to save Brody's life was far from over.

452. - We get to the hospital, and he laid there for probably about 15 or 20 minutes.

453. I got frickin' tired of waitin' on the doctor.

454. So I finally got one doctor that spoke a little bit of English.

455. And I said, "I've been tellin' people, "my friend been stabbed.

456. "How come nobody gonna see him?"

457. He told me, he said, "A stab in here "is like a cold in the US.

458. "There's no big deal."

459. He said, "Well, I would get to him when I can "and turn to walk away from him."

460. I grabbed him around the waist, yanked him up,

461. all the way up on my shoulder just like this.

462. And I carried him in to Brody.

463. So finally he looked at Brody, he lifted Brody's hand up.

464. It was like this the whole time, just like this.

465. At the same time he lifted his hand up, I remember I was takin' his shoes off.

466. When I saw his feet, and it was blue, oh, no, no, no, no, no.

467. 'Cause I knew this is real bad.

468. So I said, "Doctor, please get him in now, now.

469. "You gotta go now."

470. He started callin' them people.

471. "Come on, come on, we need some help here, "we need some help here."

472. I got so frickin' mad when I saw that, I punched the wall.

473. I buried my fist probably about up to my elbow in that wall.

474. That's how hard I hit that wall.

475. While chaos and confusion erupted at the scene of Bruiser Brody's stabbing,

476. rumors began to fly and word reached across the stadium

477. to Abdullah the Butcher in a second dressing room.

478. The doctor came and says,

479. "Brody was cut or stabbed or whatever."

480. I said, "Come on."

481. You know, I thought it was a joke.

482. In my opinion, I thought it was working an angle.

483. But when the doctor told me, then I says, "Holy shit."

484. 'Cause the doctor wouldn't be lyin'.

485. And that was it.

486. Brody was, he'd already been taken out.

487. But the police walked in and thinking,

488. "Well, it's just another crazy, wild wrestling brawl."

489. They didn't think it was real.

490. - I was bangin' on the operating room door

491. talkin' about what the fuck is goin' on in there, what's goin' on in there.

492. And the doctor came out and he said, "Tony, he had two eight-inch cuts."

493. He said, "We got his intestines back together."

494. He said, "The only problem we have in there "is that his liver was sliced."

495. He told me it was gonna be okay.

496. He said, "He's stable."

497. He said, "But what you need to do, you need to go home

498. "because everybody in here is more afraid of you."

499. - I wanted to be as far away from that dressing room as I could be.

500. Then I saw Invader walk in.

501. That he had on a different shirt.

502. He continued business like nothing had happened.

503. I don't know why he came back.

504. I really don't.

505. I'm thinkin', "Man, what ball's this guy's got?"

506. The thing that was so horrible was when I got back to the dressing room.

507. It was more horrible than the stabbin'.

508. It was more horrible than him laying on that table.

509. The most horrible thing that happened on that night

510. was goin' back to that dressing room and hear laughter.

511. - First, I couldn't believe they didn't cancel the show.

512. That was the first thing, thinkin'.

513. And openin' up the door, and the blood on the floor ain't even dry yet.

514. And they in the dressing room laughin', and jokin',

515. and patting each other on the back, talkin' about how

516. great the matches were, and what a wonderful show it is.

517. I took the freakin' chair and I threw it across the damn hallway.

518. There was a policeman that said, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, calm down, calm down."

519. He said, "Did you see what happened?"

520. I said, "Hell yeah, I saw what happened."

521. He said, "Did you get a look?

522. Did you get a look at the fan that stabbed him?"

523. I said, "What were you told?"

524. He said, "Everybody in here said that Brody was stabbed

525. before he got in the dressing room, that a wrestling fan

526. stabbed him in the hallway, he stumbled into the dressing room."

527. I said, "That's a damn lie."

528. I said, "That's some of the bitch sittin' right there is the one that stabbed him."

529. He said, "You mean Vader?"

530. I said, "Yes, I mean Vader, that sucker right there, that's who stabbed Bruce Brody."

531. I asked everybody in the dressing room, he said, "They all turned to dip floor."

532. I said, "Oh, they all liars."

533. I said, "He's the sum of the bitch that stabbed him."

534. - He was telling the cops, "Hey, hey, that's the guy you need to arrest right there."

