#76 – Bruiser Brody v Lex Luger, January 1987

Black Cat no sells Dre’s jokes for an hour while teaching him some lessons about the legendary Bruiser Brody/Lex Luger match from Florida in 1987 and go over some great feedback from the board regarding the Beyond the Mat episode. This episode has been archived. It is available either by ordering the physical “OSWP Season 3 box set” with episodes 76-100 or it can be instantly downloaded in a digital version of the “OSWP Season 3 complete set” with episodes of 76-100. The physical box set will always be our favorite, as it comes with a full color booklet featuring art by our friend Dean Stahl and looks great on your bookshelf next to your coliseum home videos. The instant digital download version also comes with high resolution PDFs of the booklet that you can view on your computer. Both the physical box set and the digital download come with two bonus episodes featuring our reviews of the Clash of the Champions 9 and the Royal Rumble 1988. These episodes have never been available on flairchop.com. But if you only want to hear this one episode, we also offer the option of instantly downloading just the individual episode for a small price.

This episode has been archived in the Season 3 digital box set available for $9.99 at the OSWP Merch Store!

33 Comments

  1. Dirty Dawg Darsie says:

    Wait, Booker T opened the show? For real! Awesome!

    • Dogfaced Kremlin says:

      I have to agree that was pretty great! I wonder if Black Cat & Dre promised Booker they’d review some of those “epic” Harlem Heat-Nasty Boys battles from the Nitro years. Or dig way back to Global when they were the “Ebony Experience”?

  2. t-dog says:

    great show , cool opening from booker t

  3. Frankito says:

    wow if Virgil was going to charge you 500 bucks to cut an opening promo for the OSWP, Booker T must have cost you guys a few grand! those DVD Box set sales must be selling better than Bruiser Brody in a cage match with Lex Lugar.
    The Bruiser Brody Book is about 350 paged less that “Hitman”, but I have to agree witht he Black Cat, its probably a more interesting book, However, Gary Hart Book blows them both out of the water!

    thanks for another great show guys, i’m still holding out for a Kevin Sullivan/Dusty Episode
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2qMoQaUw4Q

  4. Eric says:

    What surprised me the most about Bruiser Brody, wasn’t even Brody himself. It was the first time I saw Bruiser Brody, I realized that John Nord/The Berzerker had completely stolen his gimmick. The furry boots, the beard, the incessant Hussing. I guess it’s not so bad since he stole the gimmmick while Brody was still alive. But it’s a sad state of affairs that if I had been a little younger when I first saw Brody, I would have been convinced that he was a poor man’s Berzerker.

    I’ll have to try and find this match, as Luger usually looks lost in a regular match, let alone one where his opponent is no selling everything. Will be very interesting to see Luger try and work on the fly and ad lib (guessing that’s not a strong suit of his regardless of when in his career it would be required).

    • Dogfaced Kremlin says:

      I could be mistaken, but I read somewhere that Bruiser & John Nord were great friends, and the “Hussing” and furry boots were Nord’s tribute to his murdered friend.

      As for the match, I tracked it down and watched it before listening to the podcast, and Luger really does look confused and timid in there. My favorite part was how S-L-O-W-L-Y Bruiser went from selling moderately well to selling absolutely nothing, then Luger has no recourse but to shove down the ref and get the hell out!

      • Eric says:

        That could be the case. I just remember seeing both guys on the old AWA shows on ESPN Classic. But they could have been years apart and I just didn’t realize it.

  5. Guys, you’ve made my week and I haven’t even listened to this yet!

  6. RealMansMan says:

    I too am by no means embarrassed by the fact that I am obsessed with wrestling, I just hate talking to non-wrestling fans about it! When someone comes into my house for the first time and they see my bookshelves full of wrestling figures, VHS and DVDs, the first reaction is usually a snicker (I can hear that noise in my mind right now..ugh!!), followed by a few questions trying to understand why a grown man enjoys watching two half-naked sweaty dudes roll around together on a mat… After that awkward conversation, they usually try to relate to me, which is cute. But 9 times out of 10 this attempt to prove they know about wrestling are statements like “Remember the Hulk Hogan?” or “Hey, hey…Remember the Stone Cold?” and “What do you think the Undertaker is doing now?”
    It’s just one big mess…

    Also, I’m a HUGE fan of Grunt: The Wrestling Movie. I’ve had the same VHS of it for many many years now and am suprised I haven’t worn it down from watching it so much! There are many great VHS only wrestling films that don’t get enough praise.

    Anyway, keep up the great work! I’m a long-time listener, but a first time commenter.

