I mean really, how can I possibly stretch an entire induction out of a guy who I can find three matches and two promo videos on? And to cap that off, in the videos, he speaks a foreign language! An impossible task to be sure, right?
Fear not…I’m RD Reynolds, right? I’ve made a living out of doing stuff like this. In fact, in the old days, I churned out two inductions a week for like three years in a row. Granted, they were about 250 words each and a lot of them are so bad I refuse to go back and read them myself anymore. But after that Michael Cole Gooker winner I penned a few weeks back, this will be a whole new challenge.
Show of hands: who wants to join me in my latest challenge?
Too bad, you’re all coming along.
Today we visit Brakus! I like to say “visit” Brakus, because honestly, Brakus sounds like a city in Germany or something. In fact, I bet it is. Excuse me while I hop out to Google and do a search.
~comes back five minutes later~
Ok, apparently not. But I did find a dude on LinkedIn named Ed Brakus, who apparently is the Principal Engineer of the Video Solutions Group at Polycom. In his profile picture, he appears to be sailing a boat! I know nothing about Polycom, but if you get to be a video engineer at sea, I think I missed my calling.
See how I did that, kids? I’m already at 250 words, and I’ve not even started showing pictures and playing sound bytes yet. If you’ve ever wanted to see the evolution we’ve made here at WrestleCrap.com in the last 12 years, right there you have it!
Before we really delve into the complexities of Brakus, I first want to make a confession: I know very little about German wrestling.
In fact, I can name, I believe, two German wrestlers off the top of my head.
Alex Wright, of course…
…and Otto Wanz, who apparently paid off Verne Gagne so he could have an AWA World Title reign back in 1982.
I’d critique the guy for doing something that is somewhat unseemly, but let’s face facts: would you pay top dollar for an autographed Otto Wanz picture if he was NOT sporting that title belt?
I bet that sealed the deal for Ridigie.
Or Dridigie.
Or Priduge.
Say this for Otto: he has pretty horrible handwriting.
Oh hey, I just remembered another one: George Hackenschmidt, whom I am sure had better handwriting than Big Otto.
(Note from RD: And yes, approximately 10 billion people have alerted me that Otto was from Austria, not Germany. So for those of you keeping track, well…just buy me a globe next Christmas, alright?)
So yeah, that there’s pretty much sum and total of my Deutschland pro graps knowledge prior to 1996, when the world changed.
Because that’s when Brakus arrived in the WWF.
But he didn’t just show up one week out of the blue. Instead, we got weeks of the WWF promising us BRAKUS COMING SOON, not only with logos but with…
…shots of the dude’s (very oily) back.
And yes, of course, ranting and raving in his native tongue.
Fun fact about RD Reynolds: I actually know German. I took six years of it in high school and college, and have never really had the opportunity to use it save for an encounter I had at the Munich train station. It went something like this.
RD: Ich brauche eine karte.
Lady behind counter looks confused
RD: Ich brauche eine karte.
Lady behind counter looks confused.
RD: ICH. BRAUCHE. EINE. KARTE.
Lady behind counter looks annoyed.
RD: Man, how do I say this…
Lady behind counter: Oh, you speak English?
What a fantastic use of six years of education.
But now, you know what? NOW I can use my vast knowledge of the German language for a useful purpose, as I will translate for you the first Brakus promo (which you can listen to by clicking here).
My name is Brakus And I come from Germany
My wish is that I do not phone
In America, there’s World Wrestling Federation
And beneath my nipples, my sternum!
Fellow Crappers, Dennis Grasshoff here.I actually live in Germany, and RD wanted me to double check his translation. He got like two lines right. The rest was not even close. For instance, no idea where he got the stuff about wishes and phones.The actual translation is this:My name is Brakus
And I come from Germany
I weigh 300 pounds
And when I come to America
To the World Wrestling Federation
I will get Vader in the ring
And destroy him!I will also throw in that he had a second promo (here) where he basically said the same thing, but promised destruction to Hunter Hearst Helmsley instead of Vader.So yeah, please don’t email me asking where RD got that stuff about sternums and nipples. No idea, and don’t want to know.Anyway, back to RD.
Err, thanks, Dennis, I guess.
So yeah, Brakus debuted and…wait a minute.
He was targeting Hunter and Vader?
So he was a good guy?
You know Dennis, you’re a nice guy and all, but I am thinking maybe you blew that translation.
Soon enough, we got Brakus coming to the ring wearing chainmail.
Somehow I now think less of Scott Steiner, knowing he stole that look from BRAKUS of all people.
Don’t tell him that BTW.
Anyway, he came out to theme music that was…well…awful.
Yeah, you know...the WrestleCrap guy. Been here since before day 1, I have. You can hang out with me on Facebook. (I'm on there quite a bit) or follow my exploits on Twitter (I'm on there not quite so often).
Thanks, and Keep on Crappin'!
dear Mr RD REYNOLDS, you seriously can’t name other German Wrestler, Karl Gotch!! Well i guess its hard to remember one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, for Shame.
Ever since I discovered this website, this has been the induction I’ve shown my friends in attempts to recruit even more crappers! This is my favorite induction ever and it’s things like this that define Wrestlecrap.com.
Hackenschmidt was “the Russian Lion.” I speak some German. “Alex Wright” is German for “Paul Lekakis.” I thought your Crap was funny. I laughed 3 times.
dear Mr RD REYNOLDS, you seriously can’t name other German Wrestler, Karl Gotch!! Well i guess its hard to remember one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, for Shame.
He was Belgian.
Ever since I discovered this website, this has been the induction I’ve shown my friends in attempts to recruit even more crappers! This is my favorite induction ever and it’s things like this that define Wrestlecrap.com.
Not Ridigie,
Or Dridigie,
Or Priduge,
but the german name Rüdiger.
“Fridgie?”
Hackenschmidt was “the Russian Lion.” I speak some German. “Alex Wright” is German for “Paul Lekakis.” I thought your Crap was funny. I laughed 3 times.
A Note about the music-It was Mark Henry’s theme, then it was the theme to a tag team known as Armageddon.
Then again, the word “brakus” in ancient greek means “short”. So, his name was predestined…
Not gonna lie, the ”STANFORD, CONNECTICUT”‘ sound byte killed me!
I loved that entrance music. But, well, I kind of mark out for old Sega Genesis stuff, soooo
I like a lot of the Sega Genesis music too! 🙂