In addition to Best of the WWF and other compilations, by 1988 Coliseum Home Video was putting out a few wrestler profiles every year that usually served to promote a midcard guy getting a push at the time like Jake the Snake, Ken Patera, and now Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake.
Mean Gene Okerlund says hello, and asks that you let Coliseum Video introduce you to… Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake.
Mean Gene handles the studio bits, though Lord Alfred Hayes provides the little commentary before each match. Beefcake’s story is framed as one in which he came to the WWF hanging with bad guys and was never a happy man until he turned babyface and began cutting hair. Checks out.
Brutus Beefcake and Johnny Valiant on TNT (TNT 10/30/84)
Brutus first appeared in the WWF in July managed by Johnny Valiant, introduced with the gimmick of a male stripper from San Francisco. Cue all the stupid jokes for a couple years. Coliseum Video sadly doesn’t include Beefcake’s insane striptease at The Main Event Night Club that TNT aired before this interview, so all we get is Johnny talking and talking as Brutus stays silent. It was actually a part of the Beefcake character for a while that he just didn’t speak, I assume some kind of in-joke due to bad mic skills. He got there.
1. WWF World Heavyweight Title: Brutus Beefcake w/ Johnny Valiant vs. Hulk Hogan [c] (Capital Centre 8/17/85)
Beefcake’s heel singles work in the WWF is overshadowed by The Dream Team and The Barber, but it was amazingly solid before he realized the nothing he could get away with. For a little while he used a combination of athleticism, snug work, and cheesy heel shtick to have some quality wrestling matches. He makes for an above average blank slate heel for 1985 Hogan to go up against, while Hogan sells admirably enough among big Hogan crowd heat and a nice gritty 80s vibe.
Brutus keeps stomping and dropping knees until a Hogan comeback that isn’t completely telegraphed: he hits the Axe Bomber, big boot, bodyslam, and legdrop, then covers… but Johnny V jumps on the apron and grabs Hogan. Brutus charges with a knee, Johnny goes down, and a Hogan rollup gets 3. Hogan gave his buddy Brutus all of it. ***1/2
Highlights of The Dream Team/British Bulldogs rivalry
Beefcake began teaming with Greg Valentine in May 1985, creating Johnny V’s Dream Team. They won the WWF Tag Team Titles from Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo just a week after that Hogan/Beefcake match and eventually came to blows with the up-and-coming British Bulldogs. This tape shows two the last few minutes of two Tag Titles matches: Bulldogs beating the champs by DQ in October when Johnny V pushed Dynamite off the ropes, and the excellent Bulldogs title win at WrestleMania 2. Including the full Mania 2 match would’ve probably upped the quality of this experience, but we’ve got hair cutting to get to! I guess that match has been on like every Coliseum tape too.
Highlights of Brutus Beefcake becoming The Barber
The Dream Team spent the rest of 1986 continuing to feud with the Bulldogs in an effort to regain their championships but also struggling to stay relevant in the WWF midcard. At the start of 1987, an innocent 6-man on Superstars ended with The Can-Am Connection & Leaping Lanny Poffo defeating Beefcake, Valentine and Adrian Adonis when Adonis, who fashioned himself a styling man, cut a lock of Beefcake’s hair off by mistake.
Losing a bit of his hair apparently drove Beefcake insane, a stretch I know but this is the WWF in 1987 we are talking about: “Adonis, you FAT SLIMY SLOB, how dare you touch a hair on Beefcake’s head… how dare you touch me – a mistake!”
His breakdown led into WrestleMania III where The Dream Team defeated The Rougeau Brothers in one of the show’s three random tag matches with the help of Dino Bravo, who had started hanging with them. Valentine and Bravo ditched poor Brutus after the match, but he returned to the ring after the next match where Adrian Adonis lost to the departing Rowdy Roddy Piper in a Hair vs. Hair Match and got revenge by helping out. I won’t say any of this is GOOD but it sure is the WWF putting their all into something.
5. Brutus Beefcake vs. Johnny V (Prime Time 8/3/87)
Brutus, now named Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and carrying around a huge pair of scissors (along with a ring jacket), was meant to feud with Adonis but Adonis left (ahem) the WWF soon after Mania. Beefcake began working loops with ol’ Johnny V, this match in particular from Boston Garden on 7/11/87.
Johnny already had his hair buzzed by Beefcake once on TV, and here he’s doing ALLLL the shtick. Johnny works this so over-the-top bumbling and wobbling goofball heel that this feud might’ve turned Vince McMahon off to the idea of 80s heels altogether. It’s not great but vaguely effective for Boston. Beefcake cuts more hair after then just aggressively, maybe dangerously spray paints hair dye up and down Valiant’s head and chest. You can see gobs of aerosol floating through the air and through V’s nostrils as Alfred Hayes cracks up on commentary. *3/4
Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Brutus Beefcake
Brutus figures out his vibe live on WWF TV and talks to his enemies, The NEW Dream Team.
