Wrestling / Brodus Clay

We gon' rip it up!

Brodus Clay (real name George Murdoch, born February 21, 1973) is an American retired professional wrestler formerly employed by WWE between 2011 and 2014.

Originally, he was featured as a bodyguard for Alberto Del Rio. Due to him filming a movie at the time, he was taken off of TV for a few months and was dropped as Del Rio's bodyguard. He returned and began Squashing various Jobbers on WWE's online-exclusive show WWE Superstars. After nine consecutive squash victories on Superstars, WWE ran vignettes promoting his return to television on the November 7, 2011 episode of Raw. However, Clay's television return was continuously delayed by authority figure John Laurinaitis to be "next week", with this trend continuing all the way into January 2012. Clay made his television return on the January 9, 2012 episode of Raw as a face with a fun-loving, funk dancing gimmick, with the nickname "The Funkasaurus". Then accompanied by the The Funkadactyls Naomi and Cameron and announced as hailing from "Planet Funk", Clay incorporated gyrations and dance moves into his various squash wins on both Raw and SmackDown!.

Brodus Clay did not stop wrestling after being let go by WWE, having been seen in North East Wrestling, the UK's Varsity Pro Wrestling, TNA, and the NWA (where you can call him Tyrus), among other promotions. He has since won the Pennsylvania Premiere Wrestling Heavyweight Championship and the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. He went on The Greg Gutfeld Show as a guest, and eventually became Greg's co-host, and a Fox New contributor.

Per a pre-match stipulation, he retired from in-ring competition on August 27, 2023 after losing the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship to EC3 on Night 2 of the promotion's 75th Anniversary Show. He later made it clear that the stipulation was his idea, stating in separate interviews that his body was breaking down and he wanted to spend more time with his children.

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"MR. BRODUS CLAY'S TROPES!":

