Edward Harrison Leslie[6] (born April 21, 1957) is an American retired professional wrestler, best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake.

[3][1] Leslie held nine titles throughout his career, and is a former WWF World Tag Team Champion with Greg Valentine.

He also competed for major singles titles on pay-per-view and television, headlining the Starrcade 1994, in a match against then-WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan.

[10] Beefcake made his WWF debut on the August 11 episode of Championship Wrestling, by appearing at ringside during a match between Ivan Putski and Ron Shaw.

After beating enhancement talents during the first weeks of his career, Leslie was joined by "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager on the October 13 episode of Championship Wrestling.

During this time, Beefcake also feuded with David Sammartino whom he fought to a double disqualification at the inaugural WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden.

[9] They soon began challenging The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) for the WWF Tag Team Championship.

The title change aired live on the local PRISM network, and on the September 7 episode of Championship Wrestling via tape delay.

[12] Thereafter, Beefcake started bringing garden shears (with the handles taped to resemble barber poles) to the ring, and using a sleeper hold (hitherto a specialty of both Piper and Adonis, used heavily by both in their WrestleMania III match) as his finishing move.

Beefcake never made good on that vow, since Honky got himself disqualified from most of their matches (wrestling titles generally do not change hands on a disqualification).

Honky often had assistance from a mysterious pig-tailed and sunglassed blonde named Peggy Sue (WWF Women's Champion Sherri Martel usually played this character during television tapings and PPV events, but at house shows "she" was Jimmy Hart in drag).

Though Honky escaped with the title and his hair, Beefcake caught Hart towards the end of the match and humiliated him with a partial haircut.

As a result, the injured Beefcake missed his scheduled Intercontinental Championship match against Honky at the first SummerSlam event on August 29.

[14] During the spring and summer of 1990, Beefcake was involved in the Intercontinental Championship tournament and, along with opponent Dino Bravo, were counted-out in the first round.

[16] Dave Meltzer at this time reported that most wrestlers were against his return due to concerns about his safety and their ability to have quality matches while avoiding injuring him further.

[17] Leslie returned as Brutus Beefcake in a special appearance on the April 23, 1991, episode of Prime Time Wrestling, and then as a full-time regular in the summer of 1991, hosting an interview segment called "The Barber Shop.

Newly turned heel Sid Justice attacked Beefcake and destroyed the set, building heat for his feud with Hulk Hogan.

The Mega-Maniacs (with Beefcake wearing a protective facemask) challenged Money Inc. for the Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania IX.

[19] WrestleMania IX was Leslie's final wrestling appearance on WWF television, although he remained active on the house show circuit.

[20] Following a final tour of Europe from July 9 to August 6, (defeating Terry Taylor in eight straight matches), Leslie left the WWF.

At first, he only made short appearances with Hulk Hogan, who referred to him as Brother Bruti[21] (as he did when they were WWF tag team partners in 1989 and 1993).

Leslie rejoined Sullivan in his new stable The Dungeon of Doom, as The Zodiac,[18] a character wearing black and white face paint and only ever saying, "Yes, no, yes, no!"

In the final segment of the February 23, 1998, edition of Monday Nitro, Leslie returned as The Disciple, the bodyguard of Hollywood Hogan.

The Disciple accompanied Hogan to the ring for his matches, and would often be called on to assist in beating down an opponent, often using his new finishing move, "The Apocalypse".

After Hogan became the WCW World Heavyweight Champion in April, these beatdowns often included the title belt itself, which The Disciple would drape over his shoulder before performing The Apocalypse, driving its centerplate into the victim's face on the way down.

In his final televised match, aired on the November 6, 1999 WCW Worldwide, he wore attire much like he did in his early WWF days as Brutus Beefcake (though still under the Disciple ring name) as he lost to Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

On July 24, 2009, Leslie competed in "Celebrity Boxing 10" in Philadelphia, losing in the first round to local competitive eater Bill "El Wingador" Simmons.

He took part in the Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin tour in late 2009, wrestling across Australia, including Perth and Sydney.

In February 2004, Leslie caused an anthrax scare at one of Boston's MBTA stations, Downtown Crossing, where he was working at the time.