Gerald Brisco

Gerald Brisco
Brisco at WrestleMania Axxess in 2014
Birth name Gerald Floyd Brisco
Born (1946-01-24) January 24, 1946
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States[1]
Residence Tampa, Florida, United States
Spouse(s) Barbara Brisco
Children 2, including Wes Brisco
Family Jack Brisco (brother)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Gerald Brisco
Jerry Brisco
Oklahoma Chickasaw
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2]
Billed weight 209 lb (95 kg; 14.9 st)[1]
Billed from Blackwell, Oklahoma[2]
Trained by Jack Brisco
Debut 1969[1]
Retired 1985[1]

Gerald Floyd Brisco (born January 24, 1946) is an American retired professional wrestler, currently employed by the professional wrestling promotion WWE as a talent scout.[2][1]

Debuting in 1969, Brisco wrestled for multiple National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories throughout the 1970s and early-1980s, in particular Championship Wrestling from Florida and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, winning dozens of championships. Throughout his career, he teamed with his elder brother Jack as The Brisco Brothers. After retiring in 1985, Brisco moved into a backstage role with the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE). He had a late career resurgence between 1997 and 2000 alongside fellow veteran wrestler Pat Patterson as the onscreen "stooge" of WWE chairman Vince McMahon. Both Briscos were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.

Amateur wrestling career

Gerald Brisco grew up with five siblings and an absent father in Oklahoma. He followed his brother, Jack Brisco, into amateur wrestling, and was eventually awarded an athletic scholarship to Oklahoma State after winning two AAU tournaments.and only losing two HS matches placing second in Oklahoma States in his only two years of HS wrestling due to broken leg in football. He was a starter on the OSU freshman team winning several matches and tournaments.

During the spring break of 1968, Brisco was in Missouri with Jack, and was asked to substitute for his brother's injured tag team partner despite his lack of professional training. After Brisco contracted hepatitis and injured his knee, he decided to drop out of college and become a full-time professional wrestler.

Professional wrestling career

The Brisco Brothers (1969–1984)

Brisco in 1979

Brisco was trained by his brother and debuted in 1969 as his tag team partner, using the name Gerald Brisco. The Brisco Brothers were a highly successful team, amassing over twenty tag team championships over the course of thirteen years. They arrived in Florida in 1970 (with Brisco becoming Jerry Brisco) and dominated the singles and tag divisions for several years thereafter. It was also in the late 1970s that the Briscos discovered Terry Bollea, the future wrestling legend best known as Hulk Hogan, who they introduced to Hiro Matsuda for training. Jerry Brisco would amass a number of singles championships throughout the 1970s, including becoming the first holder of Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship.[3] On June 20, 1981 he defeated Les Thornton for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

In 1983, while teaming in the Mid-Atlantic territory, the brothers turned heel against the team of Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, the NWA World Tag Team Champions.[4]

The two teams traded the belts back and forth until the feud culminated at the first Starrcade, with Steamboat and Youngblood regaining the championship. The brothers would hold the title one last time in 1984, ultimately losing to the team of Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood. They would leave the Mid-Atlantic area shortly after.

The Briscos held minority interests in Georgia Championship Wrestling. In 1984, dissatisfied with the direction of the company and smaller than expected dividends, they convinced equally disgruntled majority shareholder Paul Jones to give them proxy voting of his shares.[5] The three men and Jim Barnett sold their shares to Vince McMahon, enabling him to increase his dominance of the professional wrestling world.[6]

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE (1984–present)

Brisco in 2012 at WrestleMania Axxess.

The brothers entered the World Wrestling Federation in the fall of 1984, once again assuming their familiar role as fan favorites. The Briscos unsuccessfully challenged the North-South Connection, Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch, for the WWF World Tag Team Championship. Both men would retire from the ring in early 1985. After retiring, Brisco began working backstage as a road agent and booker for McMahon.

Following the 1997 Montreal Screwjob, Brisco capitalized on his notoriety by becoming an onscreen "stooge" of Vince McMahon along with Pat Patterson. The duo portrayed a pair of bumbling comic heels and joined The Corporation and the McMahon-Helmsley Faction. They lampooned Hulk Hogan (then working for World Championship Wrestling, the rival of WWF) by mimicking his trademark gestures and using "Real American", his old entrance theme.

Brisco in drag at King of the Ring

On the May 18, 2000 episode of SmackDown! Brisco won his first WWF championship when he pinned a sleeping Crash Holly to win the perpetually contested Hardcore Championship. Crash regained the title on June 12 but Brisco was intent on regaining. He pursued Holly around New York City but ran afoul of John Shaft, who had agreed to protect Holly. Brisco eventually regained the title the following week with the aid of Pat Patterson in the midst of a match between Crash and his cousin, Hardcore Holly.

As Patterson and Brisco celebrated the victory, Patterson poured champagne in Brisco's eyes then broke a second bottle over his head. He then pinned the (kayfabe) unconscious Brisco to win the Hardcore Championship. Patterson hid from Brisco in drag in the women's locker room, and, after Brisco pursued him into the locker room, Vince McMahon booked them in a Hardcore Evening Gown Match at the King of the Ring. In the course of the match, Holly interfered and pinned Patterson, regaining the title once again.

On July 15, 2005, Brisco was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. He appeared at WrestleMania 23 in a party scene and also on the July 23, 2007 edition of RAW. On March 29, 2008, Brisco and his brother were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before WrestleMania XXIV in Orlando, Florida.

In June 2009, Brisco suffered three strokes.[7] Four months later, it was announced that Brisco would not be returning to his position as a road agent in WWE.[8] In March 2010, Jerry Brisco did return to the WWE as a talent scout and recruiter for NXT. According to Jim Ross, on October 19, 2011, Brisco suffered another stroke, a minor one.[9]

Personal life

Brisco is married. He and his wife Barbara have two sons named Wesley (born 1983) who is also a professional wrestler, known as Wes Brisco, a former FCW Tag Team Champion and Joseph who is a grad student at USF Tampa.[10] Brisco also co-owned a body shop with his brother Bill, and longtime partner Travis Allred, known as the Brisco Brothers Body Shop which is now closed. (As of 1/12/2018 the body shop is open for business) Jack Brisco was also a partner in the business before his death in 2010. The Briscos were inducted into the Chickasaw Nation Hall Of Fame in June 2016. On August 11, 2018, Brisco was inducted into the NWHOF Florida Chapter as “Outstanding American.”

Championships and accomplishments

Brisco (right) with his brother Jack being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.
  1. ↑ While almost always defended in the Southeastern Championship Wrestling promotion, Brisco won the championship while working on a card hosted by Georgia Championship Wrestling via a working relationship between the two promotions.

References

General source

[G] - Hisaharu Tanabe. "Pro-Wrestling Title Histories". wrestling-titles.com.

Specific
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Gerald Brisco". Cagematch.net. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "Gerald Brisco". WWE. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  3. ↑ Dick Bourne. "Jerry Brisco: First Ever Mid-Atlantic Champion". midatlanticgateway.com.
  4. ↑ Mike Mooneyham. "Ageless Ricky Steamboat good guy inside and outside the wrestling ring". postandcourier.com. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Black Saturday: The unbelievable story of the original invasion". wwe.com.
  6. ↑ David Shoemaker (2013). The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-101-60974-3.
  7. ↑ J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q. "Jerry Brisco Calls J.R......An Update". jrsbarbq.com.
  8. ↑ "Blogger: Aanmelden". Rasslinriotnews.blogspot.com. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Jim Ross on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Wes Brisco". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
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