411’s Dark Side of The Ring Report: ‘Saving Face: The Brutus Beefcake Story’

-The title for this episode seems a little on the nose. Yes, I went with the obvious joke. I suspect we will get some Hogan discussion in this one which lets me plug my review of Vice’s Nine Lives of Hulk Hogan special. Now, let’s get to it!

-As always, Chris Jericho is our narrator!

-1984 Vince McMahon’s WWF is transforming the wrestling business, and Ed Leslie was on the roster and would become one of the eras most memorable characters. Brutus says that fans like to be entertained, and that’s what the Brutus character could do. He introduces himself as a WWE Hall of Famer!

-Brian Knobbs is here and laughs that Brutus wasn’t even a good wrestler. He notes they came up in a time where wrestlers were like rock stars. Brian Blair next and he says he has had so many matches with Beefcake he can’t even count them all. He also notes that Brutus had a nice ass, and that’s why he had the name “Beefcake.” Brutus tells us The Lord blessed him with an incredible body and he wanted to show it off. See, that went over my head as a kid and now The Booty Man makes more sense. Hearing Vince talk about Brutus’ ass on commentary is really weird and even more so now as we learned of his alleged habit of naming his….toys.

-Missy Leslie is next and she was in love with Beefcake as soon she met him. They met in the late 80s in the Boston Garden as it seems she was a fan who got backstage and told Brutus she loved him. They reconnected years later as she was a huge wrestling fan and internet dating was a thing. She was talking to a guy online who knew where Brutus lived, so she got his number and sent a text saying she loved Brutus and always had a fantasy of sleeping with him. She wanted to know if that was possible and Brutus immediately called and they met. She wanted it to be a one and done, but Brutus kept calling.

-We go back a bit as Ed is a childhood friend with Terry Bollea. They grew up eight blocks apart in Tampa and went to the same high school. He was a young punk kid hanging around trying to get noticed by Hogan and his friends. Hogan had the idea to break into the business and asked if Brutus wanted to try as well. They worked out together to build their bodies and Hogan got the chance to train with Matsuda, where he was stretched on a daily basis. Blair notes that Beefcake is lucky he had a great friend like Hogan who made sure he was in the ring with the right talent to bring him along in the business. Man, early Leslie with bleach blonde hair is so weird to see.

-Hogan and Beefcake were ride or die friends and everyone thought they were brothers. They just went with it and became The Boulder Brothers. Terry Funk gave Brutus the “dizzy” nickname as he thought he was a male valley girl. The name Dizzy Hogan stuck for a bit.

-Hogan makes the jump to the WWF and is the face of the wrestling business. Blair says Hogan probably had the greatest career in the history of wrestling. Ed is trying to gain traction in the territories and Hogan helps his friend get into the WWF. Linda McMahon has the idea for a wrestler with Beefcake as part of his name and Hogan pitches Brutus as a first name and they give the character to Ed. He can’t help but laugh when he hears it and can’t believe he is going to wrestle in MSG with that name. The character was to be a version of the Chippendales. He dyed his hair black, and cut it short. Vince saw the look and responded, “how can this not make money.”

-Brutus was still short on in ring skill, so they paired him with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. That helped Brutus greatly. Valentine is here and says Brutus was green, but was good and he could see the potential. They drew a lot of money and had fans that would cheer them. He calls Brutus a chick magnet and says he talks too much at times. Ha! He says they were a perfect combination and a match made in Dream Team Heaven.

-They were Tag Champions, but after three years together, they decided to split the team and give Brutus a singles run. They spring the Barber gimmick on him and he is not happy. He starts destroying things in the dressing room, so they call in Hogan. He yells that he quits and wants to know what a barber has to do with wrestling. Hogan tells him to use the sleeper to put his opponents out and cut off a few strands of their hair. I guess that’s all Brutus needed to hear.

