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El-P

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I should clarify...Ron Bass tells a story in his Shoot Interview about how he and Brody were both carrying on a sexual relationship with the same female fan in Japan during the same time period but she was trying to hide it from both of them, and they used to joke about it with each other. He also tells a story about partying with Brody that ends up with Bass throwing up out a window. Nothing is suggested about hard drugs, but Bass's story indicates that Brody did drink and mess around with women on the road. Also, I remember Bob Barnett once saying that he knew that Brody had been up all night partying before his infamous cage match with Luger, where Brody refused to sell anything so Luger just climbed out of the cage and left. In the book, Matysik makes it sound like Luger wouldn't sell for Brody, so Brody turned the tables on him, stopped selling for Luger, and stiffed him in order to "teach him a lesson." Another example of the rose colored glasses of Matysik when looking at Brody. I've seen the match in question, and from what I saw, Brody wouldn't sell a single thing Luger did from the get go. Also, Luger claims he and Brody had it out in the dressing room after the match, and that Brody said it was nothing personal...whereas Matysik claims Luger fled the arena in terror.

 

In the book, it is strongly implied that Brody spent all his time in his room eating cold green beans and tuna straight out of the can, pining away for his family. I'm not saying he wasn't a good father...but sounds like he had his share of fun on the road. Barbara Goodish even mentions that women would call their house claiming to be Brody's girlfriend, but that they did that because promoters would put them up to it, to try and get revenge on Brody for all the problems he caused them. The book mentions that Brody tried steroids early in his career, but they made him really sick so he stopped. He took aspirin before every match, but that was due to pain he had in his joints from doing his big knee drop. (I had heard he took the aspirin to thin his blood out so he'd bleed better.) The book also admits that Brody was a regular pot smoker...but he did it to fight the constant pain he was in.

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I've read the oral history of Brody that Emerson Murray did, and while it's not great, it's not the 100% rah rah that the Matysik book seems to be.

I liked this one because it's not "written" so much as just a collection of quotes from people. I thought you got a reasonably fair account of stuff as you heard it from different sides.

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I read about that Luger/ Brody match so much before I ever saw it. I was so excited to see this legendary "Lugar being scared and running away" deal. When I finally saw it I realized it was just Brody no selling and Luger eventually just saying, "Fuck this shit. I'm going to Crockett anyway."

 

Yeah this has to be one of the most puzzling urban legends in wrestling, especially since the video is out there. I would hear people say Luger was screaming like a girl, or that he got his ass kicked legit, then you watch the match and there's maybe 2-3 attempts to get Brody to sell and it's pretty clear he isn't playing ball. Lex just looks at him llike "what the fuck?" and walks out.

 

Personally I think Brody's career would have more or less ended once the territories died out. His whole MO was getting a promoter to pay him to roll in to an area, have some crazy brawls, and then leave without putting any of the regulars over. It sounds harsh to say, but he died at the perfect time to get the Cobain/Hendrix-esque "one of the greats who died too soon" aura where no one would have to see the mid-90s "burned all bridges and is either jobbing in the WWF or main eventing indy shows in high school gyms" Brody.

 

Also, wasn't the whole deal with him taking aspirins to bleed better the main reason he died? I always heard he bled out because he took a shitload of aspirin to prepare for his match where it was expected he'd be doing a five alarm bladejob.

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I don't get it. I'd heard of this match before so I just watched it for the first time. Looked like both men were cooperating and then suddenly Brody stopped selling. Was there something I'm not aware of?

 

Fonzie said in his shoot interview that it was basically a miscommunication issue, and that both guy made it out backstage, there was no problem between the two. I think he said Luger wanted to carry the dance despite being green and of course Brody the veteran disagreed. "Brody shooting on scared Luger" is a total urban legend. Yes, it's puzzling that it's still out there when the video is widely available.

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The Brody/Cobain analogy is a good one, and probably not for the reasons Brody Fan would think.

Yep. Only one of the two was great in his domain.;)

 

Reminds me this movie by excentric French director Luc Moullet, "The prestige of death", in which he simulates in own death to finally be recognized and his body of work be canonized. "All dead guys are great guys."

 

Same applies to Eddie Gilbert I guess, who I never understood why he was considered a great one...

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Fonzie said in his shoot interview that it was basically a miscommunication issue, and that both guy made it out backstage, there was no problem between the two. I think he said Luger wanted to carry the dance despite being green and of course Brody the veteran disagreed. "Brody shooting on scared Luger" is a total urban legend. Yes, it's puzzling that it's still out there when the video is widely available.

It doesn't help that Brody himself, Matysik, and Meltzer all helped perpetuate the story that Brody was shooting on the inexperienced, unprofessional rookie...when it is pretty damn clear who was being unprofessional in that match...and it wasn't Luger.
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Same applies to Eddie Gilbert I guess, who I never understood why he was considered a great one...

I wouldn't say that Eddie Gilbert has been considered a great one, has he?

 

If anything, people always seem to see him as a guy who had potential to be better, but blew it by being unpredictable and wasting his life on drugs. From what I have read (so it could be totally wrong) Gilbert had a good mind for the business and could have been a good booker under the right circumstances, but his own self destructive behavior always prevented him from accomplishing what he could have. From what I recall, he was fairly well known for starting off well, but then getting into disputes with owners and promoters before he could finish what he started.

 

As far as his in ring ability, I would imagine that he'd be best remembered for his feud with Tommy Rich, or with Lawler or maybe his time in Mid South in 1987...I know his hardcore matches with Foley on the independent circuit got a lot of praise, but they're more legendary from word of mouth and Foley talking about them in his book, aren't they? I don't even know if they're available on video.

 

Bottom line, I always saw Eddie Gilbert as somebody was was respected to a degree for his mind, not for his in ring accomplishments, which were negligible, and he was ultimately seen as wasted potential, not a great one who died too young.

 

But once again, that's just my perception.

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Same applies to Eddie Gilbert I guess, who I never understood why he was considered a great one...

I wouldn't say that Eddie Gilbert has been considered a great one, has he?

 

Growing up I read a lot of praise for Gilbert in the Apter mags. I think that's the only place I've ever seen him mentioned as a potential great.

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I haven't watched the Eddie booked period of ECw in ages. Moved to suburban Philly in 93 right around the switch, but my memory was that the Gilbert period had some neat stuff in it but was mostly a guy milking a money mark (not that there is anything wrong with that). A pretty huge step down from his Global stuff. As booker/wrestler Gilbert had some really entertaining ideas and he is a guy whose love of wrestling is infectious, comes through when you're watching most of the stuff that he booked. My memory is that it doesn't come accross that way in ECW.

 

I don't see Gilbert's death as being something that really enhanced his legend. If you go through the reposts of the 80s Observers they are filled with Gilbert praise. Too whatever degree Gilbert is overated, he is a guy who got the genius boooker cachet the same way Heyman did and same way Konnan has (cultivated good relationships with wrestling media/zines).

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Gabe is a racist?

I'm guessing that Bix is referring to Gabe not being a big fan of Mexicans. When doing play by play for an ROH show in '04 with Mark Nulty they were talking about masks and Nulty mentioned how Mil Mascaras used to wear his mask everywhere and Gabe said (really quietly under his breath) "That's because he has the face of a Mexican."

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