  7. The new Booker T open is great. So awesome that he was willing to do that for you guys.

    The show was great, but the ending clips leave me with a question:

    If you bought a car from a car dealership with Bruiser Brody in its ads, would you buy insurance from the company that uses Matt Morgan as their spokesperson?

    Keep up the great work.

  8. BJ says:

    Great show! I would argue though that Wendy Richter vs. Spiderwoman (Fabulous Moolah) would be the #2 “shoot” match in the modern age. Also, you mentioned the amazing detail that Larry Matyisk went into in his Wrestling at the Chase book. Well he did keep records for every match that he worked for the St. Louis promotion. In fact, he did audio interviews (http://57gold.com/Interviews.asp) covering every year of St. Louis wrestling, and ever card, from 1960-1983. If you have a lot of time to kill between the next Old School Wrestling Podcast, these are a great listen to learn about the St. Louis territory, in which the NWA revolved around.

    Awesome show today, and keep up the great work!

  9. BJ says:

    Oh! and by the way, I loved the Booker T open! Did you get at Wizard World in Chicago this past weekend?

    • Dre says:

      Yes I did, I was there on Saturday (no costume). Good times in Rosemont. I also got bumper recorded by Luke Perry for my other podcast, “the old school tiger beat magazine podcast.”

      • BJ says:

        Cool! I was there Friday and Saturday and spent most of the day Saturday in the CM Punk lines.

      • Dogfaced Kremlin says:

        Man, between the “Old School Marriage Podcast,” and “The Old School Tiger Beat Magazine Podcast,” it’s amazing Dre still finds the time to educate us on the sorrows of Crusher Blackwell! Kudos!

  10. Booker T doing a bumper to open the podcast = Pretty impressive. How’d you pull that off?

    Loved Dre’s Bill Alphonso impression.

    Dre, I’m impressed you said Dead Reckoning without calling him the Dead Reverend.

    I still wanna know what New Jack meant by chili sauce from the Beyond the Mat episode, although maybe I’ll regret inquiring once I hear it.

    I agree with BJ about Wendy Richter and Spiderlady because the #2 “shoot” incident.

  11. Kyle says:

    Hey Black cat and Dre, love the podcast just wanted to give you a bit of info on the Fort Lauderdale War Memorial, Besides the old Florida territory, ECW did run there many times and even on PPV with Hardcore Heaven 1997, Years earlier this is also the same building that Taz broke his neck in. Also MLW ran there a couple times with one show that included War Games!
    P.S. Being from Florida,Hooters and beer in the truck that we got from the drive thru liquor store hits 1986 Florida right on the head

    • Black Cat says:

      Didn’t know MLW ran there. I’ve heard about their shows via the podcast but haven’t seen them. Thanks for the confirmation on Florida 86.

  12. Paul says:

    Paul E. cut a pretty great promo on Brody and yet people see no reason whey we should have managers today.

    • Black Cat says:

      It’s a lost art. Also loved when a babyface would really just feud with a manager and his stable.

  13. JBLCENAFAN says:

    A good choice , a color outside the lines episode of O.S.P.W.P.. I wish you all would do an review of The Main Event episode where Savage fought Honky Tonk and Andre fought Hogan with a snippet of H. Foundation vs Strike Force…

  14. jblcenafan says:

    would also like to suggest a topic and episode called in defense of being a wrestling fan…

  15. Butt Douglas says:

    How long does it take to get my Midnight Rockers shirt from Bodyslam Incorporated?

  16. Uncle Soda says:

    Great choice, as always, guys. This was one the first things I got when I started tape trading back in those days. I guess the cage can keep the Horsemen out but it won’t keep Luger in. Speaking of exposing the business, it’s fun to see how fast Luger could escape the cage. Wasn’t this around the same as the Hogan/Orndorff SNME cage match. I think Mr. Wonderful still regrets hiring Luger as a cage escape consultant.

  17. Rather good episode. Loved the Fonzi (er, Bill Alphanzo not Henry Winkler) impression, too. Ha-ha at “this isn’t the old school fence podcast.” Though it would be interesting to do a compare/contrast segment on the size & types of fencing used in various territories matches.

    This inspired me to write up this post on Brody’s influence on the punk and metal scenes.
    http://squaredcirclepit.blogspot.com/2012/08/bruiser-brody-man-legend-music.html

    I completely agree with Frankito re: doing a episode (or two?!?) on the Sullivan-Dusty angle or really any “Satanic” Sullivan-era matches/angles. That’s my #1 thing I get obsesso about when it comes to all things squared circle.