-Blair says you could see that Ed had matured and he was becoming a big star for the WWF. Knobbs: “It definitely didn’t hurt to be Hulk’s friend (he would know).” Missy Hyatt says that when they mentioned Brutus, they would always say he was Hogan’s best friend and that could be good and bad. She knew people were jealous of Beefcake. She says if Brutus didn’t draw money Vince would have bounced him, and Brutus says people can say what they want, but he was good at what he did and was at the top of his game.

-Brutus beats Perfect at WrestleMania and next was supposed to take the IC Title from him at SummerSlam, but then IT happened.

-Commercials!

-Beefcake takes us to Lutz, Florida and the Lake House where he nearly lost his life. July 4, 1990 Beefcake had one day off, so he was partying like it was the end of the world. His friend had a fast ski boat and would take people parasailing. They had been doing it for hours and avoided a few mishaps and thought they were done. Brian Blair came over with some friends and they wanted to parasail. Blair says it didn’t look safe, so he wasn’t going up there, but his friend Tracy wanted to try it. Mike didn’t want to take anyone, but eventually gave in. There was no real wind, so they were all working to get things set up and Mike took off in the boat. Beefcake was the rope man and Tracy was coming so fast after the boat took off and she was coming straight for his head. She wasn’t getting any lift, so he pulled her knees up to clear his face and Beefcake turns around and both knees hit him right in the face, causing him to flip over. He wasn’t knocked out, but couldn’t see anything and couldn’t breathe. Blair pulled Beefcake out of the water and everything was shattered. “His lower jaw was sitting on top of his upper jaw.” WOW! He couldn’t speak as it was just gurgles coming up from his throat. Blair was doing all he could to keep Ed from falling asleep or passing out. His blood pressure was off the charts and after an x-ray they could see his face was basically gone. We see an image of the x-ray and it’s worse than you would probably think.

-We meet Dr. Mutaz Habal, a craniofacial surgeon, and the man who saved Brutus. He was called in as it was July 4th and on the phone he was told it was Brutus Beefcake. He had no clue who that was, but his son yelled, “that’s Hulk Hogan’s partner.” Brutus is in a crazy amount of pain and just wants to die as he feels he is done. The doctor wanted to make sure there was a clear airway to breath, and was worried about his vision. They had to basically rebuild his face and the surgeon compares to building a house. The skull was stable, so he started from the top and worked down. The surgery took over sixteen hours. Beefcake says they cut him from ear to ear and peeled his face down and scalp back. They used strips of titanium to rebuild the skull. The surgeon says the important thing was getting the eye sockets where they need to be and then sew the eyes shut, where they can’t see for 24 hours. Beefcake was put in a medically induced coma after the surgery and was monitored to see if he would survive. That is just insane that he survived all this!

-Commercials!

-The doctors needed someone there to talk to Beefcake if he woke up to calm him down and keep him from going into a panic. Beefcake notes both of his parents had passed away within in the last two years and he was going through a divorce. He had brothers and sisters and family, but had been on the road for 15 years. They called the man knew him best, Hulk Hogan. Hogan leaves his pregnant wife in California to be at Brutus’ bedside. Hogan told Beefcake he didn’t care what the doctors said, he was going to live. The surgeon notes Beefcake was lucky in a sense that the impact hit him square in the middle of his face. One inch one way or the other and he would have lost one of his eyes. He notes surviving was a miracle and not losing his vision was a miracle.

-Missy (the wife) says Hogan was there to help Brutus walk and his eye-ball fell out of the socket once. EWW! The recovery was extremely difficult as he had to learn to speak again and his diet was all liquid as he couldn’t chew food.

-Brutus says Sherri Martel, who was a friend, came to see him once and the doctors are trying to prepare her for what Brutus looks like. It doesn’t help as as she starts screaming as soon as she walks into the room and see him. The way Brutus tells the story here is hilarious and it made me choke on spit. I can totally see Sherri losing her mind as this was a woman who had to try to out crazy Randy Savage on a weekly basis. Brutus says he was nearly laughing at her reaction and thought it was funny shit. It made him realize he could not feel sorry for himself and he had to work with the cards he was dealt.

