Brutus Beefcake On How Ultimate Warrior “Made A Big Mess Of Things” At WWE SummerSlam 1988
WWE Hall of Famer Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake will be on this coming Tuesday's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman sits down with Beefcake and he tells many stories from his hall of fame career. Make sure to subscribe to The Wrestling Inc. Daily on your preferred podcast platform so you don't miss out on this exclusive conversation!
Fans have learned a lot about WWE Hall of Famer The Ultimate Warrior recently thanks to the A&E Biography and Dark Side of the Ring episodes on him. Beefcake revealed the original plan for his 1988 SummerSlam match against The Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship that saw Warrior fill in and replace him.
"Warrior made a big mess of things there, threw a tantrum. I don't know what happened," Beefcake admitted. "The plan was I was getting the belt, period. Then Warrior went blah blah blah so they had it changed at the pay-per-view, and then I did the thing with Ron Bass and tried to salvage it. It wasn't good for me, and Honky was really upset because promises were made.
"When I was going to beat Honky, Honky and I were going to wrestle all around in main events trying to get the belt back for six months. You're talking about a lot of money. He dropped the belt to Warrior, then that was it. He didn't wrestle Warrior again. (Editor's note: Warrior did wrestle Honky Tonk Man for months after winning the title) That took a lot of money out of his pocket, and he was not happy. I wasn't happy. It is what it is. Sometimes you just make the best of it. You put your head down, you keep on pushing and keep on walking into the wind."
Warrior entered a feud with Rick Rude for the Intercontinental Championship after defeating Honky Tonk Man in quick fashion. Hausman asked Beefcake what Warrior was like when he worked with him.
"I didn't have to wrestle him, thank God," Beefcake expressed. "We were partners at Survivor Series in '88. He wasn't a very good wrestler, per se. I mean, he had his character, and he did his thing and people liked it, muscley guy, well-built guy, worked out like crazy. I was just happy I didn't have to wrestle him."
Beefcake will be appearing at River City Wrestling Con next month. He discussed what it means to him to be back interacting with fans.
"I've been looking forward to this River City Con for a while because it's been postponed a couple times," Beefcake said. "It means a lot. I've been locked up down here. Thank God for Florida. They've been open for a while, but there isn't a lot of cons that take place in Florida. All of this stuff all over the country has been shut down. So things are starting to open up, people are getting back to work and I can't wait to get out there. I enjoy being with the fans. Some guys don't, but I do. And so, it's cool."
Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake will be appearing at the River City Wrestling Con on June 12 – 13 at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds. For more information please visit Rivercitywrestlingcon.com.
Brutus' full interview with Wrestling Inc. will be released on Tuesday's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Available on all major podcast platforms and in video form at YouTube.com/WrestlingInc. You can find the latest episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, featuring AEW's Anthony Ogogo, via the embedded players below: