The Barber — his most successful gimmick among many
Edward Harrison Leslie (born April 21, 1957) is a retired American professional wrestler from San Francisco, California best known for his work in WWE in the 1980s as Brutus Beefcake. He debuted in 1977 as "Dizzy" Ed Boulder and teamed with Hulk Hogan (then Terry Boulder) in Florida and Alabama. He also worked for "Cowboy" Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling, the AWA, and made some early appearances in WWE. He officially debuted in WWE as Brutus Beefcake in 1984. He and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine defeated the U.S. Express (Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda) for the WWE World Tag Team Titles
on August 24, 1985, and lost them to the British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith) in the main event of the Chicago stage of WrestleMania II. Beefcake turned face by cutting "Adorable" Adrian Adonis' hair at WrestleMania III, launching his "Barber" gimmick. In 1990, he was originally scheduled to defeat Mr. Perfect for the WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Title at SummerSlam, but he suffered a near-fatal facial injury in a parasailing accident, destroying all the momentum he had. He didn't return to the ring until 1993, making his last televised appearance in the MegaManiacs (Hogan/Beefcake)-Money Inc. ("The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase/Irwin R. Schyster [Rotunda]) match at WrestleMania IX. He followed Hogan to WCW in 1994, where he became known more for going through a LOT of different names and gimmicks, lasting until 1999. In the years since, he has worked for a variety of independent promotions, often teaming with Valentine.
He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.
"These tropes are going to do a little cuttin' and a struttin'":
- Alliterative Name: One of his WCW names, Brother Bruti, qualifies as well.
- Arch-Enemy: The British Bulldogs, Adrian Adonis, the Honky Tonk Man, Jimmy Hart (until Hart's 1993 face turn), Hogan on and off, Diamond Dallas Page (during his run as the Booty Man in WCW).
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: For a guy whose best days ended in 1990 and was forever branded as a Hogan hanger-on, his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame seems like vindication.
- Bash Brothers: Hulk Hogan, Greg Valentine
- Battle Butler: To Hogan as the Disciple in the nWo.
- Beard of Evil: As the Disciple
- Big "YES!"/Big "NO!": The Zodiac shouting "YES! NO! YES! NO!"
- The Butcher: It was only one of his names.
- Cool Shades: As the Disciple
- Sunglasses at Night: Outside of his matches, he never took them off.
- Defeating the Undefeatable: WrestleMania VI saw Beefcake give Mr. Perfect his first televised loss.
- Duality Motif: The Zodiac had a zebra striped face and gear. In the vignette where he debuted, the Master said that he "knows neither pain nor pleasure. Has walked in darkness, has walked in light."
- Easy Amnesia: As the Man With No Name.
- Facial Markings: As the Zodiac
- Finishing Move:
- (as Beefcake): Jumping Knee, Sleeper
- (as the Zodiac): Top-rope knee to the back of the head.
- (as the Booty Man): "The High-Knee"
- (as the Disciple): The Apocalypse (Stunner)
- Heel–Face Brainwashing: Done by the Warrior to Disciple and he became the only other member of Warrior's "One Warrior Nation".
- I Have Many Names: It's a Long List: "Dizzy" Ed Boulder, "Dizzy" Ed Hogan, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, The Marinernote , Brother Bruti, the Butcher, the Man with No Face, the Man with No Name, the Zodiac, the Booty Man, the Clipmaster, the Disciple, Brute Forcenote
- Important Haircut: An accidental one on an episode of "WWF Superstars Of Wrestling" by his own tag team partner Adrian Adonis foreshadowed Beefcake's Heel–Face Turn ... and evolution into "the Barber."
- Letters 2 Numbers: After leaving the nWo, and after Warrior left, he changed the "4 Life" on his tights to read "4 Me."
