Brutus Beefcake Talks Getting His Name, Coming Back From Career Threatening Injury
Brutus Beefcake's autobiography "Struttin' and Cuttin'" was recently released. "The Barber" recently spoke to Why It Ended about his career and some of the more interesting aspects of his WWE journey.
Beefcake's character was initially that of an erotic dancer before he donned his famous hedge clippers and it took on a new life of its own. He didn't understand the character at first, but in time Beefcake became extremely popular which he credited in part to his unique name.
"They had no idea what Brutus Beefcake was, they just came up with a name," Beefcake said. "Honestly, I thought the name was really crazy. Brutus Beefcake, just completely off the wall but sometimes that is the best thing you can do is go off the wall and the name Brutus Beefcake became a worldwide sensation, and it's a name you don't forget: Brutus Beefcake.
"Here I am in the pro wrestling business, which I was 7 or 8 years into it and then now I am going to have my name picked, and this name will be my name for the rest of my life, well, it would have been my entire life if circumstances didn't change [becoming other characters in WCW], but after all these years it really doesn't matter, but Brutus Beefcake, Brutus 'The Barber' Beefcake, just crazy."
Beefcake experienced a tragic accident while his run in Vince McMahon and Company was still going strong. He had a parasailing accident while he was standing on the beach and the driver of the boat mistook a cue to accelerate causing Beefcake's friend to smash him in the face with their feet. Beefcake required over one hundred metal plates in order to repair his broken face, and he wasn't sure an in-ring return would be a possibility. Thanks to the medical help he received, Beefcake made it through his recovery and returned to the ring.
"It was hard to know. I had my face back together and stuff, and everything was cool, but it is hard to know at that point how you are going to proceed in the future in a business like ours where you have to take kicks and punches to your face, so it's not an easy decision to make right there with how you are going to go about it, but I was lucky.
"I had the best doctor on the planet, and regardless of what he had said about me never wrestling again. I wrestled and his deal he told me that I was going to end up being stronger than I could be after I heal up. He told me that I was going to heal and be better than before, which I did. I healed even bigger, better and stronger than I ever was when I was younger and I became a superhero. It's funny, but I was just blessed with the strength to being dead, so how do you come back from that? That is what happened to me and that is what I did. I came back from that."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Why It Ended with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.