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Brooklyn Brawler

Under the guidance of The Brain, The Brawler's career has turned around!!

4 attires, logic, and parameters.

(1989 - 1991)

After a breakup between The Red Rooster and Bobby Heenan, the latter invited Rooster onto the set of Prime Time Wrestling on January 21 to make the peace. When Rooster was about to shake Heenan's hand he was suddenly attacked by Lombardi. The next week Lombardi made his debut as "The Brooklyn Brawler" The Brawler character was that of a street fighter, wearing battered jeans and a torn New York Yankees T-shirt. Under the tutelage of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, the Brawler entered a feud with the Red Rooster. When the Red Rooster left Heenan's villain group and became a fan favorite, Heenan stated that he had made the Red Rooster a star and could do the same with anyone in the WWF. The Red Rooster defeated the Brooklyn Brawler on Saturday Night's Main Event, and then Heenan at WrestleMania V. The Brawler was defeated by the Rooster again on the May 20, 1989 episode of Superstars of Wrestling. His alliance with Heenan was then phased out, though in storyline Heenan said it was an amicable departure, and Heenan would continue to speak highly of the Brawler whenever a match featured him. Lombardi soon returned to his former enhancement talent status and won only five more matches (Tom Stone, Jerry Monti, Paul Roma, and Al Perez) for the rest of 1989. However, he retained the Brawler gimmick, a role he would utilize throughout his career.

Now firmly re-established as an enhancement talent sans Heenan, 1990 marked a first for Lombardi when he wrestled his debut match at a PPV. At the 1990 Royal Rumble he was defeated by Paul Roma in a dark match, which marked the first of several PPVs where he would work the opening dark match to warm up the crowd. After sustaining numerous defeats to upper level talent such as Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, Lombardi finally gained a measure of revenge by pinning The Red Rooster on March 18 in Calgary, Alberta. He would enter a winning streak against the Rooster, who would soon depart from the WWF.

Lombardi wrestled the dark match of WrestleMania VI, losing again to Paul Roma. After another long string of defeats to Roma, Hillbilly Jim, Tugboat and others, Lombardi earned a smattering of victories in May against Martin Roy, Jim Brunzell, and Brady Boone. During the summer he engaged in a house show series against the newly arrived Shane Douglas but was turned away in each encounter. The two would wrestle in the dark match of SummerSlam 90. On October 9 Lombardi faced Davey Boy Smith in his first match back after nearly a two-year absence, and in December he went on his first overseas tour when the WWF joined forces with Super World Sports to promote in Japan. On December 6 in Hijemi, Japan he teamed with Nuboyashi Sugawara and Kenny the Striker to defeat Biff Wellington, Road Block, and Masao Orihara. Despite his return to enhancement status, 1990 proved to be Lombardi's most successful year in his career to date as he won 35 singles matches.

Lombardi entered 1991 as probably the most prominent opening card act in the company, but the wins were not to continue. Wrestling still as the Brooklyn Brawler, he fell in defeat to almost every member of the roster and gained just six victories during the year. On the March 30th episode of WWF Superstars Lombardi faced Ricky Steamboat in "The Dragon"'s return match after a three-year absence. On March 24 he competed in the dark match of WrestleMania VII against Koko B Ware. Other notable losses saw Brawler lose to a young Scott Putski on a May 28 WWF Superstars dark match, as well as Vick Steamboat (wrestling as "Jesse Bolt") in another dark match at the July 29th WWF Superstars taping.

In August Lombardi traveled to Japan again as part of another joint WWF/SWS tour and teamed with Rick Martel. The following month saw Lombardi engage in his first feud since 1989, when he became part of a short angle with newcomer Big Bully Busick to determine who was the true bully of the WWF. On the October 28th edition of Prime Time Wrestling the Brawler defeated Busick by countout in what turned out to be the blowoff for the feud. Brawler defeated the Bully by countout and in a rematch one week later saw the Brawler dominate the Bully until the latter's manager Harvey Wippleman grabbed the Brawler's leg, leading to a controversial win for the Bully. The feud with Busick led to a quasi-face turn for Lombardi as he was then matched up against various heel opponents for the remainder of 1991.

Music: Crowd Booing.mp3