All language subtitles for Dark Side of the Ring s01e03_English

♪

Good evening, everyone.

Welcome to
Championship Sports.

By now, all of you have
heard about the tragic and

untimely death
of Bruiser Brody,

very disappointing.

...wrestler, prior to a
bout in Puerto Rico.

His menacing looks gave him
the reputation of

a madman inside the ring, but a
long time wrestling promoter

and others remember a
very different man.

If you could picture a
man coming into the ring,

6'6, 6'7,
350-something pounds...

He looked like
danger coming.

It was the kind of danger
you were drawn to.

People would
actually run from him.

They'd just all
run and scatter.

He had a chain.

He'd sometimes
hit people with it.

He was just a
wild fucking guy.

Narrator: Bruiser Brody's
larger-than-life presence

and in-ring brutality
delivered an undeniable

authenticity in
professional wrestling.

Brody coming down the aisle
is like a tornado coming

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

He'd beat you up
with 2x4s, chairs,

anything that he
could get his hands on.

Bruiser Brody was insane.

[indistinct shouts]

On July 16, 1988,

this insanity bled out of
the ring into real life

when Bruiser Brody
was violently killed

in a locker room...

moments before
the opening bell.

In the world of
professional wrestling,

it is still the only sport
where its characters

live in two worlds,

where fantasy
bleeds out into reality.

♪

Hi, I'm Mick Foley.

In my career, there was one
man more than any other

I wish I could have had
the opportunity

to step into the ring with;
that person was Bruiser Brody.

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

vintage Brody matches
was the day that

everything changed for me.

I wanted to be the
next Bruiser Brody.

The stories I've heard
surrounding Brody's death

have always troubled me.

After 30 years,
we tracked down 3 wrestlers

willing to tell their version of
what happened that night and

to chronicle the life and
death of one of

wrestling's greatest outlaws.

Just in case you don't
know who I am,

I'm Tony "Mr. USA" Atlas.

Broad at the shoulder,
narrow at the hip,

tower of power,
too sweet to be sour.

One of the last people to see
Bruiser Brody alive was

Mr. USA,
Tony Atlas,

a former body
builder turned wrestler,

and a current WWE
Hall of Famer.

Okay, stand up. Take -
clothesline him over the top.

Cameraman watch out.

Agh!
Oh!

That was the shittiest
finish I've ever seen.

Dirty Dutch Mantell is one of
the business'

most infamous villains
in front of the camera...

Has the taste returned to
your mouth after I

slapped it out just
a few seconds ago?

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

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

Well, he beat the
shit out of you.

And then, there's the
madman from the Sudan,

Abdullah The Butcher.

Abdullah was also
Bruiser Brody's

greatest in-ring nemesis.

♪

...This is it. And, you know,
this is a very graphic display

of exactly what the world of
professional wrestling is

all about, the dark side,
so to speak.

I've been in the
business for 53 years.

What else can I say?

My name is
Abdullah The Butcher, right.

I'm not a wrestler.
I didn't grab holds.

I used karate.
I used jiu-jitsu.

Okay?
I'm not a wrestler.

I can beat you up any time
that I want to beat you up,

you understand?

And the guy
behind the camera,

give me the fork so I
can stab it all in his head,

then you'll know...

Let me tell you something,

don't you ever say that me
and Brody was fake.

We are not fakes.

We kept bringing
'em back and back,

and the people would say,

"When I seen that match,
that was no bullshit."

♪

What would a match
resemble between

Abdullah and Bruiser Brody?

A blood bath.
Every night.

We were like killers.
We kept pounding.

When you get Abdullah The
Butcher and Bruiser Brody

in the ring,
gonna be a lot of blood.

'Cause Abdullah
had his fork...

And they did it every night.
It was just a formula.

Oh, I loved the fork.

I'd just stab
him in the head,

stick it in his mouth.
Do everything.

Probably 85% of the
match was outside the ring.

He struck fear in
the hearts of fans.

When he went
down to the ring,

people moved out of
the way; that's an art.

Brody's reputation
in the business was,

he was a main eventer

and could make you
a lot of money.

So, that's why he
was so popular.

It's why so many promoters
wanted him because

he could put asses in the seat.

