Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Saturday Morning Blasphemy: The Brother Love Show (1988)

In the midst of late 80's scandals involving evangelists Jimmy Swaggert and Jim Bakker, in particular, the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) introduced a parody of evangelists in general.

The Brother Love Show was an interview segment that first appeared on Wrestling Challenge in the winter of 1988 before being moved to Superstars of Wrestling later that summer. Behind the makeup and the exaggerated speech patterns of Brother Love was his creator, Bruce Prichard, brother of wrestler "Dr." Tom Prichard, who'd later move to WWE himself, first as a wrestler, then a commentator, before leaving in the early '00's. Prichard admitted to being more of a fan of the preacher's presentation rather than his sermons, and Brother Love served the role of an agent provocateur, siding with the heels (villains), and never showing any redeeming value.

Not too surprisingly, Brother Love would also leave himself vulnerable to embarrassment & humiliation. Case in point: A visit from Roddy Piper in 1989.



About a year and a half after this segment aired, Brother Love was gone, as Prichard left the company for a time. He last revived Brother Love back in January for the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw, but nothing had changed. He's about as entertaining as watching paint dry. In the final analysis, Brother Love was just another Piper wannabe when it came to interviews.

Rating: C-.

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