| Allen Coage | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Coage in 1989 | |
| Birth name | Allen James Coage |
| Born | (1943-10-22)October 22, 1943[1][2] New York City, U.S.[2] |
| Died | March 6, 2007(2007-03-06) (aged 63)[3] Calgary,Alberta, Canada[3] |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Alma mater | Nihon University[4] |
| Spouse(s) | Helen Coage (1983–2007; his death)[5][6] |
| Children | 9[5][6] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Allen Coage[1] Bad News[1] Bad News Allen[3] Bad News Brown[3] B.L. Brown Buffalo Allen[5] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[7] |
| Billed weight | 271 lb (123 kg)[7] |
| Billed from | Harlem,New York[7] Tokyo, Japan (WWWF 1978–79) |
| Trained by | Antonio Inoki[5] |
| Debut | October 23, 1977 |
| Retired | May 20, 1999 |
| Judo career | |
| Weight class | +93 kg |
| Rank | 3rd dan black belt[4] |
| Judo achievements and titles | |
| Olympic Games |  (1976) |
| World Champ. | 7th(1975) |
| Pan American Champ. |  (1968) |
Medal record | |
| Profile at external judo databases | |
| IJF | 54440 |
| JudoInside.com | 6003 |
Allen James Coage (October 22, 1943 – March 6, 2007) was an Americanjudoka andprofessional wrestler.[5] He won medals for the United States at several international judo competitions, including the heavyweight bronze medal at the1976 Summer Olympics, and later appeared inprofessional wrestling promotions such as theWorld Wrestling Federation,New Japan Pro-Wrestling andStampede Wrestling under thering namesBad News Brown,Buffalo Allen, andBad News Allen.[5][7][8]
Coage was born inHarlem,New York City and raised inSt. Albans, Queens, attendingThomas A. Edison High School.[4][2] After graduating in 1962, Coage began working in a bakery, eventually becoming a foreman.[4]
Coage began training in judo under Jerome Mackey after seeing a poster for Mackey's dojo on theNew York City Subway, at the age of 15. He began his career in 1964 at the relatively late age of 22. After seven months as awhite belt, he placed first in the Chicago Invitational tournament. Coage achieved ablack belt in two and a half years and after five years was named asandan.[4] Coage practised a "classical" style,[8] with his favored throws being theŌuchi gari and theTai otoshi.[4] Coage also studied judo andTomiki Aikido under Kastuo Watanabe who awarded himshodan in the latter.[9]
Coage won theAmateur Athletic Union judo championship (heavyweight class) in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1975, as well as winning the open division in 1970. He also competed in thePan American Games, winning gold medals in the heavyweight class in1967 and1975.
In 1970, Coage relocated to Japan for two years, where he studied atNihon University, majoring and minoring in judo.[4][10][11] In 1972, Coage suffered a severe knee injury during an Olympic Trials bout withJimmy Wooley, rendering him unable to compete in the1972 Summer Olympics.[8]
Upon recovering, Coage began training for the1976 Summer Olympics. Coage was initially excluded from the United States judo team until a class action lawsuit was filed against theUnited States Olympic Committee by theUnited States Judo Association. Coage ultimately won a bronze medal.[8] His victory made him the firstAfrican American to win a solo Olympic Games medal in a sport other than boxing or track and field.
Coage retired from competitive judo following the 1976 Summer Olympics due to frustrations around internal politics.[6] He went on to hold a number of other jobs, including briefly working as a bodyguard for singerAretha Franklin, before deciding to train as a professional wrestler.[12]
Coage began training as a professional wrestler underAntonio Inoki in theNew Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo in 1977.[5] He debuted in October 1977, briefly performing under his birth name before adopting the ring name "Buffalo Allen". Coage wrestled intermittently for NJPW over the next 15 years.[5]
Coage made a one-off appearance in theWorld Wide Wrestling Federation in February 1978, defeatingjobberFrank Williams at alive event under his birth name. He returned to the promotion in January 1979 and wrestled for the WWWF for the remainder of the year, appearing on several episodes ofWWF Championship Wrestling. Late in 1979, at Madison Square Garden, teaming withJoJo Andrews, Coage challenged for theNWA North American Tag Team Championship againstRiki Choshu andSeiji Sakaguchi. Coage's team was unsuccessful when Andrews submitted to a Boston crab by Sakaguchi in a match that lasted just under 10 minutes.
