4. Jose Gonzalez Allegedly Stabbed Bruiser Brody To Death
Frank Goodish, otherwise known as Bruiser Brody, was a freelance wrestler in the '80s working for numerous promotions throughout Japan and territorial America. He is remembered for innovating and popularising the "brawling" style of wrestling that later became synonymous with wrestlers like Stone Cold Steve Austin. In fact, many people consider WWE's Luke Harper to be the second coming of Brody. He was also known for being notoriously uncooperative with bookers and other wrestlers. A famous example is a cage match against Lex Luger in NWA Florida in '87. Brody abruptly stopped working in the middle of the match, forcing Luger and the referee to change the finish on the fly. It was later reported that Luger had been bragging about being "called up" to Jim Crockett Promotions (the predecessor to WCW) and the promoter had asked Brody to make him look bad. Whether or not this is accurate, no one knows for sure. Regardless of the reasoning, its fair to say the man had enemies. In 1988 in Puerto Rico, he was in the locker room preparing for his match when a wrestler and booker called Jose Gonzalez invited him into the shower stall to discuss business. Shortly after, sounds of a fight were heard, followed by groaning loud enough for the entire locker room to hear. Another wrestler, Tony Atlas (you might remember him as Mark Henry's mate a few years ago) went into the shower and saw Brody doubled over holding his stomach and Gonzalez holding a knife. Brody's last words were "tell my little son I love him, and tell my wife I love her too." Gonzalez has maintained his innocence ever since (which is ridiculously ballsy and dumb to do, considering the circumstances) and despite initially being charged with first-degree murder, his charge was later reduced to involuntary homicide. By the time the trial came around, Tony Atlas and others refused to testify against him, and in '89 Gonzalez was acquitted, citing self-defence. Various people in the industry, including Dutch Mantell, have put forward a conspiracy theory, believing that the Puerto Rican wrestlers resented the Americans coming over to take what they saw as their money. Mantell himself stated he would testify in court, and was told he would be flown back to Puerto Rico to give evidence. However, he didn't receive his summons until after the verdict was delivered, which he suggests was deliberate. It seems unlikely that there will ever be justice for Brody's death.
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Stephen Maher has been a rock star, a bouncer, a banker and a busker on various streets in various countries. He's hung out with Robert Plant, he was at Nelson Mandela's birthday and he's swapped stories with prostitutes and crack addicts. He once performed at a Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras by accident. These days, he passes the time by writing about music, wrestling, games and other forms of nerdery. And he rarely drinks the blood of the innocent.
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