Brutus Beefcake recalls the accident that nearly derailed his career.
The latest episode of Dark Side of Ring highlighted the life and career of Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, who once suffered a career-threatening facial injury in 1990 that put him out of action for nearly two years. The incident occurred on July 4 as Beefcake wanted to party all day in Lutz, Florida, on his day off.
“We had just been parasailing for hours,” Beefcake said. “Several people had had near catastrophes, so we were obviously thanking our lucky stars that nobody was hurt doing the parasail today, and we’re done. Then Brian Blair, the Killer Bee, and his friends, a couple people, came roaring in and they wanted to parasail.”
Blair remembered the parasail not looking like a safe activity, but his friend Tracy really wanted to.
Beefcake continued, “Mike, he was like, ‘No, no, we’re done,’ and they wouldn’t relent. He’s finally like, ‘Alright, alright.’ But at that time, there’s no wind to fluff the parachute up. So I’m out in the shallows here trying to get the people set up up there on the grass. We got everybody ready to go. Mike just said, ‘F*ck it, I’m going,’ and just took off.”
Blair remembers Beefcake dropping his hand and turning in, putting him right in Tracy’s flight path. Tracy saw she wasn’t getting enough air, so she pulled her knees in to try and clear Beefcake’s face. However, it all happened so fast that nobody had time to yell.
‘Everything I Worked For Was Gone’
“It hits me so hard that I’m pulled out of the water, and I do what’s called a gainer where your feet go over your head first and then come back down,” Beefcake said. “And by the grace of God, I wasn’t knocked out. And I’m down like [with my hand in my face] trying to get my shit together. Can’t see a thing, can’t breathe. And nobody has any clue that I’ve been mortally injured.”
Blair ran over to check on him and discovered Beefcake’s entire face was shattered to the point that Beefcake was trying to hold his upper jaw up in order to speak.
“I didn’t know anybody could be hurt that bad and still kept alive,” Beefcake admitted. “They rolled me into the emergency room, they take my blood pressure, and they realize it’s like 200 over 100 or something. Next thing you know, they’re yelling, ‘Code blue! Code red! Code purple!’ And finally x-ray my head and realize that my face is gone, and they have no idea what to do.”
Plastic surgeon Dr. Mutaz Habal operated on Beefcake and couldn’t believe someone of his size was able to have their face “totally fractured.” But after 16 hours in the operating room, Beefcake’s face was reconstructed. The surgeon had to make an incision from ear to ear across the top of the head and then had to ensure the eyes, nose, and teeth were able to return to position.
As a result, Beefcake was placed in a drug-induced coma for a couple of days to monitor his progress.
The Hall of Famer concluded, “I can’t see, I can’t speak. Everything I had worked 20 years for was gone and wasn’t coming back.”
Beefcake officially returned to the ring in 1993 and continued his wrestling career until his final match in 2015.
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If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Dark Side of the Ring with a h/t to WrestleZone for the transcription.