[cheering]

[announcer speaking Japanese]

[match bell]

He was a superstar,
and at the time,

he was one of the biggest
stars in the late 70s,

early 80s, one of the
biggest stars in the world.

Bruiser Brody,
he was a legend.

He was a legend...
back before he died.

[birds chirping]

Oh my gosh.

Oh my...

But like, every
time I come out here,

I find something new.

Look at this, another one.

Some sentimental
stuff associated with it.

There's a lot of it though.

Oh, here's a whole pile
of photographs in here.

I mean,
take a look at that.

Oh, boy.

I first met Frank in
Australia in the hotel

that I was working in.

I had no idea of his
character because

I only saw Frank Goodish.
I never saw Bruiser Brody.

Frank was very quiet,
very intelligent.

Even back in those days,
just like a regular person.

So, he never lost
sight of who he was.

He didn't become the
character he created.

That's dad's
football helmet.

In my own case,
I spent 3 years with

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

I was an all-American
high school football player.

I went to school on an
athletic scholarship.

- Okay, yeah.
- Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

Um... Yeah, I did.

- You did?
- Yeah.

I don't think it's good
that anybody knows

that I'm Frank Goodish.

Don't worry;
that won't happen.

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

We were together
for a long time and

he just came up with this idea,

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

He said,
"I'm gonna tell you now

it is not gonna be
an easy life."

Out of a year, he maybe
would only be home

3 months of that year.

It was a challenge,
but you do it.

When Geoff was born,
he changed so much

'cause then he wanted to
do for his family and

he wanted to provide
for his son.

So,
it changed him,

even made him softer
than who he really was

when he was around his son.

They had a really
good relationship.

I do believe I've
subconsciously possibly

blocked a lot of things out,
unfortunately.

So, a lot of the stories
I hear are stories

other people tell
me about my dad.

At the same time, it's hard
to hear these stories because

they're stories that
people are telling me and

I don't have a lot of
stories of my own to tell.

It was like this character
that he created,

that it was separate
from the person I knew.

I would take him to
the airport and

he would just be dad,
husband...

Get out of the car,
had his hair pulled back,

walked through those doors,
take his hair down,

he became Bruiser Brody
on the other side,

and I could actually see the
whole transformation take place.

♪

In July 1988,

Frank departed for a
booking in Puerto Rico,

an isolated wrestling
territory notorious for

its wild blood feuds and the
zealousness of its fans.

[indistinct shouts]

It was blood city.
It was blood all the time.

Big shows, you'd have 3 or 4
matches with blood in 'em,

because remember,
I told you, people believed,

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

Ricky Vargas
wants to stop him.

Look! The blood is
just coming up!

The people are
violent people.

They wanted violence.

People throw rocks at you,
they throw piss on you,

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

They stoned me.
They used to take cups,

put glass or stones and
throw 'em at me.

They want to see
somebody get hurt.

They want some,
to see somebody

get carried out on a stretcher.

Every place you go,
they love violence.

[screams]

♪

Some weekly planners,
1987, 1988...

Just his daily activities,
it appears.

His workout, workout schedule
and regimen and

where he's traveling to.

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

Yeah, I believe it was the,
it was either the 16th or

the 17th that
that happened, unfortunately.

In July 1988,

Frank Goodish
left his family in Texas and

entered one of the most
violent wrestling territories

in the world.

His family could not have
imagined that this would be

the last time that
they would see him alive.

In the summer of 1988,
Bruiser Brody left his family

in Texas and entered
one of the most

violent wrestling
territories in the world.

It wasn't only his Puerto Rican
fans who were

waiting for his return, but some
unresolved business and

a bitter longstanding grudge.

The World Wrestling Council
is Puerto Rico's

main wrestling promotion,
which was established by

wrestlers Gorilla Monsoon,
Victor Jovica,

and Carlos Colon.

Carlos Colon!
Carlos Colon!

[spits]

Carlos Colon was the boss.

He's also a WWE
Hall of Famer now.

He was probably as big a
star as Roberto Clemente.

Carlos Colon's right-hand man
was Jose Huertas Gonzalez,

a local wrestler
celebrated in the ring

as Invader #1.

Gonzalez also acted as
the company's booker,

the person in charge of
the creative direction and

outcomes of wrestling shows.

