In June 1988, WWF TV producer Bruce Prichard debuted as Brother Love, a red-faced, smarmy, very boisterous "preacher" who claimed to preach not the word of God, but "the word of love." He was best known for his cheesy catchphrase of "I love you!" The gimmick was inspired by controversial televangelists of the time.
Introduced to the WWF by Bobby Heenan, Love hosted a segment on the World Wrestling Federation's syndicated and cable television programs (called "The Brother Love Show"), in which he would interview wrestlers. The segment debuted on the June 19, 1988 airing of WWF Wrestling Challenge, and would be "promoted" to the WWF's "A-show," WWF Superstars of Wrestling, by early that fall.
The segment was patterned largely after the legendary "Piper's Pit," where Brother Love — dressed in a white suit and tie with a red shirt, with fingers full of gold jewelry — would berate face wrestlers (especially Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior) and openly support such heels as Ted DiBiase and Bobby Heenan. In fact, DiBiase was Brother Love's main "benefactor." More than once, a wrestling feud was set up because of what occurred on "The Brother Love Show" (including Hulk Hogan's feuds vs. Big Boss Man (1988-1989) and Earthquake (1990), and the Jake Roberts-Rick Martel feud from late 1990 to early 1991).
Brother Love also featured prominently in WrestleMania V in 1989 where Roddy Piper "de-skirted" Brother Love of his "kilt" after taking over Piper's Pit. A year later, Sgt. Slaughter bestowed a medal upon Brother Love during SummerSlam 1990 for being the "greatest American."
List of Guests[]
- June 19, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Debut
- June 26, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Ted DiBiase & Virgil
- July 3, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Big Bossman & Slick
- July 10, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Rick Rude & Bobby Heenan
- July 17, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - King Haku & Bobby Heenan
- July 24, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Cheryl Roberts & Jake Roberts
- July 31, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Ted DiBiase, Virgil, Andre the Giant & Bobby Heenan
- August 7, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, & Miss Elizabeth
- August 14, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Jimmy Hart
- August 21, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Andre the Giant, Ted DiBiase, & Jesse Ventura
- August 28, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Andre the Giant, Ted DiBiase, Bobby Heenan, & Virgil
- September 4, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Ron Bass
- September 11, 1988 Wrestling Challenge - Dino Reed
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