-He was released and he figured he could never wrestle again, but he wanted to get back in the gym. His body got strong again, but he had no desire to return to the ring as he didn’t want to die. With mounting hospital bills, Hogan helps his friend by getting him parts in his movies. We see some clips from “Santa For Muscles.” Valentine would hate to say that Brutus was carrying Hogan’s bags and thinks people were jealous. What they would say was bullshit. Missy Hyatt says that people would say Brutus would carry Hogan’s drugs so it wouldn’t come back on Hogan. Brutus notes that Hogan trusted him with his money and everything else.

-Vince gives Brutus a talk show on WWF Television called The Barber Shop! IF WE DON’T GET THE ROCKETS SPLIT WHAT ARE WE EVEN DOING HERE! They show highlights and it better be coming. THERE IT IS! THAT COWARD, MARTY TRIED TO JUMP OUT THE WINDOW! Brutus says the barbershop was destroyed by Sid as a way to build up his match with Hogan at WrestleMania VIII. He felt the segment could have run for years, but the WWF has a plan to start and end things.

-Hogan steps away from wrestling due to the steroid scandal. Brutus notes the Feds wanted him to be their Golden Goose and turn on Hogan so they he would turn on Vince. Brutus denied everything and says Hogan saved his ass and saved Vince’s ass as well.

-WrestleMania IX: Blair says that was another gift from Hogan as he got Brutus involved in a Tag Match with him against Money Inc. The idea was to let Brutus see how he felt back in the ring. He felt good, but was soon dropped by the WWF.

-Hulk Hogan signs a massive deal with WCW in 1994 and wouldn’t you know that Brutus gets a call to come as well. Eric Bischoff is here and says he called Brutus the “Hulk Hogan tax.” He says Hogan never demanded anything, but they had an understanding. He says everyone in WCW knew the only reason Ed Leslie was in WCW was because of Hulk Hogan. I have no issue with that as sometimes you just have to go to bat for your friend or family. Flair had Arn and Sting had Luger. Hall, Nash, Shawn, and HHH all had each other. Macho had his brother. Bret had his family, and of course we have The Bloodline. That’s just life!

-Commercials!

-Ed can’t be The Barber in WCW, so he goes through a bunch of different names: The Butcher, The Man with No Name, The Zodiac, and The Booty Man. Brutus compares himself to Mel Gibson in the way he was able to pull off different characters. Knobbs laughs his ass off when he is told about the Gibson comparison. Knobbs is great! “All of them other gimmicks didn’t get over at all.” Bischoff says Brutus acted professionally in WCW for the most party, but honestly feels he was just there to party. Missy Hyatt notes that Brutus loved to party and drink. She has been on the back of his motorcycle after they had one too many to drink, but she trusts him with her life. The day she was fired from WCW, she was ready to commit suicide and jump out here window, but Brutus called her and talked her off the ledge. She says Brutus was treated like shit in WCW and was given so many different stupid gimmicks.

-Bischoff told everyone they couldn’t keep repackaging him, so Brutus went home, grew his hair long, and dropped his body fat to a crazy low level. He was shredded to the bone at 45 years old and his wife notes he looked like a god. She gets turned on just thinking about what he looked like. Hogan took Brutus to CNN Center and told everyone this was his new Disciple, and everyone was gawking. Hogan then said, “Oh, did I mention that’s Brutus Beefcake.” Ed was back on TV and was using a Stunner as his finisher.

