10 More Wrestling Facts You Probably Didn't Know
8. Brodus Clay Named Himself After His Mentor
George Murdoch, better known as former WWE Superstar Brodus Clay - now former TNA/GFW wrestler Tyrus - had another life before professional wrestling, having worked for to none other than Snoop Dogg for six years. He explained the full back story in an interview with CT.com in October 2012.
Murdoch and Snoop became close during his first four years working as a bodyguard for the hip hop icon. He’d been noticed by Snoop’s management when dealing with a violent altercation in a Los Angeles venue in his own inimitable style, and Snoop appreciated his sense of humour.
When a WWE developmental contract beckoned, his mentor gave him his blessing, and brought him back again when Murdoch was released from that contract after only eighteen months or so. Snoop knew that Murdoch wasn’t that into bodyguarding, so he found other things for his friend to do - coaching the kids football team and helping out with the family - until WWE looked into re-signing him two years later.
At that point, anxious to move on from the ‘G-Rilla’ gangsta schtick he’d been lumbered with in his first developmental run, Murdoch worked with ‘the American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes to come up with a new ring name, choosing Clay after Cassius Clay, and Brodus, after Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr - Snoop Dogg’s real name.