Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
“I LOOOOOOOOVE YOOOOUUUU!”
That was the catchphrase of one of the most recognizable personalities in the World Wrestling Federation in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. His name was ‘Brother Love’ and he wasn’t a wrestler, but a very controversial and talked about character nonetheless. Brother Love was a gimmick that came from the mind of WWF producer Bruce Prichard, the same man who portrayed the Dusty Rhodes parody called Reo Rodgers. This is the story of the rise and fall of the WWF’s own televangelist.
Growing up in Houston, Texas, Bruce Prichard recalled a number of over the top, religious pastors that held services in his hometown. Prichard recalled sneaking in to watch some of these pastors at work. It was something he was raised on, despite not being an overly spiritual person himself. Those childhood memories of watching religious services followed him to his adult life, where he envisioned being a wrestler with a televangelist gimmick. While he never became a pro wrestler, Prichard did work as a ring announcer and commentator for Bill Watts’ Mid South/UWF promotion.
It was there where he started to perfect his dream gimmick by sitting in a motel room with ‘Hot Stuff’ Eddie Gilbert and watch hours of pastors on TV. Prichard said that he and Gilbert would watch these televangelists sermons to practice cadence on promos. In 1987, Prichard joined the WWF as a commentator and working behind the scenes working on packaging the promotion’s syndicated television shows across the country. Eventually, Prichard became more friendly with Vince McMahon and began sitting in on creative meetings.
Before and after a creative meeting, Vince and Bruce would often joke about how if the wrestling business did not work out for them, they should get into the televangelist business to make money. Prichard saw that as an opportunity to tell Vince about a gimmick he thought would be perfect in the WWF. Prichard based the character on televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker, but mostly on a certain preacher by the name of Robert Tilton. Prichard found Tilton to be the most engaging of the televangelists and one who was perhaps one of the most scandalous. Vince liked the idea and decided on moving forward with it.
The problem for Bruce, was that Vince McMahon wanted the gimmick for a wrestler and not Bruce in that role. During the next meeting, Bruce got dressed up and entered the boardroom playing the character he pitched to Vince. McMahon laughed and finally saw Prichard in that role. That was the day Brother Love was born…a name that was created by both Prichard and McMahon.
Instead of wrestling each week, Brother Love was given his own talk show segment called ‘The Brother Love Show.’ It debuted on WWF television on June 19, 1988. Brother Love wore a white suit and tie and has a ton of pink makeup on his face. That was rumored to be a dig at Tammy Faye Bakker and her over use of makeup. Love was also adorned with diamond and gold jewelry to drive the point home that he wasn’t all that he was cracked up to be. To drive the point home that this was a heel we were dealing with, the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase was his kayfabe financial backer.
The Brother Love Show was like most of the WWF’s talk shows at the time…praised all of the heels and instigated all of the babyfaces. Bruce Prichard cited his favorite guest as being Hulk Hogan because he had a natural gift of gab and also brought many eyeballs to the Brother Love segments. Prichard also cited Outlaw Ron Bass and Dino Bravo as his least favorite guests due to their lack of promo abilities.
The Brother Love Show has host to some memorable moments in WWF history including Dibiase unveiling his Million Dollar Belt and Bad News Brown attacking WWF President Jack Tunney. It also is remembered for a segment in which Brother Love cured a disabled man and allowed him to walk again. The segment was originally just to be a filler for the fans in attendance at the taping, as they were dealing with some technical issues. The WWF decided to air it on television and the USA network received a lot of complaints that caused Vince McMahon to get angry and blame Prichard.
Bruce Prichard stated that the WWF office would receive countless messages and letters threatening to kill Brother Love. Prichard began fearing for his life as many claimed they would be at a show where he was performing the character. Prichard said that WWF agent Terry Garvin would joke with Prichard that whoever shoots and kills him would get a WWF deal and become the company’s top babyface. Bruce did not find it funny at all.
McMahon would eventually expand Brother Love’s role in the WWF by making him the manager of a newcomer called the Undertaker. The partnership was short lived however, as McMahon didn’t feel the combination wasn’t right. That led the WWF hiring William Moody aka Paul Bearer and the rest is history. For three years Bruce Prichard played the Brother Love character, but according to Prichard….McMahon wanted Prichard back behind the scenes full time. Vince gave Prichard a choice…he could continue playing Brother Love full time, or be a full time producer. He would no longer allow Bruce to do both. Prichard chose the latter and was about to be written off television.
Vince McMahon chose his new top babyface the Ultimate Warrior to be Brother Love’s final guest. Prichard sat down with the Warrior to go over how the segment should go. Prichard wanted Warrior to press slam Brother Love and throw him out of the ring. The Ultimate Warrior balked at the idea saying that Prichard was “too fat” to lift up. After much back and forth, the spot was finally agreed upon. During the segment, Brother Love repeatedly chided the Warrior, until Warrior finally snapped and destroyed the Brother Love Show set. The Ultimate Warrior then dragged Love to ring and beat him up with flying tackles and a splash…thus stretchering Love out and essentially killing off the character.
Bruce accused the Ultimate Warrior of being stiff with him. Prichard said that he ended up suffering a broken jaw and a couple of missing teeth. Bruce was back behind the scenes, but not for much longer as he was fired by Vince for what Bruce called a bad attitude. Bruce Prichard would return to the company two years later in 1993 and his Brother Love character would sporadically appear from time to time over the years whenever Prichard was employed by the WWF/WWE. Whether you hated the gimmick or looooooooved it…Brother Love was definitely memorable.