Beer City Bruiser Tells Story Of How Clause In Father-In-Law’s Will Led To ROH Tryout
Odd stipulations in a will seem like something from a TV show or movie, but it really happened to Beer City Bruiser and led to him getting a Ring Of Honor contract.
Bruiser told the story during an appearance on a recent episode of Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast. His father-in-law, Jim, had passed away and when it came time for the will to be read, some money had been left to Bruiser — with a catch.
“He said, ‘There’s money set aside but the only way you get it is doing a Ring of Honor tryout camp. In his will, he left money for my flight, money for my rental car, money for my hotel, and money for the tryout camp. And the only way we could touch that money is me doing it.“
Bruiser decided to give it a shot and ended up earning a spot in the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament. From there, he earned a full-time contract with ROH.
A pro since 2000 who was trained by Harley Race, Bruiser talked about his mindset going into the tryout:
“I’m not going to go just to be a guy. I want to be the guy that everyone talks about. … I was my character the whole time. I was the Beer City Bruiser the whole time. When I’m in the ring, I don’t call it the ring, I call it my bar. You’re in my bar.“
Check out the full interview with Jericho here, which includes discussion of his training with Harley Race, making his New Japan debut earlier this year, and much more.