Frank understood the
value of his character

consistently appearing as an
unbeatable monster to fans

as a way to keep them
coming back for more.

He took this aggression
to a new level

when he wrestled a
young Jose Gonzalez

when Gonzalez was
hoping to make

a big impression in the WWF.

♪

Brody and Invader,

they didn't really care
for each other.

Their personalities
did not mesh.

Even their matches,
you could tell there was

something not
quite right with it.

He was a pretty decent guy -
if he liked you.

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

But I just seen Brody take
people in the ring many a time

and just beat
'em unmercifully.

He would just
beat 'em to death.

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

what brought this on.

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

They were grooming -
I heard - Jose Gonzalez,

to be like the next
Puerto Rican star.

Bruiser Brody came in and had
a match with Jose Gonzalez

and just beat
the shit out of him.

He ate him up.

I mean, his whole
face was swollen,

his head was swollen up;
looked just like a pumpkin.

Brody beat him
so bad that S.D.

had to take him
to the hospital.

S.D., "Special Delivery" Jones,
he was a wrestler.

We put him in the car, and S.D.
took him to the hospital,

and he turned to
S.D. Jones and said,

"One day I'm gonna
kill that man."

He was angry.

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

Bruiser Brody was
worried about one image,

and that was Bruiser Brody.

Once the people see you
get beat once or twice,

that brand -
and he knows this -

the brand becomes
kind of... violated.

And he, he didn't want
that to happen and

that's why, that's why
he acted the way he did.

I don't know about the other
professional wrestlers.

I only know about
Bruiser Brody.

And when I go in the ring,
it doesn't matter whether

I'm in Texas or in New York,
and it doesn't matter

whether people like me
or dislike me,

I'm gonna be just as
aggressive every night.

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

and he had wanted to invest in a
wrestling promotion somewhere,

and he had Puerto Rico
in mind.

And there was an owner,
a part owner,

a minority owner
named Victor Quinones,

who had 10% or something,

but a lot of it was owned
by Gorilla Monsoon.

And I think Victor Quinones
was brokering a deal

between Monsoon to sell
his shares to Brody,

which would have made Brody
probably a minority owner.

I think he bought
part of that company.

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

And Brody ain't
that type of guy.

Brody had his opinions.

If you didn't
like 'em, too bad.

- Can you tell us your name?
- David Manning.

I was the booker for World Class
Championship Wrestling.

I was a little worried
because Frank was

going to Puerto Rico to wrestle.

Frank said they owed
him about, around

20, $25,000.

And, he had asked for
the money politely.

He had been
waiting for the money.

And he told me
before he left,

"Remember I said this: I'm
coming back with my money."

And he said, "If I have to
beat every one of 'em up,

I'm getting my money."

Brody had mentioned
to people that

if he took over, he was
gonna get rid of Jose.

And also, Jose Gonzalez
had just lost

his 3-year-old daughter.

She died in a swimming
pool accident,

she drowned,
about 3 months earlier.

Now, his job is being
threatened and

he doesn't like Brody
in the first place.

So, you add all
those ingredients,

it's like fire and gasoline.

An explosion was
gonna happen, and it did.

♪

Ah...
Can I please tell the story?

I beg you, 'cause
I want to tell it.

- Off-screen: Okay.
- I want to tell the story.

- I... See...
- Off-screen: Okay, okay, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because, I've been--

For two days, I've been talking
about everything but Brody,

and I want to tell this story
so bad I'm ready to explode.

I've been carrying this story
around in my chest for...

how many years now?

This is how me and
Brody started our day.

- Off-screen: Yeah?
- Yeah, yeah.

We were working out at
the gym that morning,

the same routine we did.

You know, his last
day here on earth.

I go to the gym every morning
anyway, and so,

me and him,
we worked out together,

and he said, "Tony, want to
go get something to eat?"

So I say, "Oh sure, I'll go
get something to eat."

And then he turned to me
at breakfast and he said,

"I waited a long time
to get in down here."

So I just got the
impression that maybe,

just maybe, that he
bought in the company.

And he said, "You are
gonna see a lot of changes."

♪

We was at the hotel, and
Bruiser Brody and Dutch Mantell

was sitting on the steps outside
in the front of the building.

And I said, "Brody, I figured
you'd be gone by now."

