Tony Atlas Reveals Grisly Details of Bruiser Brody's Murder

Tuesday marks 30 years since the death of professional wrestling legend Bruiser Brody. As time has [...]

By Jeremy Snodgrass

Tuesday marks 30 years since the death of professional wrestling legend Bruiser Brody. As time has passed it's become increasingly evident that Brody was murdered by Jose Gonzalez in a Puerto Rican locker room.

WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas was not only there for the incident but was the first to respond to the fallen Brody.

In an interview with Hannibal TV, Atlas shared his memory of the moments before after and during the attack on Brody.

Atlas and Brody have a locker room conversation interrupted by Gonzalez who asked to speak with Brody. Atlas remember a towel being wrapped about Gonzalez's hand.

"Brody turned around -- he still had his bag in his hand," Atlas said. "He turned around and stepped one foot in the shower and then the other foot in the shower. As soon as the second foot hit the shower I hear this sound, 'oooowa! ooooowa!" just like that. The second time he did it, he bent over and I looked up. The first time he did it I thought he got punched. I thought, 'damn Jose hit hard, they're fighting.'

"So when he bent over Jose lifted the knife in the air and I saw the knife and the blood dripping off it. So I jump up and grab Brody and pull him away -- the knife came down and cut Brody's ponytail off. That's how sharp the knife was," he said.

Atlas remember how unassuming Brody was the moments before he was stabbed. Brody had just asked Atlas to draw a picture of his son. In the same instant Broday took out a picture of his son, Gonzalez entered the picture.

"He had no idea, he didn't even put his bag down," Atlas said. "He had his wrestling bag and he just carried a little pouch with his money and everything in it and he was looking at me drawing. It was the last thing on his mind. Then he reached into his pouch to get a picture of his son. He reached to give the picture to me and I reached to get the picture and before I could do that Jose said, 'can I talk to you?' Brody turned so I never got the picture. He walked into the shower with his pouch in one hand and a picture of his son in the other hand."

Because of the congestion around the arena, it took 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Despite the clear locker room murder, Atlas remembers most of the wrestlers acting like nothing happened. When the ambulance finally arrived the emergency team didn't have the strength to lift Brody, so Atlas had to help.

Brody was stabbed through the liver and intestine. Doctors quickly fixed his intestine and told Atlas to leave while they worked on Brody's liver. Atlas returned to the arena where no one seemed to care about the stabbing.

"When I came back to the dressing room the blood hadn't dried on the floor yet," Atlas said. "I hear laughing and joking and everybody's bragging about their match."

At that time, heel and face were kept in separate locker rooms, and Atlas couldn't tell anyone what happened until his match with the Iron Sheik. Upon hearing the news, Iron Sheik cut the match short.

Atlas was questioned by the police and was able to easily point out Gonzalez as the perpetrator. However, the day Savio Vega told Atlas that he needed to leave Puerto Rico because there were plans in place to have him murdered.

The murder of Bruiser Brody did go to trial but Gonzalez was found not guilty after the court decided he had acted in self-defense. Atlas wasn't subpoenaed until after the guilty verdict.

"The last image I got of Brody was him laying down, holding his intestines in with one hand," Atlas said. "The other hand he was holding onto a picture of his son. That's how the man left this world. Holding his intestines and his son... that's how he left this world."

[H/T Wrestling Inc.]

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