‘I was lucky’ – Brutus Beefcake on career threatening injury

Brutus Beefcake was one of the more colorful characters in ’80s wrestling. Armed with a pair of hedge clippers, the ‘Barber’ often fought villains and teamed up with Hulk Hogan, even when their paths crossed in WCW.

However, during his time in the WWF, Beefcake was involved in a parasailing accident where a friend’s feet smashed into his face. This resulted in Beefcake being off of TV for years while getting facial reconstructive surgery, the results of which left him with metal plates on his head and questions on whether or not he would be able to wrestle again. However, he was soon able to come back to TV and wrestle for years after the accident.

With the release of his autobiography Struttin’ and Cuttin’ happening days earlier, Beefcake was a guest on the Why it Ended podcast to discuss certain topics covered in the autobiography. This included the accident and the preceding injury.

When asked about it, Beefcake said:

“It was hard to know. I had my face back together and stuff, and everything was cool, but it is hard to know at that point how you are going to proceed in the future in a business like ours where you have to take kicks and punches to your face, so it’s not an easy decision to make right there with how you are going to go about it, but I was lucky.

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The ‘Barber’ continued:

“I had the best doctor on the planet, and regardless of what he had said about me never wrestling again. I wrestled and his deal he told me that I was going to end up being stronger than I could be after I heal up. He told me that I was going to heal and be better than before, which I did. I healed even bigger, better and stronger than I ever was when I was younger and I became a superhero. It’s funny, but I was just blessed with the strength to being dead, so how do you come back from that? That is what happened to me and that is what I did. I came back from that.”

What are your favorite memories of Brutus Beefcake? Let us know in the comments below, on Twitter or on Discord!

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