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

He's supposed
to pick me up."

And I'm-- Right then I said,
"Well, that's unusual."

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

And I said, "You can
ride with us if you like."

So we went to the show and
traffic was horrible leading

into the stadium 'cause
the cars were lined up,

so you know it was
gonna be a sell-out.

And, we hopped out and
we took our bags

to where the
dressing rooms were.

Now, looking back on it,
it was kind of strange,

'cause when I
walked in that room,

I got a strange feeling.
But Jose was sitting there.

I said, "He's here."

As soon as I
come to the door,

I saw the 3 of them
sitting there, talking:

Jose, Carlos Colon,
and Victor,

they were sitting in
a football huddle.

Yeah, it kind of
seemed a little strange...

'Cause I, I've never really
seen 'em together like that.

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

They were just
sitting there,

which was even more strange.

Gonzalez gets up
from his seat,

looked me straight
in the face, and left.

Never looked at Brody,
never looked at Dutch,

and he walked out of
the dressing room.

And Brody sat down
right beside me,

and I sat there
maybe 5 minutes...

And that feeling of tension,

it just got stronger.

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

I gotta move. I gotta--
Something's...

Maybe if I move
around it'll go away."

So, I get up and walk out,
I go and I sit in the dugout,

and I'm watching
the crowd come in.

TONY: So, I have my art pad.
I set my bag down.

I sat in my chair and
I started sketching.

Brody came over
and he looked at it.

He said, "That is
frickin' fantastic."

He's getting all excited,

big smile is on his face
and everything.

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

so he opened up
his little pouch, reached in,

and pulled out a
picture of his son.

Jose came back into
the dressing room.

I looked up, and Jose
was standing there...

And he had a
towel over his hand.

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

Just like that.

"Can I talk to you for
a minute, please?"

And Brody said, "Yeah,"
and he walked in there.

And that's
where it happened.

It's not unusual to discuss
match plans privately,

but on this evening,
the conversation between

Brody and Gonzalez
would descend into

an unthinkable nightmare.

In Puerto Rico,
before his match,

Bruiser Brody is summoned
to a private meeting with

talent booker Jose Gonzalez.

There was a history of bad blood
between Brody and Gonzalez,

and wrestler Tony Atlas was
witness to the growing tension.

He had a bag in his hand,

a picture of his
son in this hand.

And when he turned
away with the picture,

that's when I noticed
Carlos staring at me.

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

"Aaah!"

So I looked up.

Brody was
halfway hunched over.

I thought Jose punched him
in the stomach;

that's what I thought.

That's the first thought
that came to my mind,

"Damn, he hit Brody."

I said, "Oh, this is
gonna be a fight."

So, then he
hollers again, "Aah!"

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

Then I saw the knife.

The knife went in
the air like this,

with blood
dripping off of it.

I sprung up out of my chair,
wrapped my arm around

Brody's waist,
just like this.

I yank him back just in the
nick of time to keep from

his throat getting cut.

And because I pull him back,
the knife came down and

cut his ponytail off.

That's how sharp
that knife was.

Carlos shoot right by me,
and he grabbed Jose and

pushed him up against
the wall and said,

"No, Jose. No, Jose."

And Carlos was keeping
people away from Jose,

telling the wrestlers,
"Y'all stay back. Stay back."

So I take Brody,
and I take him and

I lay him down on the ground.

I felt his intestines and
blood all over this arm here.

This whole arm was
drenched in blood.

And he looked up
at me, he said,

"Brother, don't let 'em
hurt me no more.

Please, brother.
Don't let 'em hurt me no more."

He said, "Don't let THEM!"
Not "him," "them"!

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

Who else is involved
in this, I'm thinking?

I said, "Ain't no fucking body
gonna do anything to you."

Carlos tried to approach
Brody after I laid him down.

I told Carlos, I said,
"Don't bring your ass over here.

I will knock your motherfucking
head right off the shoulder."

He said, "Tony, calm down."
I said, "Fuck calming down."

I said, "Y'all just
stabbed this guy."

"I had nothing
to do with it."

I said, "You're a
Goddamn liar" I said,

"Y'all work together."

So then,
Brody tugged at my leg,

and he said,
"Let him over."

DUTCH: So as I make my
way back to the tunnel,

I could hear the noise.