- The Mole: After the Zodiac left the Dungeon of Doom in February 1996, he was repackaged as The Booty Man (sort of like Billy Gunn's "Mr. Ass" gimmick), now a Face and a Friend of Hogan. Hulk explained that he had sent him into the Dungeon as a "mole." However, it actually DOES make sense when you consider the finish of the War Games match between the Hulkamaniacs (Hogan/Savage/Sting/Luger) and the Dungeon of Doom (Kamala/Shark (John Tenta)/Zodiac/Meng) at WCW Fall Brawl 95, September 17, 1995. The Hulkamaniacs won when Hogan forced Zodiac to submit. Hulk had to have Zodiac be the one to submit, since he was the weakest guy on the team, (also because Kamala didn't speak, Meng was/is a legitimate badass Monster and the Shark was too big) and because it would have looked suspicious if Hulk had fought with the other three guys but left Zodiac alone. The two might have planned for Hogan to not actually apply any pressure when he locked on the submission (so as not to hurt his friend any more than he had to), but for Zodiac to submit anyway (to give his friend Hogan the win against the DOD team). Kind of like a less stupid version of the Fingerpoke Of Doom.
- Mooks: He was Hogan's mook in the nWo as the Disciple.
- Mundane Made Awesome: How popular was he as "The Barber?" Watch this match against Dino Bravo from the May 22, 1987 WWF Superstars and see the reaction he gets off of a simple clothesline.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Had a record 18 gimmicks throughout his career.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He's been a barber, a guy whose whole gimmick centered around his butt, a knockoff of a WWE biker gang, a butcher, a whatever the hell the Zodiac was supposed to be...
- Not in the Face!: A stipulation added to all his matches after his parasailing accident. Averted in an infamous match against Irwin R. Shyster when – after Ted DiBiase interfered to give the beaten Shyster an unfair advantage – he was struck in the face with a metal briefcase.
- Parts Unknown: Was originally billed from there.
- (as the Zodiac): "The Land of Yin and Yang"
- Perky Female Minion: The Booty Babe (aka Kimberly Page, Diamond Dallas Page's then-wife).
- Power Stable:
- Was the Zodiac of the Dungeon of Doom from July 15, 1995 through WCW SuperBrawl VI on February 11, 1996.
- The Disciple as a member of the nWo.
- The Quiet One: As the Disciple
- Red Baron: "The Barber"
- Tag Team:
- The Boulder Brothers -> The MegaManiacs
- The Three Faces of Fear (as the Butcher) with Kevin Sullivan and Avalanche (John Tenta)
- Take That!: One way of interpreting The Disciple (who was, well, a disciple of Hulk Hogan) using the Stunner (under the name "The Apocalypse"), a Finishing Move also used by the guy the competing WWF were pushing as their top main eventer. Was WCW implying that that guy only amounted to a disciple of Hogan?
- Talk Show with Fists: "The Barber Shop", which debuted on the April 14 (taped March 27), 1991 WWF Wrestling Challenge and lasted until Sid Justice destroyed the set on the February 16 (taped January 27), 1992 episode. Virtually all of the segments were unremarkable, save for one ... and it is that solitary moment that would herald the WWF's direction during the 1990s. It was a simple superkick by Shawn Michaels, delivered to his unsuspecting tag team partner Marty Jannetty, that jumpstarted Michaels' stagnant career and sent it soaring.
- Traumatic Haircut: After being given one by Adrian Adonis, he returned the favor.
- Tuckerization: The name "The Disciple" and his finisher being named "the Apocalypse" was a reference to the Disciples of Apocalypse, Crush (Brian Adams)' biker gang that was part of the "Gang Wars" feud in 1997 WWE also involving Faarooq's Nation of Domination, Savio Vega's Los Boricuas and the Truth Commission (The Jackyl, Kurrgan, Recon and Sniper.) What made this illogical was that Leslie redebuted in this gimmick at the end of the March 2, 1998 WCW Monday Nitro, only two weeks after Adams had made his WCW debut and joined the nWo.
- Unrelated Brothers: With Terry Boulder/Hulk Hogan as Ed Boulder/Ed Hogan.
- Wrestling Doesn't Pay: A wrestling barber. Unlike most examples of the trope, he didn't start out as one. He got the nickname after he cut Adrian Adonis's hair (see Traumatic Haircut).
- Writing Around Trademarks: WCW calling him Brother Bruti, since "Bruti" was clearly derived from "Brutus."