• Abhorrent Admirer: After Aksana and Tamina had both become single they tried to eliminate and replace the Funkadactyls on WWE Main Event.
• Acrofatic: 350+ pounds and can still perform high cross body slams. In TNA, Shark Boy was negatively contrasted against Tyrus, as Shark Boy had gotten fat and not retained any of his ability to perform acrobatic, nor any of his stamina, letting Tyrus easy defeat him. Averted during his NWA run where he was so out of shape and broken down he couldn't even run the ropes properly anymore.
• Ambiguously Bi: Seems pretty cool with his pair of female backup dancers. But there's something to be said for the fact that anytime one of his opponents has attempted to put him in a hold, his response has been (despite his strength) to gyrate his hips and thrust his pelvis until the guy got so uncomfortable he had to let him go.
• Big Fun: As the Funkasaurus.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Has been the big guy as bodyguard to Ted DiBiase Jr., Alberto Del Rio, EC3, and now Matt Hardy. In Real Life he was this to Snoop Dogg before becoming a wrestler.
• Boring, but Practical: And running splash might be one of the more boring (technically speaking) finishers in WWE to date, but there's something to be said for jumping and throwing all near-four hundred pounds of yourself onto an opponent's chest. And that 'something said' is usually a 3-count.
• The Brute: A subversion as a face, plays it straight as a heel.
• Canon Discontinuity: WWE doesn't acknowledge that Clay was a contestant on WWE NXT or a bodyguard of Alberto Del Rio's. In fact, when he moved over to Raw, WWE hyped his return as his debut.
• Captain Ersatz: Of King Hippo,◊ of all things. The Miz was quick to point this out when forced to fight him.
• Calling Your Attacks: "SHEEE-plex, baby!"
• Dance Battler: His Funkasaurus gimmick was this.
• Death from Above: One of his finishers is a running splash to a downed opponent. Let's put that into perspective - a guy that's about 375 pounds goes airborne and lands on the chest of whatever poor sap happens to be fighting him that day. Ouch.
  • His double team finisher with "Sweet T" Tensai? A double splash tipping the scales at over 750 pounds. Double ouch.
  • And when he flies off the second rope to do that splash? OW.
• Demoted to Extra: Went undefeated for several months after his Raw debut, including defeating Dolph Ziggler on PPV. And then he was barely on TV at all, and when he was, he usually was on the losing end. Then he teamed up with Tensai as Tons of Funk and averted this for a while. Then Tons of Funk worfed for The Wyatt Family, Clay turned heel on Tensai, returned to NXT, did nothing of note, and was released.
• Defeat Means Friendship: After a long period of Jobbing, he beat Tensai in a dance-off. A couple of weeks later, Tensai turned face and the two began teaming - and dancing - together.
• Expy: Of Rikishi, though the Funkadactyls were originally called the "Funkettes," which was the name of Flash Funk's dancers before that part of his gimmick was dropped.
• Fat Bastard: After turning heel.
• Four Moves Of Doom: In the early goings of his career on WWE, his matches have ended with a sequence of: Running Headbutt, Exploder Suplex, Corner Splash, and then his Finishing Move.
• Finishing Move: A running splash called "Splat!". Double Splat with Sweet T. Tyrus has taken up a Samoan Spike.
• Friend to All Children: As a face. His wins tend to end with about a half dozen or more kids dancing alongside him and the backup girls in the ring, which is straight out of the Junkyard Dog.
• Gratuitous Disco Sequence: The Funkasaurus's entrance is one, with disco music, a disco ball and Brodus dancing with the Funkadactyls. Some of his pay per view appearances made the whole thing even more elaborate.
• Heel–Face Return: Though, originally they were going to explain it. Apparently, his Funkasaurus gimmick actually had a link between the monster heel promos and his current form. Clay would have debuted the monster heel gimmick but would turn on John Laurinaitis for stalling his debut for so long, transitioning to the dancing gimmick.
• It's All About Me: Which eventually started his heel turn and broke up Tons of Funk.
• Kiai: SHHHHHEEEEEAAAA.
• LARGE HAM: Emphasis on the "large"...and the "ham."
  • Hammy Herald: At most, there are a handful of entrances on WWE's main roster that bring the hog like Brodus Clay's as the Funkasaurus…and that's saying a lot. To be specific, instead of the standard, "Hailing from [Place Name], weighing in at [such-and-such amount], [Red Baron] [NAME OF WRESTLER]" intro, a disco ball would come down from the ceiling and an offscreen announcer lady (possibly one of the Funkadactyls) would say, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE WELCOME THE ONLY LIVING, BREATHING, ROMPING STOMPING FUNKASAURUS IN CAPTIVITY, MR. BRODUS CLAY!"
• Let's Get Dangerous!: If Brodus Clay comes down to the ring and is not dancing on the way, you can be well assured that he is pissed off.
• Lightning Bruiser: Moves around the ring way faster than should be allowed for a man of his size and build.
• Meaningful Name: The original name for his finisher was called the "Fall of Humanity." As mentioned before, it's a running high cross body done by a 360-pound man. Do the math on that one.
  • It also alluded to his general monstrousness back then.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Urban Assault did not treat G-rilla very well in Deep South Wrestling.
• Parts Unknown: Originally "The Concrete Jungle", then "Planet Funk".
• Perky Female Minion: Had a pair of them. R-Truth notably had to ask him for their services.
  • Sassy Black Woman: Both of them - Naomi arguably moreso.
• Power Stable: Urban Assault, technically, though they didn't really do much for him. Polynesian Power Package with Donny Marlow, Jimmy Uso, Jules Uso and Tamina Snuka in FCW was a much straighter example. Ironically, one of his Funkadactyls would by Jimmy Uso's wife.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: His old gimmick in Deep South Wrestling was called "G-rilla" and portrayed a gangsta thug.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His motivation as a heel.
• Screw Yourself: Accidentally alluded to, to the groans of the Funkadactyls, but quickly corrected during Gamerlive TV's coverage of WWE 13.
• Shout-Out: Took the name Brodus Clay as one to the man he once guarded, Calvin Cordozar Broadus...otherwise known as Snoop Dogg.
  • His Tag Team in FCW the Colossal Connection, to the WWE team of the same name from 1989-1990 made up of André the Giant and Haku, as his partner Donny Marlow, later known on WWE SmackDown as Camacho, is Haku's son, Tevita Fifita.
• Small Name, Big Ego: His 2013 Face–Heel Turn has him referring to himself as a "main event playa," even though he hadn't even been seen on TV, let alone won a match, in months.
• Stout Strength: There's a clip on Youtube of Clay during his days as Snoop Dogg's bodyguard benching 600+ lbs.
• Tag Team:
  • (In WWE's Georgia developmental promotion Deep South Wrestling): Urban Assault, with Afa Jr., Sonny Siaki and Eric Perez.
  • (In WWE's Florida developmental promotion FCW): the Colossal Connection, with Donny Marlow
  • Tons of Funk, with Tensai.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: On NXT Brodus gave one to Ted DiBiase to explain why he was no longer accepting him as his pro and moving over to Alberto Del Rio.
• The Rival
  • G-rilla's was 7ft Giant Titan in Revived Florida Championship Wrestling. It was mostly an indirect rivalry, as Titan spent more time with other Floridian companies G-rilla couldn't appear on due to his WWE contract, but they did face off against one another and tag together a few times.
  • Tons of Funk's was 3MB, Heath Slater in particular for Brodus Clay, as they had wrestled many times prior.
• The Worf Effect: His first loss was to put over Big Show's new attitude, while Tons of Funk served this trope to put over the Wyatt Family.
• Traumatic Haircut: After months of beating up Rockstar Spud and weeks of beating up second British Bootcamp winner Mark Andrews, they got their revenge by saving his head, following EC3's failure to shave Spud.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After been Put on a Bus, due to sustaining an injury while attempting to help Alberto Del Rio win the World Heavyweight Title, he started having Squash Matches on WWE Superstars and then finally getting a promo that he was coming to Raw. Only to have Laurinaitis calling him on a weekly basis telling him, he'll be having a match the next week…that is until January 9, 2012 when he came back as the Funkasaurus.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Got a pretty sizable one on the 11/29/13 Smackdown, when he beat up rookie Xavier Woods for 'stealing' the Funkadactyls after giving Woods permission to let them accompany him to ringside for a match. Then he hit a diving splash from the second rope at the end of the match that he doesn't normally perform. (See Death from Above for why this wasn't good for Woods.) Not even the Funkadactyls themselves were entirely cool with it, and the victory 'dance' at the end was noticeably forced and awkward.
  • Properly Paranoid: Maybe so, as Woods essentially ended up taking Clay's girls, entrance music, and entire gimmick less than a month later. Then again it could've also been a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.