 Mcgraw,c. 1980 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Davis (1944-11-01)November 1, 1944 (age 81) Florida, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Beautiful Brutus[1] Bugsy McGraw Buggsy McGraw The Big O[1] The Brute[1] Michael Davis The Mighty Brutus[1] The Skull[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Billed weight | 279 lb (127 kg) |
| Billed from | Central Florida[1] |
| Debut | 1967 |
| Retired | 2005 |
Michael Davis (born November 1, 1944), best known by thering namesBugsy McGraw andThe Skull, is an American retiredprofessional wrestler.[1] McGraw is known for his long beard and for his philosophical, crazed rants during wrestling interviews. He was a major star in significant territories during the 1970s and 1980s, including major runs in Vancouver, Australia, Florida, Dallas and Memphis.
Davis started his career as "The Big O" in 1967 in Florida, Detroit, and Central States Wrestling, wrestling under a mask. In 1971, he competed in Florida as "Beautiful Brutus", first managed byThe Great Malenko, who he would go on to feud with after firing Malenko as his manager. Beautiful Brutus went on to defeat Malenko for theNWA Brass Knuckles Championship. Their feud led to a bloody series of matches across the Florida territory. In the mid 1970's he wrestled as The Brute in Gene Kiniski's All Star Wrestling in British Columbia and held their version of the Canadian Heavyweight title.
Under the name "Bugsy McGraw", he wrestled all over the world, including a brief stay in theWorld Wide Wrestling Federation. But his reputation was primarily built in Florida, where career highlights included beatingDusty Rhodes for theNWA Florida Television Championship andDon Muraco for theNWA Florida Heavyweight Championship in 1980. McGraw also feuded with major Florida stars Barry Windham,Dory Funk Jr. andTerry Funk.
In late 1981, McGraw moved to Texas andWorld Class Championship Wrestling became a huge star there, first as a babyface feuding withGreat Kabuki and defeating him for theNWA American Heavyweight Championship. He also competed as a heel, feuding withBruiser Brody,Kerry Von Erich, andKevin Von Erich. He also wrestled in a Body Slam Battle Royal, losing toAndré the Giant at Texas Stadium in 1982. McGraw wrestled in Memphis in the early 1980s in CWA mostly as a member ofJimmy Hart's heelFirst Family stable.
For part of his run as a heel, he was part of the heel stable of wrestlers managed by the managerial team of H&H (Armand Hussein andGary Hart). McGraw made a face turn once again after both of his H&H managers turned on him, later defeating them in a handicap match at Wrestling Star Wars in August 1982.
After leaving Texas, McGraw would go to several territories, finally settling inJim Crockett Promotions in North Carolina. He feuded withThe Assassins, teaming mostly withRufus R. Jones. McGraw and Jones won theNWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship and wrestled in the first Starrcade event, losing to The Assassins.
McGraw returned to the promotion he had the longest and most prominent run in,Championship Wrestling from Florida, and would start off in a big angle with theFabulous Freebirds turning heel right away and jumpingMike Graham only to have him make the save and get the feud rolling often teaming with Mike Graham andBrian Blair and laterWahoo McDaniel. The Freebirds would eventually leave Florida and along withBlackjack Mulligan would feud withPercy Pringle, team ofThe Missing Link,The Assassin, andAbdullah the Butcher. He would have one more feud withRip Rogers that would have Rip Rogers valet giving him a bottle with something in it to blind McGraw in early 1986. He would not be seen for over a year and would return in 1987 once again with Blackjack Mulligan feuding withKevin Sullivan only to have Sullivan become a babyface to feud withOliver Humperdink andDory Funk Jr. andTerry Funk. Florida would later on merge and be absorbed byJim Crockett Promotions and even with a brief teaming withJimmy Valiant he would not be held on to by The Crocketts and would be let go.
He would show up for several independent promotions and would even join the reformedFlorida Championship Wrestling as a heel and feud with old partnerBlackjack Mulligan. He would retire from active competition in 1991. He would return to the ring a few times. On October 30, 2004 U of Virginia Children’s Medical Center Benefit Show Bugsy McGraw beatMasked Superstar. And January 29, 2005 at WrestleReunion participated in a Legends Battle Royal that was won by Greg Valentine.
On the June 18, 2009, edition ofTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling'sImpact! television show Davis appeared as the new head of security hired byMick Foley.[1]
After retiring from full-time wrestling, Davis enrolled in nursing school in 1988 and subsequently worked as a registered nurse for more than 20 years before retiring from nursing in 2014. While working as a nurse, he assisted with the care ofJack Brisco during the former world champion's health difficulties following open-heart surgery.[2]
On March 26, 2019, the release of Bugsy McGraw's autobiography was announced through a partnership between WOHW Publishing and the Darkstream Press imprint. The book was coauthored by Ian Douglass, the writer ofDan Severn's autobiography and a contributing writer ofHornswoggle's autobiography. It also included a foreword byRocky Johnson and an afterword fromBrian Blair. Davis insisted on using the two-G spelling of his wrestling name on the cover of the book, which he said he always tried to use in place of the one-G spelling for the sake of "being different."[3]
The book finished sixth in the voting for theWrestling Observer Newsletter's Best Pro Wrestling Book of 2019. In the process, it received the highest number of votes of any independently published pro wrestling autobiography released during that year.[4]
