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Radio station WHTZ 100.3 FM in New York City is running advertisements pushing tickets for the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame and listed Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake among the inductees for the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame class, so there's your final Hall of Famer.
Born Ed Leslie in Florida, Beefcake, now 61 years old, grew up with WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan and broke into the business with him, including a period where they were billed as The Boulder Brothers. Hogan and Ivan Koloff have both been billed as Beefcake's trainer. Beefcake worked for Mid-South and Memphis among other territories but really staked his claim to fame as Brutus Beefcake when he was brought into the WWF in 1984.
Beefcake had a long run with the WWF, debuting as a heel in the mid-1980s managed by Johnny Valiant. After a singles run, including challenging Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship, Beefcake was teamed with Greg Valentine as the Dream Team, capturing the WWF Tag Team Championships from The U.S. Express, Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham. The duo had a celebrated feud with The British Bulldogs, losing the titles to them in Los Angeles at Wrestlemania 2 in 1986.
The team with Valentine continued for another year until the planned retirement of Roddy Piper led Beefcake in another direction. Piper was feuding with Adrian Adonis and was billed for a Wrestlemania III retirement match, promising to leave, "win, lose or draw." As an added stipulation, the match was made hair vs. hair. To build heat for the feud, Adonis was cutting the hair of enhancement talents he beat. During a six man tag bout on WWF TV, he accidentally cut the hair of Beefcake, who up until that point had been presented as a heel male stripper from San Francisco, so needless to say, Beefcake was upset.
This led to issues with Valiant and Valentine, who abandoned him in the ring after a loss at Wrestlemania III. Beefcake would return later that night, helping to wake up Roddy Piper and assist him in defeating Adonis. Beefcake assisted in cutting off Adonis' hair and was henceforth billed as Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, cutting opponents hair and putting them out with a sleeper. WWF did vignettes where Beefcake learned to become a master barber.
Beefcake quickly became one of the most popular babyfaces in the company, feuding with Valentine and Adonis before moving on to chase The Honkytonk Man for the Intercontinental title. WWF ran an injury angle that was Rion Bass run steel spurs over his face, bloodying him and "preventing him" from competing for the title at Summerslam 1988. That was all storyline to set up The Ultimate Warrior becoming the new IC Champion as a surprise.
Beefcake moved on to feud with Bass and then teamed with longtime friend Hulk Hogan against Randy Savage and Zeus. He was built for a IC title win at Summerslam 1989 against Curt Hennig, only to end up hospitalized following a real-life parasailing accident that nearly killed them when a woman crashed into his face, knees-first. Had Brian Blair not been there, it's quite possible Beefcake would have died and it was many months of surgeries and rehab before he was healthy again.
Beefcake didn't wrestle again for a long time, instead hosting a Barber Shop interview segment and doing stunts on Hulk Hogan's film and TV projects. He was utilized as an unnamed, furry, masked character who attacked heels but the idea was discarded and quickly forgotten. In early 1993, he finally returned to the ring on one of the first episodes of Monday Night Raw, facing Ted DiBiase in a match that was set up during an interview segment with Vince McMahon where Beefcake explained all the issues he had dealt with since being injured and nearly dying. This led to DiBiase and IRS (the former Mike Rotunda) beating Beefcake's face with a steel briefcase, with the idea they were trying to undo everything he had fixed. The story was that the attack was so heinous that even Jimmy Hart wanted nothing to do with it and turned babyface trying to protect Beefcake. The attack brought Hulk Hogan back to TV after an extended absence and set up the paid, billed as the Mega-Maniacs, facing Money, Inc. at Wrestlemania IX.
Hogan left WWF shortly after and ventured to New Japan. Beefcake followed. Hogan then headed to WCW, where Beefcake played a litany of characters, including The Man with No Name, The Booty Man, The Zodiak and The Butcher. Beefcake was at first Hogan's best friend billed as Brother Bruti but then shockingly turned on Hogan at Halloween Havoc '94, being revealed as the masked man who had been attacking him. Even more shocking was that Beefcake vs. Hogan main evented Starrcade that year, literally proving that the old ties to what WCW and Starrcade meant to hardcore wrestling fans in the 1980s and 1990s were severed for a new vision. Beefcake would play all those different characters before ending up again at Hogan's side in the NWO as The Disciple, finally leaving WCW in 1999.
Until this induction, Beefcake had never returned to WWF. There were legal arguments over whether he held the rights to the name or gimmick. He remained a big part of Hogan's projects, including working as a trainer for Celebrity Championship Wrestling. Beefcake was also a consistent figure on the independent scene for many years, working with other former WWF talents or locals, many of whom ended up with a haircut.
Beefcake released a very good autobiography last year, titled Strutting & Cutting.
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