6. Brutus Beefcake vs. Greg Valentine w/ Jimmy Hart (Superstars 11/28/87)
The Dream Team COLLIDES, though they’d have a more high profile match in a few months on Saturday Night’s Main Event. This is Valentine’s first match with Jimmy Hart back as his manager, The New Dream Team already disbanded after Survivor Series. The match is decent, nothing fancy but the crowd is hot and Valentine doesn’t get a shot at slowing down before a double DQ finish. **1/2 is good shit for Superstars. Valentine locks Beefcake in the figure-four after the bell forever forever as the crowd gets behind The Barber, and eventually Barber grabs the scissors like they are his life force and the bad guys scramble away.
7. Brutus Beefcake vs. Honky Tonk Man w/ Jimmy Hart (Wrestling Challenge 11/1/87)
This future Intercontinental Title match at WrestleMania IV takes place on Wrestling Challenge, two guys who maybe better than anybody rode the wave of Hulkamania. They got their gimmicks and had a ton of nothing-fancy matches as they toured the world and ensured themselves notoriety for years after. The match is short and forgettable but damnit if it didn’t work for that crowd in attendance. Beefcake gets Honky Tonk in the sleeper but Jimmy Hart runs in for the DQ. Beefcake grabs THE SCISSORS but Danny Davis, Beefcake’s rival after Johnny V, makes the save. *3/4
8. Brutus Beefcake vs. Danny Davis w/ Jimmy Hart (Wrestling Challenge 11/22/87)
Survivor Series is a few days away and Sam Houston, ready and willing to feud with Danny Davis next, cuts in with a little promo. Beefcake basically immediately became a less over and coordinated Hogan, and it’s FINE. He has his spots and fun as Davis bumps around for him and stalls on the floor. Beefcake does the 10-count punch, Jimmy Hart jumps to the top rope in a panic, and Beefcake tosses him onto Davis then covers for 3. Jimmy gets the sleeper and a little haircut, blah blah blah. Poor Jimmy Hart had to work Matilda then the Barber, what a champ. *1/2
9. Brutus Beefcake vs. Ted DiBiase w/ Virgil (Boston Garden 9/12/87)
Beefcake is in spiffy new pink-and-black gear and despite that and the scissors and his general vibe, he is looking ultra-serious for this match with The Million Dollar Man, who tells him to take his money and go back to barber school because DiBiase’s gonna win anyways. Beefcake looks to the crowd and socks him, then grabs the cash and hands it to fans who were able to afford front row seats – UGH, the rich just keep getting richer.
This match completely works. The crowd is all in on Beefcake as he goes at DiBiase, who is already a fully formed wrestler and WWF character. It’s a great heel DiBiase performance where he does all the right things at all the right times to keep the WWF crowd angry and entertained. After some raucous back-and-forth, Virgil hops on the apron and DiBiase rolls up Beefcake for 3. Say what you will, but this crowd was chanting for Beefcake. ***
Brutus Beefcake visits stylist Sal Fodera (Superstars 8/29/87)
In an effort to become better at cutting hair, Brutus visited famous stylist Sal Fodera of Salon Fodera in New York. Sal draws pictures of instruction as Beefcake makes thinking faces, then gets a diploma that says he graduated from the world-renowned Fodera Hair Styling School and can cut anywhere in the world – but only in the wrestling ring. I don’t know. 1987, you know?
10. Brutus Beefcake vs. Dino Bravo w/ Johnny V (Wrestling Challenge 5/24/87)
This isn’t quite the collision between Dream Team and New Dream it might appear to be on paper, and it’s fun how WWF is promote other feuds during half of these Beefcake TV matches because they were rarely the most important thing. The Rougeau Brothers call out Bravo and Valentine as approximately 18% of the crowd enjoys Brutus knocking Bravo around. Johnny and Valentine run-in, figure-four by Bravo, Rougeau Brothers run-in, whatever. *
Craig DeGeorge interviews Brutus Beefcake
Beefcake in his shades says he’s gonna turn Johnny’s New Dream team into a… NIGHTMARE!!! Might be something to be said about how cheesy and obvious all of Beefcake’s lines were. Is it bad or is it charming??
11. Brutus Beefcake & The Rougeau Brothers vs. Iron Mike Sharpe, Jimmy Jack Funk & Johnny K-9 (Superstars 6/27/87)
Beefcake’s Coliseum Home Video ends with a 6-man squash match with his new pals The Rougeau Brothers. We don’t get one of the many Beefcake/Rougeaus vs. New Dream Team/Johnny tags, but we sure do get a squash to build it up! I wondered why – did the match not happen? Nope. I looked it up. It did. And now I’m mad I looked it up. New Dream Team checks in with a promo, then the bad guys lose. Iron Mike brawls with Beefcake and the crowd is all AWWWW I KNOW WHAT’S COMING and Beefcake cuts some hair. *
Happy Thoughts: The first part of this is a recap of a decent gimmick’s origins, and then it’s a bunch of Brutus Beefcake TV matches. Hogan vs. Beefcake from Maryland is Actually Good – the rest is not. 3/10