And it was kind
of dark in there,

but I could see
the lights in the...

in the dressing room.
Something was going on,

and that's when I asked
Mark Youngblood what happened.

He said, "Invader!
Invader stabbed Brody!"

The dressing
room is in a panic,

and I see Brody laying,
laying in front of me.

And Carlos is leaning over him,
talking to him.

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

That's what
Carlos asked Brody.

Brody said, "Just take
care of my family."

And I don't know
what Carlos was saying,

but I'm sure he was saying,
"Hang on there, man.

We're gonna get you help.
We're gonna get you help."

But I do remember Brody
looking up at Carlos and

telling Carlos,
"Tell my wife I love her."

That's the only thing
I heard him say.

So that right there tells me
that he doesn't have

a lot of faith in his
own survival.

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

It was translucent that
you could see

light behind it and figures.

Invader never came
out of that shower.

He never came out.

And he was in there
with Jovica who was

part owner of the company,

and they were
screaming at each other.

There's nothing I can
really do just, but watch.

He walked out of the shower,
walked around Brody's feet,

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

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

Which tells me that whatever
happened in that shower,

that it was a physical
confrontation

with Brody ripping the shirt.

TONY: It took at least
35 to 45 minutes

for the ambulance to get there.

They tried to put
Brody on the gurney.

They couldn't lift him.

Brody was about
300-something pounds.

He was too heavy.

So, I got down into
a squat position,

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

And he looked up
at me and said,

"Don't you drop me,"
and I said,

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

So I pulled him gently
and laid him on the gurney.

The old man walked back to
the back of the ambulance

to shut and lock the door.
He said,

"Before I shut the door,
is there anybody here that

want to go with him to
keep his company?"

So I said, "I'll go," and
I jump, got on the ambulance

and I remember guys
looking at me like,

"What in the fuck is
wrong with Tony?

He should stay out of this."

You could almost feel
they're thinking this.

Nobody was saying nothing,
but you could almost feel

they were thinking,
"What is wrong with him?"

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

Never had been.
Probably never will be.

But I did go and say a
lot of prayers for Brody,

whatever worth it could be,
if it could help him, fine.

It couldn't hurt.

As we were sitting
in the ambulance,

Brody was laying there,
and I started crying again.

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

And I, and I sung this song,

[singing] "If heaven ain't
a lot like Dixie,

I don't want to go."

My voice got choked up and
everything got choked up.

I just told him, I said, "You're
gonna be alright, brother,"

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

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

There's an old saying in
professional wrestling:

"Consider yourself lucky
if you make it out

with one true friend."

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

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

Tony Atlas finally made it
to the hospital with

Bruiser Brody in
critical condition.

Although Atlas's struggle
to save Brody's life

was far from over.

We get to the hospital and
he laid there for

probably about
15 or 20 minutes.

I got frickin' tired
of waiting on a doctor,

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

And I said, "I've been telling
people my friend's been stabbed.

How come nobody's
going to see him?"

He told me, he said,

"A stabbing here is like
a cold in the US.

It's no big deal."

He said, "Well, I will
get to him when I can,"

and turned to walk away from me.

I grabbed him
around the waist,

yanked him up all the way up
on my shoulder just like this,

and I carried
the man to Brody.

So finally,
he looked at Brody.

He lifted Brody's hand up
and it was like this

the whole time,
just like this.

At the same time he
lifts his hand up,

I remember I was
taking his shoes off.

When I saw his feet,
and it was blue...

oh no, no, no, no, no!

'Cause I knew
this is real bad.

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

You gotta go now.
You got--"

He started calling on people,
"Come on, come on.

We need some help here.
We need some help here."

I got so fricking
mad when I saw that,

that I punched the wall.

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

that's how hard
I hit that wall.

While chaos and confusion
erupted at the scene of

Bruiser Brody's stabbing,
rumors began to fly and

word reached across the
stadium to Abdullah the Butcher

in a second
dressing room.

The doctor came
and says, ah...

Brody was cut, or stabbed,
or whatever.

I said, "Come on," you know,
I thought it was a joke.

In my opinion, I thought...
he was working an angle.

But when the
doctor told me...

Then I says,
"Holy shit,"

'cause the doctor
wouldn't be lying.

And that was it.