-Brutus fizzles out from WCW and we learn he had a money manager that ripped him off and took the money to Barbados. Apparently, he stole a lot of Hogan’s money as well. Brutus was a millionaire one day and then was selling his house the next day. His now ex-wife moved back to Boston with her family, and Brutus moved there to be with his daughter and wife. He worked as a toll collector for the transit business and did what he could to provide for his family. He used to take BC Powder, which was an aspirin substitute, and it fell out of his pocket when he was leaving his shift. The next morning another worker saw the packet, opened it, and went into a panic as she thought it was anthrax. We eve see a newspaper article about the ordeal. This was Feb. of 2004! The shut the train station down. Valentine says it was cocaine as he won’t lie. Missy (the wife) says it was aspirin in a little packet and knows people won’t believe it, but Brutus wasn’t arrested. He was fired though and he was happy to be fired.

-They briefly discuss pills to dull the pain of a lifetime of being a wrestler. Brutus had a habit and a messed up life, so he was numbing himself. Missy says they have weeded out all the assholes and people that didn’t have Brutus’ best interest in mind.

-Commercials!

-Missy and Brutus are together on July 4th celebrating and enjoying life. They do seem happy together! Miss Hyatt puts over Missy, the wife, and she is so happy Brutus found someone.

-Missy (the wife) met Hogan for the first time in 2008 and was told by Knobbs, “you aren’t in the fold until Hogan says you are in the fold.” Missy, the wife, says the first meeting was greet and Terry loved her and told Brutus how great she was, but the next day it was like someone flipped a switch. Terry was really cold and she remembers thinking something happened.

-We get audio from a Hogan interview from 2023 where he notes that he and Beefcake had a falling out and it has a lot to do with the woman he is married to. So this is recent then. I know they had a falling out and then I thought they were on good terms again when Hogan inducted Brutus into The Hall of Fame. The producers asks Knobbs and he says, “no comment.” He says Hogan is a great friend and he can’t see him being mad at someone unless they did something to him. Blair says he doesn’t pry in other people’s business, but Terry told him, “I had to write Beefcake off.” He says that Brutus took advantage of Terry too much and at some point you have to cut them off. Missy (wife) says she wasn’t going take any shit and people took it the wrong way. She knows that Brutus misses Terry and says they are not talking to each other right now.

-Commercials!

-Next week it’s Harley Race! That episode will probably put hair on your chest just by watching it.

-Missy (wife) says Brutus is going wonderful as we see him meeting fans at signings. We also see him with Valentine at a signing and Hammer playfully flips him off. HA! Blair says that Brutus was elevated because of the company he kept, but notes wrestling is all politics and you have to have some talent. There are jealous people and he is happy for every dime Brutus made in the business.

-Though they have a strained relationship, Hogan comes through for Brutus one more time by inducting him into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019. They show Brutus and Missy (wife) watching the induction and Hogan giving his speech. Missy tells Brutus they did him cool and that was the last time he saw Hulk Hogan. Damn! Brutus looks sad as she says that. Brutus says they could be friends again at the snap of a finger. He wants to be able to shake hands and thank Hogan for being his friend and all they have gone through. He reiterates you get dealt the cards and you play them, so he is happy he has his soulmate Missy and he can spend his life with her.

-I enjoyed this one way more than I thought I would coming into it. The accident was nasty and I got more information on it here than I ever knew. This also wasn’t the usual Hogan bashing we get on this show and Hogan actually came off well as everyone put over how much he helped Brutus. The issues with their friendship now is kind of weird, but I have learned there are two sides to each story. I had my own issues where I had a friend ghost me for nearly two years, and it sucked. Thankfully, we just picked up one day like the twenty-year friends we were and acted like nothing had happened. The talking heads were good here and Knobbs is becoming a personal favorite when he pops up on these episodes. Much like Bagwell’s episode, having the subject alive and being part of the show helps greatly. Some of what was touched on here, was also mentioned in the Hogan piece that I plugged above. The biggest take away is that Brutus is lucky to be alive considering his accident. Getting the surgeon to talk about the injury was a great touch as well. Just a very solid and entertaining episode. Thanks for reading!