In 1982, Bad News Allen found a long-term home inStu Hart'sStampede Wrestling, centered in Allen's adopted home city ofCalgary. Allen remained with Stampede from 1982 until 1988, with some tours of Australia andFlorida during that time, and had matches with wrestlers such as theDynamite Kid andBret Hart. He often referred to himself in interviews as "The Ultimate Warrior".
Allen returned to the World Wrestling Federation in early 1988 as Bad News Brown, and it was during this time that he achieved his greatest notoriety. His trademark characteristic as Bad News Brown was never smiling—either he kept an angry face, or he "laughed loud" at the expense of opponents' misfortunes. While the roster was mostly filled with ultra-virtuousbabyfaces and cowardly and monsterheels, Bad News was something entirely different: a tough loner. While other heels were likely to form alliances with one another, Bad News was reclusive. His dislike for all fellow wrestlers was clear when he abandoned his teams at theSurvivor Series of1988 and1989. Some memorable moments from his WWF tenure included winning thebattle royal atWrestleMania IV by last eliminatingBret Hart, who was then a heel, after a sneak attack,[13] followed by a brief feud with WWF World Heavyweight Champion"Macho Man" Randy Savage and his managerMiss Elizabeth in late 1988 that led to more main-event matches. Around this time, Brown was worked into a story where he attacked WWF presidentJack Tunney onThe Brother Love Show after confronting him about being denied title matches.[14]
On the March 11, 1989 edition ofSaturday Night's Main Event XX Bad News memorably took a microphone towards the end of his match withHulk Hogan and told him that it was time for theGhetto Blaster (anenzuigiri). As he was getting ready to execute it, however, Hogan got out of the way, leading him to miss the move and suffer an eventual loss.[15]
Brown's next feud was with"Rowdy" Roddy Piper (starting at the1990 Royal Rumble when he was eliminated by Piper, then illegally eliminated Piper. This led to Brown being ridiculed which he would counter by calling Piper out for wearing a "skirt". This culminated atWrestleMania VI in a match where both men were counted out. Brown was initially planned to continue this feud with Piper, but since neither man would agree to lose to each other, their program was scrapped and instead Brown was assigned to work withJake "The Snake" Roberts, where Bad News used a sewer (actually a possum) rat against Jake's snake.
Brown eventually left the WWF afterSummerSlam 1990, claimingVince McMahon failed to live up to his promise to make him the company's first black champion, which reportedly affected him and his wife.[16]
As written in theautobiography of theDynamite Kid, Coage's legitimate toughness was displayed in a confrontation involvingAndré the Giant, who allegedly made a racist comment on a tour bus forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling.[17] Coage overheard it and made the driver stop the bus, walked off and demanded the Giant get off and fight him one on one.[18] André did not move from his seat and later apologized for the remark.[19]
Coage continued to work inindependentpromotions for several more years, including Japan'sshoot wrestlingUWFi promotion. In 1994, he worked in South Africa and feuded with former Stampede wrestlerGama Singh. Also worked forTokyo Pro Wrestling from 1997 to 1998 and worked in independent shows in Calgary and Western Canada. Coage retired in 1999 due to knee damage. He continued occasionally working independent shows for friends while living in Calgary with his wife, and had considered starting a promotion himself. Additionally, he taught wrestling with Canadian wrestling coach Leo Jean, and worked as a mall security officer inAirdrie, Alberta.[3]
Coage was married three times. With his first wife, Audrey, he had his eldest child, Tonya. Then Coage was in a long-term relationship with Lorriane, in which he had his eldest son, Bryan, and April, and two step children—Martin and Ronda. He had another relationship with Lottie, in which he had two more children, Michael and Nancy. Coage was then married for a second time to Katharine, in which he had Lynnette. During his last marriage until his death, Coage was married to Helen in which he had one son, Allen Jr. (AJ) and raised two step children, Dawn and Frances.[5][6]
At one point,Rick Bognar and Coage ran a wrestling school out of Calgary, Alberta. He was working on a book about his career and other wrestling stories before his death.
Coage died of aheart attack on the morning of March 6, 2007, atRockyview General Hospital in Calgary, minutes after being rushed there due to chest pain. Three weeks prior to his death, he had undergone hip replacement surgery.[3] His wife Helen Coage attended with some of Allen's children and grandchildren at the Bad News Allen Memorial Show.
Judo[edit]
| Professional wrestling[edit]
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90 kg (1963) · +93 kg (1967–1975) · +95 kg (1979–1995) · +100 kg (1999–) | |
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