Brody was...
He'd already been taken out.

But the police walked in
and thinking, well,

"It's just another
crazy wild wrestling brawl."

They didn't
think it was real.

I was banging on the operating
room door, talking about,

"What the fuck is
going on in there?

What's going on in there?"

And the doctor came out,
and he said,

"Tony, he had
two 8-inch cuts."

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

He said, "The only problem
we're having now

is that his liver was sliced."

He told me he was
going to be okay.

He said, "He's stable."

He said, "But what
you need to do is,

you need to go home
because everybody in here

is more afraid of you."

I wanted to be as
far away from that

fucking dressing
room as I could be.

Then I saw Invader walk in,
and he had on a different shirt.

He continued business
like nothing had happened.

I don't know
why he came back.

I really don't.

I'm thinking, man, what fucking
balls this guy's got.

The thing that
was so horrible...

was when I got back
to the dressing room.

It was more horrible
than the stabbing.

It was more horrible than
him laying on that table.

The most horrible thing that
happened on that night

was going back to that
dressing room

and hearing laughter.

First, I couldn't believe
they didn't cancel the show;

that was the first thing.

And opening up the door,

and the blood on the
floor ain't even dry yet,

and they in the
dressing room laughing,

and joking, and patting each
other on the back

talking about how great
the matches was and

what a wonderful show it is.

I took the freaking chair
and I threw it across

the damn hallway.

[thud]

There was a
policeman that said,

"Hey, hey, hey.
Calm down. Calm, calm down."

He said, "Did you
see what happened?"

I said, "Hell, yeah!
I saw what happened!"

He said,
"Did you get a look?

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

I said,
"What were you told?"

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

before he got in
the dressing room,

that a wrestling fan stabbed
him in the hallway and

he stumbled into the
dressing room."

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

I said, "That son of a bitch
sitting right there

is the one that stabbed him."

He said, "You mean, Vader?"
I said, "Yes, I mean Vader.

That sucker right there. That's
who stabbed Bruiser Brody,"

and I said, "Ask everybody in
the dressing room."

He said, "They're all
telling different stories."

I said, "Oh, they're
all fucking liars."

I said, "He's the son of a
bitch that stabbed him."

He was telling the cops,
"Hey, hey,

that's the guy you need to
fucking arrest right there,"

and he pointed to
Jose Gonzalez.

I remember he was sitting right
in the chair, right there.

He was putting his
wrestling gear in his bag

like nothing happened;
that's the part that

messed with my head so much.

It was like
nothing happened.

If you're a policeman
and you come into

a situation that you think
could be staged...

They didn't
think it was real.

Tony knew it was real,
so they were actually

engaging each other from
different perspectives;

that's why the disconnect.

In professional wrestling,
the line between

fiction and reality is
intentionally blurred.

As the night's events
continued to unfold,

it would be nearly
impossible for anyone to

tell the difference,
or to know the truth.

♪

While Bruiser Brody was fighting
for his life at the hospital,

Tony Atlas' eye witness
account of the stabbing

was making the rounds.

Carlos Colon, your time is over.

That night,
I wrestled Iron Sheik,

the night of the murder.
I just went and did it.

I, I just went in the match.

He locked up with me,
he said, "How's Brody?"

Ah, "The doctor said he's
gonna be okay."

And he said,
"These fucking wrestling fans,

they told me that
they're dangerous."

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

The Sheik just
straightened right up,

just like that, "That fucking
motherfucking Jose Gonzalez

Vader motherfucker killed the
King Kong of the Brody?"

He rolled right out of
the ring and went

straight back to
his locker room.

We only wrestled for
maybe one or two minutes.

I go to my room, and a
guy named Savio Vega,

they called him TNT,
he said, "Tony, I got your bag.

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

I said, "For what?"

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

They are looking for
you because you talking."

So, I took my bag, and I
went down to the beach,

and I walked the
beach the whole night.

I tried to lay down
and get some sleep,

but kept waking up every
time I hear something.

I'd do, go--
Kept look--

I'm paranoid as hell, now.

I go back to that hotel,
walk to the front desk and

I told the girl and
I said, "Listen,

if Brody gets any
calls to his room,

please put 'em
through to my room."

[phone rings]

They said, "Okay."

