Dick the Bruiser: The Story of "The World's Most Dangerous Wrestler"

Dick the Bruiser was a force to be reckoned with in and out of the ring.

If you’re an old-school fan of pro wrestling, you are probably familiar with the name, Dick “The Bruiser.” But if you grew up in the northeast or during the World Wide Wrestling Federation era as I did, you might not have ever seen the Bruiser wrestle.

The Bruiser’s real name was William Fritz Afflis, and he was born in 1929 in Delphi, Indiana. Afflis played football in high school and college at Purdue University and later at the University of Nevada, Reno. While attending school in Nevada, he also took a job as a bouncer at a Reno nightclub.

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Bruiser in the NFL

Afflis was good enough on the gridiron to get drafted by the Green Bay Packers, where he played both the offensive and defensive line for four years, 1951–1954. Afflis suffered a football injury to his larynx, which caused him to have a gravelly voice for the rest of his life.

Afflis embarked on his second career–wrestling–in 1955, soon after leaving the NFL. He wrestled under the tutelage of Verne Gagne and spent most of the early years wrestling in the Detroit area.

Birth of "The World's Most Dangerous Wrestler"

He quickly built a reputation as a rule-breaker who didn’t always follow the script. “The Bruiser,” as he became known, also had a reputation for being on the wild side.

In November 1957, The Bruiser and his tag team partner Jerry Graham wrestled the tag team of Antonino Rocca and Édouard Carpentier at Madison Square Garden. Graham, like The Bruiser, had a reputation for pushing the envelope and abandoning the script. After the match ended, the wrestlers continued slugging it out.

Things escalated quickly, as fans threw chairs, stormed the ring, and a full-scale riot ensued. As police officers and fans entered the ring, The Bruiser tossed them out one after the other. Dick the Bruiser received a lifetime ban from the New York State Athletic Commission for his efforts, and he never wrestled at Madison Square Garden again.

That wasn’t the only incident involving police and The Bruiser. Take, for example, what happened in 1963 at a Detroit-area bar. The Lindell was co-owned by pro football player Alex Karras, who had done a little wrestling professionally before joining the Lions in 1958.

NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle had suspended Karras for the 1963 season for betting on NFL games. Karras had a family to support, so he figured he’d take advantage of his prior wrestling experience and earn a few bucks by taking on The Bruiser. They staged a fight at his bar to draw interest in their upcoming match.

Karras vs. Bruiser

One night, The Bruiser came strutting into the bar at around 1:30 am and started taunting Karras, who wore glasses and was known to have difficulty keeping his weight down. The Bruiser called Karras “Four Eyes” and “Fatso,” just as the script had called for. Then, the two men started fighting. Everything went according to plan until somebody in attendance, who didn’t know the fight was staged, hit The Bruiser in the face with a pool stick.

Cut and bleeding, The Bruiser went beserk and tore the bar apart. It took eight police officers to subdue The Bruiser before taking him away in handcuffs. In the process, two officers suffered serious injuries.

But let it be known that The Bruiser didn’t do all of his damage outside the ring. He was also a monster in it. He had success wrestling individually and with tag team partners Wilbur Snyder, Reginald “The Crusher” Lisowski, and later with Bruno Sammartino. Along the way, The Bruiser held numerous titles, individually and with his tag team partners.

Dick was inducted into the World Championship Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1994, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2005, and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021.

He got involved on the management side, too. In 1964, The Bruiser and Snyder purchased the Indianapolis National Wrestling Alliance promotion from Jim Barnett and renamed the territory The World Wrestling Association. Afflis ran the WWA while continuing to wrestle from 1964-to 1989, retiring at age 60.

Two years later, at age 62, Afflis ruptured a blood vessel in his esophagus while lifting weights with his adopted son. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died of internal bleeding.

Wrestling fans will forever remember Richard Afflis as “Dick the Bruiser, the world’s most dangerous wrestler.”

Enjoy this article about wrestling history? Check out our show “Wrestling With Heels On.”

Mark Morthier is the host of Yesterday’s Sports, a podcast dedicated to reliving memorable sports moments from his childhood days and beyond. He grew up in New Jersey just across from New York City, so many of his episodes revolve around the great sport’s teams of the 70s for the New York area.

He is also an author of No Nonsense, Old School Weight Training (Second Edition): A Guide for People with Limited Time and Running Wild: (Growing Up in the 1970s)