535. He pointed to Jose Gonzalez.

536. - A woman sitting right in the chair right

537. there was putting his resting gear in his bag.

538. Like nothing happened.

539. That's the part that messed with my head.

540. It was like nothing happened.

541. - If you're a policeman and you come into a situation

542. that you think could be staged, they didn't think it was real.

543. Tony knew it was real, so they were actually

544. engaging each other from different perspectives.

545. That's why the disconnect.

546. - In professional wrestling, the line between

547. fiction and reality is intentionally blurred.

548. As the night's events continued to unfold, it would be nearly impossible for anyone

549. to tell the difference or to know the truth.

550. [MUSIC PLAYING]

551. - While Bruiser Brody was fighting for his life

552. at the hospital, Tony Atlas's eyewitness

553. account of the stabbing was making the rounds.

554. - So then that night you wrestled.

555. - Carlos Colon, your timing is over.

556. - That night I wrestled Earl Sheik the night of the murder.

557. I just went and did it.

558. I just went in the match.

559. He locked up with me.

560. He said, "How's Brody?"

561. The doctor said he's going to be OK.

562. He said, "You wrestling fan, they told me that they dangerous."

563. I said, "Jose Gonzalez did it right there."

564. The Sheik just straightened right up just like that.

565. "That mother... Jose Gonzalez... fatal mother... killed the King Kong of the Brody."

566. He rolled right out of the ring and went straight back to his locker room.

567. We only wrestled for maybe one or two minutes.

568. - I go to my room and a guy named Sabio Vega, they call him TNT.

569. He said, "Tony, I got you a bag.

570. I went to your room and got your bag for you."

571. I said, "For what?"

572. He said, "Don't go to your room.

573. They are looking for you because you talking."

574. So I took my bag and I went down to the beach and I walked the beach the whole night.

575. I tried to lay down and get some sleep

576. but kept waking up every time I hear something.

577. I didn't... kept looking.

578. Our paranoia is hell now.

579. - I go back to that hotel, walk to the front desk, and I told the girl.

580. And I said, "Listen, if Brody gets any calls to

581. his room, please put them through to my room."

582. They said, "OK."

583. - The phone started ringing about midnight.

584. Kept ringing, ringing, ringing.

585. By this time, it's 1 o'clock in the morning.

586. I said, "I'm going to answer and give them a piece of my mind."

587. So I picked up the phone and there was this woman.

588. And she said, "This is Nancy Colon."

589. Well, Nancy Colon is Carlos Colon's wife.

590. I'm calling to let you know there's been an accident.

591. And I think you better come to Puerto Rico.

592. So I called the hotel and they put me through to Dutch.

593. - She said, "Who is this?"

594. I said, "Well, this is Dutch."

595. She said, "Well, what happened to Dutch?"

596. And I knew it was pretty serious.

597. But I was saying, "Well, Brody had an accident and it's pretty serious."

598. - And that maybe you should come to Puerto Rico.

599. He didn't have any details.

600. - After I got the call, I tried to go to sleep.

601. I couldn't sleep.

602. Like I said, the adrenaline was flowing.

603. About 8 o'clock, I get up.

604. I go downstairs to the front desk.

605. I said, "Can you do me a favor?"

606. And she said, "Yeah, what do you need?"

607. I said, "Can you call the hospital that my friend Brody is in?"

608. She said, "Yeah."

609. So she calls out there and she's speaking in Spanish.

610. And I hear luchador.

611. I hear wrestler.

612. And then she starts crying.

613. And I look at her and she said, "I'm sorry, your friend didn't make it."

614. I said, "What?"

615. She said, "No, he died last night."

616. (somber music)

617. - How did you first learn that Brody had passed?

618. - Abdullah told me at the meeting when I slept on the beach the whole night.

619. So now I'm going back to the hotel.

620. I saw Abdullah and some of the wrestlers in the lobby.

621. And they said, "Totally, we having a meeting."

622. And they waiting on you to tell them what happened.

623. - Did you ever have any hotel room meetings?

