George Murdoch — possibly one of the most “pro wrestler” shoot names this side of “Barbie Blank” or “Richard Blood” — is likely best known as Brodus Clay, who in turn is likely best known as being the only living Funkasaurus in captivity during his time with WWE. But in all honesty, he’s probably well on his way to being BEST-best-known as Machu Picchu’s brother on GLOW, a legacy we can all be jealous of.
But Clay also spent the better part of three years as Tyrus in Impact Wrestling, where he was first introduced as an associate of EC3. He took a hiatus from Impact in April of this year, but returned during the August set of tapings. Not too long after that, he announced that he would be sitting out of what was at the time Global Force Wrestling, and claimed the company treated him like a “second class citizen.”
After saying he would “take a knee,” Tyrus hasn’t been back since, although the company has gone through several more top-level shake-ups since then, including the promotion severing all ties with Jeff Jarrett and once again ditching the Global Force branding.
As it turns out, that last move I mentioned might eventually lead to Tyrus returning to the fold. In an interview with The Arm Drag Takedown podcast, the big man explained his problems with Jarrett are what led to his departure. (Transcript via the Huffington Post.)
“When Jeff Jarrett came along — because him and I have an uncomfortable history — I just wasn’t comfortable with the management. [TNA] didn’t want me working for Jeff. Basically, it came down to either stay with Impact, or I could go with Global. I was making more with Impact, and Global didn’t have the resources to pay me what I was making. [Jeff] was basically saying it was better for me to come to Global, because Impact was about to fold. He was very adamant about that. Two weeks later, at the TV tapings, guess whose ass is there working the shows? Jeff Jarrett. I was like, ‘Bitch, [are] you crazy?!?’ Who does that?
“Check it: If I would have quit and taken money out of my family’s mouths, went and worked there and then, ‘Oh, we’re going to have to go work Impact … ’ How would that have gone?!
“[When Jarrett once again took over Impact], I was like, ‘Oh, sh*t! Well, I’m out.’ Unless [Jarrett] and I were going to have a sitdown, which just wasn’t going to happen, I knew this was not going to be a spot for me. I just wasn’t comfortable with it.”
Yeah, I’m going to say Tyrus and Jarrett probably didn’t get along very well! You can listen to the full episode of the podcast at this link.
