Pro Wrestling: Heroes of Wrestling Past: The Brooklyn Brawler

It's true.  Hell has frozen over. Pigs are flying.  Bigfoot is real.  The government did put a mind control chip in your brain.  SOMEONE HAS WROTE AN ARTICLE ABOUT THE BROOKLYN BRAWLER!  I thought I would begin a fun little series I am calling "Heroes of Wrestling Past".  

Now I know what you are thinking:  The Brooklyn Brawler is a hero?  Oh he is.  The Brawler (aka Steve Lombardi) is perhaps the most famous jobber of all time.  This poor guy couldn't catch a break...until 2000.  

The Brawler came to WWF with a bright future.  A bright future that involved losing...many many times.  He wasn't always a loser.  Lombardi used to beat up the Red Rooster...but what the hell is a Red Rooster?  Now, I won't claim to know much about this rivalry, but I am fairly certain, through my tireless research, that it may be the greatest rivalry of all time.  

Come on, the guy was coached by The Brain.  After, breaking away from Heenan, Brawler did something that wrestling fans should be thanking him for.  

He became The Rock's first victim.  That's right, the Brooklyn Brawler discovered The Most Electrifying Man in ALL of Entertainment!  (When I say "discovered", I mean he jobbed to him in a tryout match.)

Soon after, Vince saw his potential and gave him a shot at The Icon, The Showstopper, The Main Event, The Heartbreak Kid—Shawn Michaels and his WWF Championship at Madison Square Garden.  Now, Brawler would come up short, but let's all reflect on what could have been.  

(Pause for introspective moment).

It wasn't until 2000 that Steve Lombardi would catch fire again, when he defeated The Game, Triple H 1-2-3 in the middle of the ring.  He did it all on his own (Taka and Funaki don't count), without the help of anyone else (okay, maybe Jericho helped a little).  However, after that, he sadly faded away.  

In 2004, he turned to the Dark Side and became the (sigh) Boston Brawler. He might as well have put on a dress and called himself Vito.  

To prove how big of career suicide this was, let me put this in perspective for you:  When Steve Lombardi became the Boston Brawler, Heidenreich didn't even want to be his friend.  Ouch!  

Brawler has since only appeared for gimmick nonsense and squash matches.  Most recently, 13 years to the day he faced HBK for the title, he issued a challenge to the "new school" wrestlers.  He was demolished by some angry man with bowling balls on his shoulders, that you may know as Ezekiel Jackson.  

After all these years. Lombardi, the Brooklyn Brawler couldn't catch a break.  Can you imagine a world where the Brooklyn Brawler defeated Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship?  It would be a wonderful world where we all have pet unicorns and it rains Skittles (the original or the sour ones, the tropical ones suuuuuuuuck).  

Damn, now I want Skittles  

What if Brawler were never around to lose all those matches or be the staple of WWF Jakked on late Saturday nights? It's not a world I want to live in.  Rest assured, the Brooklyn Brawler will be in the Hall of Fame one day!

Thanks for reading!  Feel free to post your fondest Brooklyn Brawler memories and also who you want to be featured on the next Heroes of Wrestling Past.  

(This was intended as a humorous and biographical article.  The purpose is to give wrestling fans a chance to remember people from the past, that may have been forgotten.  And yes, I do plan on doing one on Matt Hardy and The Hurricane!).