José González
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José Huertas González (born March 18, 1946) better known as Invader 1, is a Puerto Rican retired professional wrestler, who wrestled in the United States and around the world, especially in Puerto Rico. He was described as the "right-hand man" of Carlos Colón, the head promoter of World Wrestling Council, Puerto Rico's biggest promotion.
He was charged with the murder of wrestler Frank Goodish (Bruiser Brody), but was acquitted due to self defense in contentious circumstances, particularly as key witnesses to the incident were unable to testify due to receiving their summons after the trial had concluded, domestic witnesses and event investors corroborated a different account than foreign witnesses, and that the murder weapon mysteriously vanished. However, it has since been widely accepted that the murder was not in self-defense and was most likely premeditated.[1]
Background edit
Career edit
Since 1973, he was a wrestler and booker for the World Wrestling Council and wrestled for the International Wrestling Association. He held the Puerto Rico heavyweight title twelve times between 1977 and 2001, and the WWC Television Title five times between 1986 and 1991. He retired in 2006 to enter politics.
González began wrestling as The Prophet in Chicago. In 1972 he joined the WWF. When he returned to Puerto Rico to fight with Capitol Sport Promotion, he took on the masked persona of The Invader so his mother would not know he was a wrestler. He fought on The Invaders tag team with Roberto Soto as Invader 2 and then Johnny Rivera as Invader 3. The Invaders worked as a mid-card tag team in the WWF in the early 1980s.They left WWF in 1984. He would returned to Puerto Rico working for International Wrestling Association (Puerto Rico) and World Wrestling Council. He would retired in 2005.
In 2011, he returned to the ring, wrestling as Invader 1.
In 2012, González became the corporative director of the World Wrestling League. In 2015, he was inducted into the Salón de los Inmortales.
In 2019 he wrestled his last match at 73 years old.
Murder of Bruiser Brody edit
On July 16, 1988, Brody was in the locker room before his scheduled match with Dan Spivey at Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium in Bayamón (a city near San Juan, Puerto Rico), when González allegedly asked him to step into the shower area to discuss business. There was an argument between the two wrestlers and a scuffle ensued. Due to the design of the dressing room, there were no witnesses to the altercation. However, two screams were heard, loud enough for the entire locker room to hear. Tony Atlas ran to the shower and saw Brody bent over and holding his stomach. Atlas then looked up at González and saw him holding a knife.[2]
Due to the heavy traffic outdoors and large crowd in the stadium it took paramedics close to an hour to reach Brody. When the paramedics arrived, Atlas helped carry Brody downstairs to the waiting ambulance as, due to Brody's size, paramedics were unable to lift him. He later died from his stab wounds. According to Atlas, the show proceeded as normal with González telling everyone else in the locker room that Brody had been stabbed by a fan.
González claimed self-defense and testified in his own defense. He was acquitted of murder in 1989. The prosecution witnesses living outside of Puerto Rico did not show up, claiming they had not received their summons until after the trial had ended.
Motive edit
Fellow wrestlers Dutch Mantel and Tony Atlas have said that in the 1970s, when Brody and González had wrestled each other, Brody had wrestled very roughly and beat up González, but only to protect his in-ring character and not break kayfabe, rather than out of any genuine animosity towards González. At the time, it is believed that González was being groomed to become the top wrestling star of Puerto Rico; however, the match with Brody stopped the momentum he had dead in its tracks. Fellow wrestler S.D. Jones claimed that after this particular match, González said to him "one day I am gonna kill that man", a statement which Tony Atlas later corroborated.[3]
At the time, Brody was looking to become a part-owner of the World Wrestling Council and had plans to dismiss González as the booker. Plus on top of that, it is believed that WWC owed Brody a considerable amount of money for his most recent tour of Puerto Rico.
Trivia edit
- In April 2019, Brody's death was featured on VICE's Dark Side of the Ring - Season 1, Episode 3, which included interviews with Dutch Mantel, Tony Atlas and Abdullah the Butcher.