This proud Native American is a WWE Hall of Famer and CWF alum who helped shape the business
WWE Hall of Famer Gerald Jerry Brisco was one-half of one of the greatest tag teams that won many titles, especially in Florida.
Talk about a legacy. The Brisco Brothers helped shape the business inside the ring and out.
Brothers Jack and Jerry Brisco were mainstays with Championship Wrestling from Florida, creating success in singles action as well as the tag team division, winning the Florida tag team titles eight times.
Jack was also the king of the mountain in singles competition, capturing the NWA World Heavyweight title. Jerry did ok, too, on his own, winning the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title.
In part of my audio interview with Gerald (Jerry) Brisco during the early stages of the pandemic, he discusses Oklahoma State University, Danny Hodge, Bob Backlund, Don Magnificent Muraco, Ole Anderson, Rocky Johnson, Thunderbolt Patterson, WWE WrestleMania 36, NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers draft, new Bucs player Rob Gronk Gronkowski (the then WWE 24-7 champ), discovering Hulk Hogan and more.
Jack, the eldest of the two, starred in football and wrestling in high school in Oklahoma. He received many scholarship offers for football, opting instead to wrestle for Oklahoma State University. Jack did not want to play pro football, even though he had offers. He wanted to become a pro wrestler, following in the footsteps of standout amateur and pro wrestler Danny Hodge.
Jerry also excelled in high school wrestling, earning several college wrestling opportunities. The University of Colorado was tops on his list, but his mom made sure he signed with Oklahoma State.
Also a fan of Danny Hodge, Jerry then followed in the footsteps of brother Jack into the pro ranks.
Proud of their Native American roots, the Brisco brothers did not succumb to the character stereotypes portrayed in pro wrestling toward Native American wrestlers and wrestlers of color and other nationalities.
In more of my audio interview with Gerald (Jerry) Brisco, he discusses his Native American heritage, COVID-19, fishing, his wrestling son Wes, his mom, his Jerry wrestling name change, wrestling brother Jack, dogs and more.
Gerald began his pro wrestling career as Gerald Brisco, his birth name.
Legendary CWF Promoter Eddie Graham changed it to Jerry because Graham felt Jack and Jerry Brisco as a tag team sounded much better than Jack and Gerald Brisco.
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Jerry not only won all those Florida tag titles with Jack, but this dynamic duo won the NWA United States tag belts, the NWA North American tag titles, the NWA Georgia tag team belts and the (Mid-Atlantic) NWA World tag team championships and (WWC) North American tag team belts.
The Brisco Brothers worked with so many top notch tag teams, including a long-time classic feud with the Funk Brothers (Dory Jr. and Terry). Each of those four shined tremendously in singles and tag team wrestling. Hard to find two sets of brothers who accomplished as much as the Briscos and the Funks combined in singles and tag team wrestling.
Jerry turned into a tag team specialist, also winning tag team gold with Ole Anderson, Bob Backlund, Rocky Johnson, Don Muraco and Thunderbolt Patterson.
He garnered titles as a singles wrestler, too, i.e. Florida title, Florida TV title, Southern title, Southeastern title, Eastern States title, Mid-Atlantic title, Western States title, WWC Junior Heavyweight title, WWE Hardcore title and most recently WWE 24-7 title. Yep, that one.
Not only excellent in the ring, Gerald has an eye for talent, especially scouting amateur wrestlers for WWE.
During their CWF days, the Brisco Brothers not only revolutionized tag team wrestling, but they discovered the larger-than-life Hulk Hogan while he played music at a bar in Tampa, Florida, where they lived. They also owned the famous Brisco Brothers Body Shop in that area.
Behind the scenes, the Brisco Brothers helped Vince McMahon turn WWF (now WWE) into a national power, and their discovery Hogan led that charge.
.Jack passed away in 2010 at age 68.
Gerald, 73, is a longtime Tampa resident, and he enjoys fishing. He and his wife have three dogs, rescuing them. Of course the dogs are named after pro wrestlers: Danny Hodge, Hercules (Hernandez) and Summer (Rae). Previously, they named another dog Handsome (Johnny Barend) Tank.
Gerald’s son, Wes, is a talented wrestler on the indie circuit. Most notably he belonged to the faction Aces & Eights in Impact Wrestling.
Gerald is also a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan, and he hinted at taking the WWE 24-7 title from newest Bucs player Rob Gronk Gronkowski at a practice or a game, but alas Gronk dropped the belt to R-Truth. That would have made Gerald a two-time WWE 24-7 champ.
https://www.wwe.com/superstars/geraldbrisco
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This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 6:50 PM.
