 The Interactive
Interview is pleased to welcome a WrestleMania veteran as we go through the
classic WrestleMania memories in an exclusive interview, Brutus "The Barber"
Beefcake!
BRUTUS "THE BARBER" BEEFCAKE
-- The next show we are hyping is the Ed Leslie (Brutus
Beefcake) interview which contains our pit stop on the Road to Wrestlemania
with Wrestlemania 11 and 12 recaps as we are joined by Wrestling Epicenter
Forums member RSBH123!
-- Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's theme song borrowed
from Smackdown VS RAW for Playstation 2 which you can purchase by visiting
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=theinteract04-20&path=tg/detail/-/B0002RQ3KC/qid=1111746088/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1?v=glance&s=videogames&n=507846
plays loud and proud as Erik introduces Ed Leslie to the show. Ed is doing
well as he joins the show.
-- Erik asks how close the real friendship is between
Ed and Hulk Hogan. "Best of the best, man. He's more of a brother than my
real brother. He was there for me in 1990 when I had my accident. Basically
I was high and dry. He was there -- Pulled me out of the fire. Fed me, took
care of me, clothed me, got me back on my feet, got me back in the wrestling
business... I owe him everything!"
-- James mentions a quote by a former guest, Bruno
Sammartino, where he basically says without Hulk Hogan, Brutus Beefcake wouldn't
have been successful in the wrestling business. Ed replies with, "What do
you expect from a freaking loser like him? He's just pissed off because I
beat his ass in his home town of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He got his ass
whooped by a guy in pink tights. I guess you can understand why he's a little
upset. I kicked his ass... His kids ass too... All the Sammartinos are losers,
you know? I played Hulk's brother for 6 years, okay? When Hulk decided, not
anybody else, that it was time for me to go on my own, he didn't want me
to only be known as Hulk's little brother. He felt I had plenty of talent
to make it on my own, he wanted people to see that." Ed goes on to say that
Brutus Beefcake was a success and was never linked with Hulk Hogan and Brutus
"The Barber" Beefcake was an even more huge success, he teamed with Hulk
Hogan a few times but Ed feels he did it on his own talents.
-- "Did Hulk Hogan go out and wrestle for me? Did Hulk
Hogan... Thousands of matches! Man events! Pay per views! No! Brutus Beefcake
went out there, got the job done and that's all there is too it, man."
-- Jake Roberts shared a funny story with us stating
that the name Brutus Beefcake came to be because Beefcake was a popular gay
magazine in the San Francisco area and Brutus came from, "Oh, he's such a
brute!" This is mentioned to Ed in a jovial way and turns a little ugly.
"Jake Roberts is running around with about half a freakin' brain cell after
he smoked 500,000 pounds of crack so what would you expect out of him? He
can tell you a good story... I'm sure he can tell you a good story but as
far as there being any truth in it, NO!"
-- The name actually came from a meeting with Hulk, Vince,
and Linda McMahon. Linda liked the name Beefcake and Hulk came up with the
name Brutus. Originally, they were going to call him Baron Beefcake.
-- Ed goes on to talk about how he came up with his own
look and colorful attire which is a trademark of Brutus Beefcake. "I was
the originator, not the immolator, brother. Lets get it freakin' straight.
I was the man that f***
ing pioneered all this shit. All these other clowns came along and copied
everything I did."
-- James asks about how he enjoyed teaming with Greg
"The Hammer" Valentine as part of the "Dream Team." Ed says those were some
of the best days of his life and says he and Greg are still great friends.
"He's a great friend, a great person, and a great wrestler... Second generation
wrestler!"
-- Erik asks about the idea to become "The Barber." Ed
says, "As far as I know, it was something Pat Patterson probably cooked up.
As far as I know, his gay lover, his name was Louie, was a hairdresser. As
far as I knew, I took it as a rib on me because Brutus Beefcake was getting
over huge. Why would you change something that was getting over huge? That's
like taking Hulk Hogan and saying, "Oh, you can't be Hulk Hogan now. Now
that you're getting over huge, lets change your name!" To me, brother, it
was a screw job. But at the end of the day, because I am a talented and pretty
whiley coyote, I turned it around, made it Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake,
turned it around, took it 10 levels farther than they ever even dreamed about
and made a huge success, even bigger than Brutus Beefcake, out of the barber!
Blew everybody's mind! Nobody ever thought I could do it! I didn't do it
because I was Hulk Hogan's friend, brother. I did it because I've got talent,
I've got know how, I've got will power! I got out there and kicked ass until
both shoes were shitty."
-- James chimes in to let Ed know that he does not fall
under the same mind set as Bruno Sammartino on this subject. As a fan of
the business, he understands that if you make it and succeed in the WWF/E,
it's like making it in the NFL in Football. You wouldn't be there unless
somebody thought you had the talent to be there and you wouldn't be successful
unless you actually are talented and above the rest.