624. - Hotel?

625. Hell no, no.

626. No, sir, no, no.

627. - Abdullah told us that he didn't have a meeting.

628. - He lied.

629. - Maybe they did, but not me.

630. You understand?

631. - He lied to you.

632. If that's what he told you, I'm telling you what happened.

633. - I had 5% of the business.

634. You see what I mean?

635. In a way that people did not want to talk to me.

636. - What do you mean?

637. - Well, if you own some of the territory, right,

638. who's gonna come and say, "Oh, this happened,"

639. or, "This guy done this, this guy done that."

640. They were in their own little bunch.

641. So why would they come and talk to me?

642. Brody was a friend and I didn't wanna be in

643. all the gossip what they were talking about.

644. Nobody heard me say shit.

645. - It's a shame.

646. That's a damn shame that he done that.

647. Dutch Mantell asked him.

648. He was there in the meeting.

649. - I think we all met in somebody's room.

650. And somebody said, "Man, are they investigating this or what?

651. I mean, a man died.

652. What's going on here?"

653. - I just started thinking, "In this territory, this happened?"

654. That's why I left.

655. - I said, "Well, I saw it."

656. So I go down, I make my report to the police department.

657. He said, "Your story is different than everybody else's."

658. He said, "We will be contacting you for a court date."

659. He said, "Now that we got a witness to it, we're going to arrest him."

660. - Then they took me and I gave my statement.

661. And then all through the night, they took statements from the wrestlers.

662. He did say, he says, "You tell Carlos Colon we run this island, not him.".

663. - I think they asked, "Did I see a weapon?"

664. I did not see a weapon.

665. As a matter of fact, no weapon was ever recovered.

666. That weapon, whatever was used, what knife was used, has never been recovered.

667. - I got my bag, I went to the airport, and I left.

668. - Then I made arrangements.

669. I said, "I gotta go to the airport."

670. - Got on the plane with Jeff, get off the plane,

671. waiting to see if anybody was going to pick me up.

672. - So I looked around and here's Abby.

673. - I was going and this lady and this little boy walked up

674. and she says, "Oh, Abdullah, you don't know me, but I'm Frank's wife."

675. She says, "How's he doing?"

676. I said, "What?"

677. She said, "Well, how's he doing?"

678. I says, "They didn't tell you?"

679. "Tell me what?"

680. I says, "He's gone."

681. And she grabbed me.

682. - You sure know.

683. - All you think about is surviving.

684. All I thought about was I saw a man get stabbed to the death,

685. holding on and dying with a picture of his son in his hand.

686. He never put that picture down, brother.

687. When I put him on the ambulance, he had a picture in his hand.

688. He laid on the floor, he's still holding that picture.

689. He go in the operating room, he still, he never put that picture down, brother.

690. Never.

691. - The irony of Brody's greatest Nemesis delivering this news

692. was only the beginning of the unthinkable events that would follow.

693. Alone with her son in a foreign land and dealing with the shocking circumstances

694. of her husband's death, Barbara Goodish found

695. the strength to make the necessary arrangements.

696. - Nancy was Carlos Colon's wife.

697. She took me to the morgue and of course everybody is speaking.

698. Spanish.

699. They took me to the window and you could just see all these bodies in there

700. and then of course the reality, boom, just really started to sink in.

701. - Not sure how long it took before it set in.

702. We were in the hotel room and I just remember crying

703. just incessantly for hours, hours and hours and hours, yelling, screaming.

704. I still didn't realize the magnitude of what happened.

705. And it probably took, I don't know how long, 10, 15, 20 years maybe.

706. - When everything happened, it was like, what do I do?

707. How do I bring him back to the States?

708. And it was like I heard his voice and it was like

709. he was saying, "Barbara, you know what to do."

710. And at that moment it was, "I need to cremate

711. him down here "and take him home with me."

712. There was a very simple ceremony in Puerto Rico.

713. I mean, nobody was there except me and Jeff and

714. some of the wrestlers and some of the Puerto Ricans.

715. And Jeff picked out his dad's casket.

716. It was blue.

717. - When did you hear Jose was arrested?