BARBARA: The phone started
ringing about midnight,

kept ringing,
ringing, ringing.

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

I said, "Ah, I'm gonna
answer and give them

a piece of my mind."

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

And she said,
"This is Nancy Colon."

Well, Nancy Colon is
Carlos Colon's wife.

"I'm calling to let you know
there's been an accident and

I think you better
come to Puerto Rico."

So, I call the hotel and
they put me through to Dutch.

She said, "Who is this?"

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

And she said,
"Well, what happened, Dutch?"

And I knew it was pretty
serious, but I was saying,

"Well, we--
Brody had an accident and,

and it's pretty serious."

And that, "maybe you
should come to Puerto Rico."

He didn't have any details.

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

I couldn't sleep.

Like I said,
the adrenaline was flowing.

About 8 o'clock, I get up.

I go downstairs
to the front desk.

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

She said, "Yeah,
what do you need?"

I said, "Can you call
the hospital that

my friend Brody is in?"
She said, "Yeah."

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

And I, I hear, "luchador,"
I hear, "wrestler,"

and then
she starts crying.

And I look at her,
and she said,

"I'm sorry.
Your friend didn't make it."

I said, "What?"

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

♪

Abdullah told me
at the meeting.

I slept on the beach
the whole night.

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

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

And they said, "Tony,
we're having a meeting," and

they're waiting on you to
tell them what happened.

Hotel? Hell, no.
No.

No, sir.
No.

He lying.

Maybe they did, but not me.
You understand?

He lied to you,
if that's what he told you.

I'm telling you
what happened.

I had 5% of the business.
You see what I mean?

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

Well, if you own some of
the territory, right,

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

"This guy done this,
this guy done that"?

They were...
in their own little bunch.

So, why, why would
they come and talk to me?

Brody was a friend
and I didn't want to...

be in all the, the "gossip,"
what they were talking about.

Nobody heard me say shit.

That's a shame.

That's a damn shame
that he done that.

Dutch Mantell, ask him.
He was there in the meeting.

I think we all met...

in somebody's room.

And somebody said, "Man,
are they investigating this

or what?" I mean, "A man died.
What's going on here?"

I just started thinking,
in this territory this happened?

That's why I left.

I said, "Well, I saw it."

So I go down and
I make my report

to the police department.
He said,

"Your story is different
than everybody else's."

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

He said, "Now that we
got a witness to it,

we're going to arrest him."

DUTCH: And they took me and
I gave my statement,

and then, all through the
night they took statements

from the,
from the wrestlers.

He did say, he said,

"You tell Carlos Colon we
run this island, not him."

I think they asked
did I see a weapon.

I did not see a weapon.
As a matter of fact,

no weapon was
ever recovered.

That weapon,
whatever was used -

what knife was used -
has never been recovered.

I got my bag,
I went to the airport...

and I left.

Then I made arrangements.

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

Got on the plane with Geoff.
Get off the plane,

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

So, I looked around
and here's Aby.

I was going, and this lady
and this little boy walked up,

and she said,
"Oh, Abdullah,

you don't know me,
but I'm Frank's wife."

She says, "How's he doing?"
I said, "What?"

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

I said,
"They didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"
I says, "He's gone."

And she grabbed me.

♪

And she says, "Oh, no."

All you thinking
about is surviving.

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

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

He never took that
picture down, brother.

When I put him
on the ambulance,

he had the
picture in his hand.

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

He go in the operating room,
he's still--

He never put that
picture down, brother.

Never!

The irony of Brody's greatest
nemesis delivering this news

was only the beginning of
the unthinkable events

that would follow.

Alone with her son
in a foreign land,

and dealing with the
shocking circumstances of

her husband's death,
Barbara Goodish

found the strength to make the
necessary arrangements.

Nancy was
Carlos Colon's wife.

She took me to the morgue,
and of course,

everybody is
speaking Spanish.

They took me to the window,
and you could just

see all these bodies in there.

And then,
of course, the reality...

[whooshing]
Boom.

Just really started to sink in.

Not sure how long it
took before it set in.

We were in a hotel room and
I just remember crying

just incessantly for hours,
hours, and hours, and hours.

Yelling, screaming.

I still didn't realize the
magnitude of what happened,

and it probably took...