-- Erik jumps in to ask about Summerslam 1988. Brutus
was over and was prepared for the Intercontinental Title when all of a sudden
Beefcake was taken out of the match and the Ultimate Warrior was put in.
"Well, the Warrior threatened to quit... He's a big cry-baby. And, I guess
that was how Vince had to playcate him, by giving him the title. Was I getting
pushed aside? Yeah, I was kind of getting screwed."
-- "I had 8 titanium plates, 32 screws, 100 feet of stainless
steel wire in my skull. As far as me being okay? Yeah, I'm 100%. As for as
being able to wrestle. Yeah, I do it. As far as doctors clearing me to wrestle,
no. It would be insanity for anybody to clear me after that kind of surgery...
They didn't want me driving a car. I had to go on with my life. I couldn't
just lay in a bed for the rest of my life."
-- Ed says it's all about cojones. "Are you going to
be a pussy and lay down and die or are you going to keep fighting? Brutus
Beefcake is a fighter. That's why I am a success. That is why I will always
be a success!"
-- James asks if Ed enjoyed the "Barber Shop." "Absolutely.
The Barber Shop was another huge success that they had to bury. I was getting
over too big! They had to figure out another way to take it down too. When
you get over too much, people want to chop you down and bring you back to
Earth."
-- The common belief among the Internet elite is that
Curt Hennig was to be the masked man that would attack Hulk Hogan in WCW.
But, contract signings never materialized with Curt and Ed was put in his
place. Ed says this was not true.
-- Ed has fond memories of Curt Hennig. He mentions that
Curt was one of his best friends and he knew Curt and his father very well.
He sounds a little down when discussing this subject.
-- Erik rattles off a list of all the gimmicks Ed Leslie
had in WCW including Brother Bruti, The Butcher, The Man Without a Name,
The Man Without a Face, The Zodiac, The Bootyman, The Disciple, and his real
name Ed Leslie. Erik asks what one of the bunch was his favorite and why.
"The Disciple was definitely my favorite and at the end of the day, because
of trademark problems, not being able to do Brutus Beefcake... They kept
saying they cannot repackage me because I was just too well known as Brutus
Beefcake.
"So, Hulk and I sat down, cooked up the gimmick and no
one, and I mean no one, knew I was the Brutus Beefcake. And the gimmick got
over and when it kept getting over, thanks to a jealous prick named Eric
Bischoff and his bunch of cronies, once again, a person they said couldn't
be repackaged... I came out and blew everybody's minds! And then they came
out with this One Warrior Nation. They handed me off to the Warrior, the
Warrior quit, and that left me out in no man's land."
-- Was Ed surprised WCW went down the way it did? "Not
at all! How can you screw up such a good thing. Well, when you've got some
of the people Bischoff hired and fired... I don't want to name names. He
cut his own throat, killed the territory almost single handedly, Diamond
Dallas Page being one of the others. There's just no talent, guys that just
don't want to work, all they want to do is get paid... They got what they
wanted. They hired a bunch of losers... Got rid of all the guys that were
money makers. What happened to the company? They went bankrupt."
-- Ed still loves getting in the ring. He feels after
29 years of doing it, you can't just stop. He adds that is unless you're
bitter towards the business like Sammartino is.
-- Ed says it is not his decision if he should make it
to the WWE Hall of Fame or not but he says he would like to be. His guess
is he would be one day but the guys they have been inducting are a few years
older than he is and were around longer.
-- Ed believes Nikolai Volkoff was just kidding with
us when he made the remark about Hulk Hogan killing the business. It is obvious
by Ed's laugh that the statement is just so ridiculous that he can't believe
Nikolai would actually say it. I, James Walsh, both believe Nikolai meant
it and it is perhaps the most ridiculous thing he could have said. How could
a guy that set all kinds of attendance records have been bad for the business?
That's like saying KISS was bad for music because they painted their face
and blew stuff up... It sold. Like it or love it, it sold.
-- Last year, a story broke about Ed being caught with
cocaine at work and causing an anthrax scare. Ed says it was a misunderstanding
at work and goes on to say, "I'm not perfect." He then poses a question to
us asking if we have ever heard of someone getting caught in a drug bust
and them not getting charged? James says, "Not unless they are guilty." Ed
was never charged with anything.
-- Ed is gearing up for the big Valiant Brothers Reunion
show on May 14 in New Jersey. For all information regarding the big show,
check out www.WrestlingThenandNow.com. The event will feature Brutus Beefcake,
Greg Valentine, Nikolai Volkoff, "Genius" Lanny Poffo, Captain Lou Albano,
and all 3 Valiant brothers!
-- We then roll into word associations with names such
as Ric Flair, Eric Bischoff, Vince McMahon, and more! Want to hear these
colorful responses? Only one way to do it! Listen! It's free!
-- We then roll into the recap discussing Wrestlemania
11 and 12 on our Road to Wrestlemania tour! We then roll out to a little
Buckcherry as they rip off KISS' Shock Me guitar riff with Lit Up. Hey, it's
still a good song!
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