718. Start of there.

719. - About three, four days later.

720. From what I hear, he was taken down to a local precinct, never was put into cell.

721. Bail was made for him immediately by some big businessmen there.

722. And he walked back home same day.

723. And so did you come to learn anything about Jose Gonzalez or any of this stuff?

724. I know that the, I'm not even gonna say his name.

725. I know that the attacker did it.

726. From what I can hear from everybody, the whole court case was a sham.

727. - I mean, do you think there was a cover-up?

728. - No, there was no cover-up.

729. The only guy that could have covered was Jovica Knight and we didn't do that.

730. You know, we told the judge in the courtroom, we said what we saw, we didn't do that.

731. 'Cause I didn't see any stabbing, I didn't see any weapon, I didn't see anything.

732. - A guy named Tony Rumba, the Boston bad boy,

733. banging on doors, said, "Tony, Tony, put your

734. channel, "put the TV on on certain channel."

735. They're talking about the Puerto Rico thing.

736. I flipped the TBR, I see Jose on TV coming out of the courthouse.

737. I said, "What the hell, they hear?"

738. He said, "No, they have a trial, "they let him go for self-defense."

739. I said, "You gotta be kidding me, they never contact me."

740. So you never got contacted?

741. Never.

742. Never did, never did.

743. Finally, my subpoena came in the mail for my appearance

744. and I already knew the verdict when by the time my subpoena arrived at my door.

745. It was 10 days late.

746. That's why the verdict came back, not innocent but not guilty.

747. And Jose never testified, but they believe what his attorney put out

748. that he was just merely acting in self-defense.

749. The fans in Puerto Rico believe wrestling was real.

750. That was the major reason that Jose was acquitted

751. because they believed Brody was this character,

752. this wild looking psychopath, hulking figure, and his defense was self-defense.

753. - Do you believe it was really self-defense?

754. - I don't know, really, I don't know.

755. I respect the law.

756. So sad, I really,

757. you know, I wouldn't want to talk about this anymore because it makes you sad.

758. - One month after Bruiser Brody's passing,

759. All Japan Pro Wrestling hosted a massive tribute

760. show, inviting both Barbara and her son Jeff

761. to be honored in front of the 17,000 fans in attendance.

762. - The honor that they respected and being in that ring and hearing that 10-bell count

763. and hearing everybody chanting, this whole

764. building, chanting his name, Brody, Brody, Brody.

765. And I'm just standing there in the ring with Jeff.

766. And it was the most, I mean, just to know how much he was respected.

767. - May peace be with you, Bruiser Brody.

768. - Bruiser Brody was a brawler, mythic proportions, and will

769. always live on as such in the world of professional wrestling.

770. - I didn't ever guess that I was going to be a professional wrestler.

771. Once I started in professional wrestling, learned the ropes.

772. If I had it to do over again,

773. I think that I would probably even pass up my three years

774. in the NFL and devote them to wrestling because it has been that good to me.

775. - He was one of its biggest stars in the 1970s and '80s

776. and is considered one of the all-time greatest wrestlers

777. in Japanese wrestling history, where he is still celebrated today as an icon.

778. (speaking in Japanese)

779. - Yeah, justice would be great.

780. Some personal justice would be more gratifying than some legal justice, honestly.

781. - Mr. Brody, every dog has his day.

782. Cannot kill a legend.

783. See, legends never die.

784. So if that was Jose's theme, is to kill a legend, or to kill a legend.

785. He failed miserably.

786. - Nobody knows the exact circumstances, including the words, if any,

787. exchanged between Frank Goodish and Jose Gonzalez on the night of Brody's death.

788. It remains one of wrestling's darkest and most intriguing mysteries.

789. (dramatic music)

790. Join us next time as we continue to explore

791. the untold stories of professional wrestling.

792. - I wish he was here.

793. I wish he was here.

794. He dished it out, I dished it out, and we kept going and going and going and going.

795. I'm pulling up my dress!

796. No, that loser Brody is the king of what he's doing.

797. (laughing)

798. Hush, hush, hush, Brody.

799. All right, shit.

800. (dramatic music)