Somebody call my momma!
Brodus Clay (real name George Murdoch) is a professional wrestler currently employed by
WWE. 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". Now accompanied by 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
Smack Down.
As usual, you can find the basics at
The Other Wiki
.
Tropes associated with Brodus Clay include:
- Abhorrent Admirer: After Aksana and Tamina had both become single they tried to eliminate and replace the Funkadactyls on ''WWE Main Event.
- Actor Allusion: Prior to his wrestling career, he had been a bodyguard for Snoop Dogg, and appeared in a Hot Pockets commercial with him. His first on-screen role in WWE was as Alberto Del Rio's bodyguard.
- Acrofatic: 350+ pounds and can still preform high cross body slams.
- 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.
- 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 Genre Savvy subversion.
- 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
- Death from Above: His finisher 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.
- Demoted to Extra: Went undefeated for several months after his Raw debut, including defeating Dolph Ziggler on PPV. Nowadays, he's barely on tv at all, and when he is, he's usually been losing.
- Defeat Means Friendship: After a long period of jobbing, he beat Tensai in a dance-off. A couple of weeks later, Tensai appears to have turned face and the two are 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.
- 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!".
- 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.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar/Don't Explain the Joke: His finishing move (a leaping cross body) was called, "Ah, Funk It". Yeah. Let's see how long that name sticks in the PG Era.
- Double Subverted. After about a week, they changed the finisher name again. Now it's called "What The Funk?"...which is, if anything, even less subtle than the first one.
- He no longer uses the crossbody, having traded it for a running splash called "Splat!".
- Gratuitous Disco Sequence
- 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 Laurinitis (for stalling his debut for so long) and later debut the dancing gimmick.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Worked as a body guard for Snoop Dogg.
- Incoming Ham: At most, there are a handful of entrances on WWE's main roster that bring the hog like Brodus Clay's...and, since he's been on TV for less than a month, that's saying a lot.
- Kiai: SHHHHHEEEEEAAAA.
- LARGE HAM: Emphasis on the "large"...and the "ham."
- 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.
- Nice Hat
- Parts Unknown: Originally "The Concrete Jungle," now "Planet Funk"
- Perky Female Minion: Has a pair of them.
- Recycled Soundtrack: Brodus' face theme, "Somebody Call My Momma", was briefly used in WWE eight years earlier by Ernest "The Cat" Miller. Unfortunately for Brodus, Tazz is no longer around to sing along to the song.
- 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 Andre The Giant and Haku, as his partner Donny Marlow, now known on WWE SmackDown as Camacho, is Haku's son, Tevita Fifita.
- 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.
- What Could Have Been: Originally, he was to debut as a monster heel, injuring jobbers and putting them in his personal 'Hall of Pain.' WWE liked the idea...but the gimmick went to Mark Henry instead.
- 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 WWE RAW 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.
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