Brodus Clay Reveals A Locker Room Joke Helped Create The Funkasaurus

In an interview with Why It Ended (via Wrestlezone), Brodus Clay revealed how a locker room joke inspired the creation of his Funkasaurus character and gimmick. Here are highlights:

On becoming the Funkasaurus: “I cracked one joke and I was the Funkasaurus. Before I would have fell apart, but whatever they threw at me, I was like, ‘I got this. Let me figure it out. My attitude was a lot different. Before I’d be trying to figure out why. Now I was like, ‘How can I make this to my advantage?’ Triple H had me ready to be his next big heel. He had no desire to do the Funkasaurus thing. The old man [Vince McMahon] thought I was funny and somehow being funny in the locker room equates to dancing in the ring. Was I disappointed? I knew Funkasaurus wasn’t winning the World Championship, but I knew Brodus Clay could have. I knew that my role was going to be the guy that got the party started or kept them in the seats like Junkyard Dog or even Dusty [Rhodes] himself, which he claimed I was being punished for his sins. It was always one of my favorite lines, ‘Because you’re mine, you’re being punished for my sins.’ I was just making jokes in the locker room and…the old man heard some of my jokes and started laughing. I also made the mistake of wearing a white suit to work one day. I thought I looked like Kingpin. Apparently, I looked like some sort of babyface. Vince McMahon said to Triple H, ‘Are you sure he’s a heel? I don’t know. He’s funny.’ He decided he wanted me to be a babyface and when they came to me they said, ‘You can say no, but here’s what we’re looking at. Funkasaurus is the fastest way to be back on TV.’”

On Dusty Rhodes helping him overcome his body issues: “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to do the Funkasaurus. He literally had me come down there and we spent 4 hours of him making me dance with him. I’m telling you there was nothing worse than making me slow dance with him to music. He was like, ‘The way you feel right now, never feel that bad again.’ I had some body issues. He showed up to work one day with no shirt on, just walking around. Vince had called and said, ‘We want Brodus in trunks.’ I was like, ‘I don’t want to wear trunks. I’m trying to lose 100 pounds here.’ He was like, ‘If I can do it, you can do it.’ After that, I didn’t give a damn.”

On his issues with Cameron: “The situation with the girls – with Cameron and me – it was toxic. It was just so toxic and one night she made a mistake going out to the ring. The pyro went off because she took too long to get to the ring. I had to pull Matt [Bloom] down and we get to the back and I basically told her she sucked and in this day in age, you can’t tell a woman that she’s not good at her job, so it became a thing. I wouldn’t apologize because I was convinced she sucked. I don’t think I was too wrong on that, but it wasn’t my place to say it. It should have been coming from somebody else.”