I don't know how long,
10, 15, 20 years maybe.

When everything
happened it was like,

what do I do?

How do I bring him
back to the States?

And it was like I
heard his voice,

and it was like
he was saying,

"Barbara, you know what to do,"
and in that moment, it was,

I need to cremate him down here
and take him home with me.

There was a very simple
ceremony in Puerto Rico.

I mean, nobody was
there except me and Geoff,

and some of the wrestlers,

and some of the
Puerto Ricans and...

Geoff picked out
his dad's casket.

It was blue.

♪

- Off-screen: Start there.
- About 3, 4 days later.

From what I hear,
he was taken down

to a local precinct,
never was put in the cell.

Bail was made for him
immediately by

some big businessman there,

and he walked back home,
same day.

I know that the...

I'm not even
gonna say his name.

I know that the
attacker did it.

From all I can
hear from everybody,

the whole court
case was a sham.

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

No, we-- Not-- The only guys
that could have covered

was Jovica and I,
and we didn't do that.

You know, we told the
judge in the court room,

we said what really...
what we saw.

We didn't really-- 'Cause
I didn't see any stabbing.

I didn't see any weapon.
I didn't see anything.

A guy named Tony Rumble,
the Boston Badboy,

banging on the door, said,
"Tony, Tony,

put your channel--
Put the TV on..."

certain, certain channel.

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

I flip the TV on,
I see Jose on TV,

coming out of
the court house.

I said, "What, they're
having a hearing?'

He said,
"No, they had a trial.

They let him go
for self-defense."

♪

You gotta be kidding me.
They never contacted me.

Never. Never did.
Never did.

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

and I already knew
the verdict when,

by the time my subpoena
arrived at my door.

It was ten days late.

That's why the verdict
came back not innocent,

but not guilty.

And Jose never testified,
but they believe what

his attorney put out
that he was just

merely acting in self-defense.

The Feds in Puerto Rico
believed wrestling was real;

that was the major reason
that Jose was acquitted,

because they believed
Brody was this character,

this wild-looking
psychopath, hulking figure.

And his defense
was self-defense.

Do you believe it was
really self-defense?

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

You know, I respect the law.
So sad.

I, I really... You know, I...
I wouldn't--

I don't want to talk about
this anymore because it

makes me sad.

♪

One month after
Bruiser Brody's passing,

All Japan Pro Wrestling
hosted a massive tribute show,

inviting both Barbara
and her son Geoff to be

honored in front of the
17,000 fans in attendance.

The honor that
they respected,

and being in that ring, and
hearing that tin bell count,

and hearing
everybody chanting,

this whole building
chanting his name,

"Brody! Brody! Brody!"

And I'm just standing there
in the ring with Geoff,

and it was the most,
I mean,

just to know how much
he was respected.

Announcer: May peace be
with you, Bruiser Brody.

Bruiser Brody was a brawler
of mythic proportions and

will always live on as
such in the world

of professional wrestling.

I didn't ever guess that
I was gonna be

a professional wrestler.

Once I started in
professional wrestling,

learned the ropes.

If I had it to do
all over again,

I think that I would
probably even pass up my

3 years in the NFL and
devote them to wrestling

because it has been
that good to me.

He was one of its biggest
stars in the 1970s and 80s,

and is considered one of the
all-time greatest wrestlers

in Japanese
wrestling history,

where he is still
celebrated today as an icon.

[applause]

Yeah,
justice would be great.

Some personal justice
would be more, more,

more gratifying than some
legal justice, honestly.

Um...

Mr. Brody.

Every dog has his day.

You cannot kill a legend.

See, legends never die.

So, if that's
was Jose's thing,

was to kill a legend...

♪

He failed miserably.

Nobody knows the
exact circumstances,

including the words -
if any -

exchanged between
Frank Goodish and Jose Gonzalez

on the night of
Brody's death.

It remains one of
wrestling's darkest and

most intriguing mysteries.

♪

Join us next time, as we
continue to explore the

untold stories of
professional wrestling.

- I wish he was here.
- Off-screen: Yeah.

I wish he was here.

He dished it out.
I dished it out.

And we kept going, and going,
and going, and going.

Abdullah the Butcher

knows that Bruiser Brody
is the king...

[laughs]

Brody.
Ah, shit.