BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Everybody in the WWE Universe started out as a fan. That includes Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, the new WWE Hall of Famer inducted by Hulk Hogan and idolized as a man who has “wrestling in his blood.” His passion for the industry runs so bone-deep, Hogan said, that his place in the WWE Hall of Fame is “only fitting.”
As Brutus himself somewhat countered, it isn’t just a fitting end to his career, it’s a wild development for a Florida kid who dreamed of glory in the ring to receive the highest honor that profession can bestow. He wasn’t lying: Beefcake’s career was as serendipitous as it gets — he was recruited by Hogan, who had quit the industry previously and asked ten people to be his partner before he landed on Beefcake himself; the original pitch for his character was a butler-type fellow named “Baron Beefcake,” and the “Barber” aspect of his career came by happenstance in the middle of a match.
But if Beefcake owes much of his success to chance, his WWE Hall of Fame induction is a mark of his ability to capitalize on those opportunities. He was given a chance. He made the most of it. He found his niche and made it work. A fan should be so lucky.