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Bruiser Brody


goodhelmet

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I think there are enough people on both sides of this fence we can break it off into its own thread. I know jdw has been preaching about hating Brody for 20 years but most of us didn't have the same access to dial-up he did back in the back in the day. I also have some specific matches I can point to later that illustrate why I hate watching Brody wrestle.

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Add me to the list of those for whom Brody's popularity is a complete mystery. I'm no Sayama fan, but when I watch old Tiger Mask matches, I can totally see why he got over. But for the life of me, I can't figure out what would've been particularly appealing about Brody when Stan Hansen was right there.

 

But why does one have to discount Brody just because Hansen is so good? Hansen is also one of my faves and I loved his AWA title reign. I appreciate the differences they have in their style. Again I'm going to watch Brody over the next couple of days just to freshen up on him.

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Add me to the list of those for whom Brody's popularity is a complete mystery. I'm no Sayama fan, but when I watch old Tiger Mask matches, I can totally see why he got over. But for the life of me, I can't figure out what would've been particularly appealing about Brody when Stan Hansen was right there.

 

But why does one have to discount Brody just because Hansen is so good? Hansen is also one of my faves and I loved his AWA title reign. I appreciate the differences they have in their style. Again I'm going to watch Brody over the next couple of days just to freshen up on him.

 

Its not so much that Hansen's excellence discounts Brody but rather that when viewed side by side with Hansen, Brody's shitshow is even more rancid. He had a fantastic ring entrance and pre-match charisma. Then the bell rings and you've got a total stiff who doesn't bring you anything on either side of the ball. Imagine Ray Lewis or Drew Brees doing their thing before kickoff and then they come out and instead you've got Bart Scott manning the middle and Trent Dilfer under center. BRUISAH BRODY!

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To me the most confusing thing is that he's so badly smoked by a brawler by so many contemporaries, and it's not just in matches that have only surfaced recently, either. Is there anything that really lives up to his rep besides the Abby feud, which is late in his career? I like some of his other stuff, like the Jumbo, Blackwell, and Gordy matches, but only the Abdullah matches live up to the type of brawl he's become synonomous with even though it wasn't something he did regularly.

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Brody is someone I want to like but can't. He's just not any good. For guys known as crazy brawlers I can't think of a single guy offhand I would rate him ahead of. He works so fucking loose it's unbelievable, won't bump, won't sell and while he has some good offense it's not nearly enough to offset the myriad of shit you are bombarded with in most of his matches.

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what would've been particularly appealing about Brody

It's his look. He looks awesome and has one of the best wrestler names ever. I'd imagine for a lot of people, myself included, Brody was over with them before ever even seeing a match thanks to the magazines. When I was a teenager I loved the guy for years before ever seeing him in a match. By the time I did, all those negatives either didn't matter or went unnoticed, at least that's how it was for me. And since I finally first saw him in some World Class matches where he was a no selling monster/ enforcer brought in to kick heel ass, I wanted him to be a no selling guy.

So I'd guess that for a lot of people the aura was always enough.

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5523868[/url]']

5523851[/url]' date='Dec 24 2012, 04:38 PM']what would've been particularly appealing about Brody

It's his look. He looks awesome and has one of the best wrestler names ever. I'd imagine for a lot of people, myself included, Brody was over with them before ever even seeing a match thanks to the magazines. When I was a teenager I loved the guy for years before ever seeing him in a match. By the time I did, all those negatives either didn't matter or went unnoticed, at least that's how it was for me. And since I finally first saw him in some World Class matches where he was a no selling monster/ enforcer brought in to kick heel ass, I wanted him to be a no selling guy.

So I'd guess that for a lot of people the aura was always enough.

 

 

This is the best argument for being a Brody fan I have read. With tht said, for a guy who loves blood, guts and brawling.... Brody had the blood down but his brawling kind of sucks.

Ooh new thread idea.

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Maybe the problem with Brody is that we needed to see him live. Like the WWE announcers always harp that you can't appreciate how huge Big Show really is unless you see him live. Maybe we can't appreciate Brody until we see him live. :rolleyes:

 

I'm rather indifferent to Brody, myself. The best thing I've seen him is the famous 12/13/82 AJPW tag match w/ Snuka versus the Funks, and when people think about that match, how much do Brody's contributions really amount to?

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It seems easy to see how Brody got over, he had undeniable charisma as someone who came off as a legit crazy man who looked like he would beat anyone's ass in the whole arena. Like Johnny, I first read about him in magazines and then saw him in World Class. After a while, I started to notice this guy who kept being brought in to be an asskicking monster just seemed to have count-out brawls 90% of the time.

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I know this has been pointed out to me before, but it always surprises me to see so much time devoted to Brody criticism, when I personally can't recall a single person ever praising him. I get that he was praised by hardcores in the 1980s, but does he still have avid defenders? He doesn't strike me as a particularly contentious wrestler. The feeling that he sucked is fairly unanimous these days, is it not? Maybe Classics types defend him, but they formed all of their wrestling opinions decades ago and havent changed them. I would be interested in a huge Brody fan explaining his appeal.

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As for people who still defend him: there's plenty, they just don't tend to hang around here or DVDVR or any of the other usual uber-hardcore gathering places. If you go out and talk to lifelong non-internet fans, you'll still find a shitload who think the dude was awesome.

 

It seems easy to see how Brody got over, he had undeniable charisma as someone who came off as a legit crazy man who looked like he would beat anyone's ass in the whole arena.

I agree with that. I'm usually not a mark for The Look, but Brody's look was so awesome that I think it could make you feel like you were watching a better wrestler than the one you actually saw. And back in the kayfabe days, "no-selling and no-bumping" wasn't something that most fans typically gave a shit about. It just made him look like that much more of a beast when he would maul guys at will.

 

Plus, for a crazed brawler type, he did cut some surprisingly decent promos. He tended to have a self-aware sort of intelligence to his mic work which was unusual; I still vividly remember one where he essentially mocked himself for looking like a quintessential wrestler, with the goofy hair and scarred face and everything.

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No, seriously, Nord had a hugely varied offense for a 91 WWF heel, would bump so huge, especially for a guy his size, but not in a way that took you out of the match since he was usually in there against big guys like Davey Boy, had this crazy manic energy to him that Brody wishes he had.

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Brody was at his best as a babyface I agree with JS but he still wasn't very good.

 

The thing with Dave is I wonder how much of his love for him is the fact that he was one of his early wrestling sources. You gotta remember being tight with Matysik got him inside with Brody and it's not strange for a journalist to put his personal favorites over even when they don't really deserve it.

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