WWE Hall Of Famer Credits Hulk Hogan For Coming Up With His Name
A WWE Hall of Famer has named Hulk Hogan as somebody that helped come up with his name that wrestling fans will never forget.
The name Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake is something that lifelong WWE fans are never going to forget. Whether he was wrestling in the ring, hosting his talk show or hanging around with his buddy Hulk Hogan, Brutus had a legendary career that landed him in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.
During an episode of Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast that was recorded on the most recent Jericho Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Cruiser, Beefcake (real name Ed Leslie) talked about how he got his wrestling name in WWE when he started there in 1984.
“Vince’s wife [Linda McMahon] thought up the name ‘Beefcake. So that’s how it went. Hulk Hogan and Vince sat in the office … [and] Hulk says, ‘What about Brutus? What about Brutus Beefcake?'”
Brutus would go on to say that he wasn’t thrilled with the name at first, but then he realized it was a name that “nobody could forget.”
When it came to the “Barber” part of the name, Brutus was used in a unique spot at WrestleMania 3. Earlier in that show, Brutus and his partner Greg Valentine broke up as a team, which would lead to Brutus becoming a singles babyface wrestler.
In the next match at WrestleMania 3, Roddy Piper beat Adrian Adonis in a Hair vs. Hair Match. That led to Brutus showing up clippers to shave Adonis’ head, which would lead to the name Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake name after that.
As for how he would use the “barber” name in his matches, Brutus said he had to get creative.
“I had to get real creative. Nobody’s ever been a barber in our business, you know? So it’s like, okay, what can I do? Alright, well every time I wrestle a guy, I’ll put him to sleep. I’m going to cut his hair off. That’s definitely never happened in our business before, and hasn’t really happened since.”
Brutus and Hulk Hogan were the best of friends for many years during their wrestling careers. They teamed up together at WrestleMania 9 against Money Inc to win by disqualification in one of their biggest matches together.
When Hulk Hogan went to WCW in 1994, Brutus went with him although he had a lot of different and forgettable names in WCW. Some fans might remember The Butcher, The Zodiac, The Booty Man, The Disciple and so on, but if you don’t remember them, that’s probably a good thing anyway.