Leroy Brown (wrestler)

Roland C. Daniels (November 30, 1950 – September 6, 1988), better known by his ring name "Bad Bad" Leroy Brown, was an American professional wrestler. He took his ring name from the Jim Croce song "Bad, Bad" Leroy Brown, which also became his theme song for many of his in-ring appearances. He later used the ring name Elijah Akeem as he adopted a more militaristic black Muslim character, teaming with Kareem Muhammad as the Muslim Connection and later the Zambuie Express.

Brown started out his career working as a face in the south, portraying a simple, honest man who always backed up his friends. He later portrayed a heel, acting like an arrogant, rich, self-obsessed character. During his career, he won a number of singles championships such as the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship and the NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship, as well as a number of tag team championships, teaming with Muhammad to win the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship, NWA United States Tag Team Championship and AWA Southern Tag Team Championships.

Professional wrestling career

Daniels made his professional wrestling debut in 1977, adopting the

By 1979, Leroy Brown began working in San Francisco for NWA Hollywood. Brown teamed up with Allen Coage and together they defeated Los Guerreros (Héctor and Mando Guerrero) to win the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship. They would later lose the belts to Mando Guerrero and Carlos Mata.^[4] Working for NWA Hollywood also allowed Brown to travel to Japan, touring with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). During the tour, he challenged Seiji Sakaguchi for the NWF North American Heavyweight Championship in July, but Sakaguchi retained the title by disqualification. In his book Animal, George Steele describes Brown's problems in Japan, including how during a match, a Japanese wrestler was trying to break a bottle over Brown's head but had not prepared it properly; it took several hard blows to break the bottle. The next day, several Japanese wrestlers watched the tape of the match over and over again, laughing at Brown's misfortune and pain.^[5] Back in San Francisco, Brown defeated Chavo Guerrero to win the WWA Americas Heavyweight Championship, holding it for 50 days before losing it to Al Madril.^[6]

Later in the year, Brown returned to the eastern coast, competing for Championship Wrestling from Florida. He became involved in a feud with then NWA Florida Heavyweight Champion Manny Fernandez, facing him on several occasions in January 1980. After that, he moved onto a feud with Sweet Brown Sugar, whom he defeated to win the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship.^[7] He lost the title to Dusty Rhodes on February 16 in Jacksonville, Florida.^[8] Brown eventually worked for Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling, teaming with Ernie Ladd for most of his time in Mid-South. The two defeated Junkyard Dog and Terry Orndorff to win the Mid-South Tag Team Championship, and later traded the championship with Junkyard Dog and other partners such as Killer Karl Kox and Dick Murdoch.^[9]

In 1981,

In 1983, Florida bookers came up with a storyline where Daniels announced that he had changed his name to "Eljiah Akeem", referring to it as his Muslim name. He subsequently became the bodyguard for the hated heel "Exotic" Adrian Street. A few months later, Brown was paired with Ray Candy, who took the name "Kareem Muhammad", forming the "Zambuie Express" which was at times billed as "The Muslim Connection" in some promotions. The duo wore camouflage pants and shirts to the ring, adopting militaristic Muslim in ring characters, based to some extent on the Black Panther Party. The two toured mainly in the southern parts of the United States, where their racially charged characters made them very hated.^[13] The team was often managed by Humperdink and was part of the "House of Humperdink".^[14] On July 31, the duo defeated Mike Graham and Scott McGhee to win the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship.^[15] The duo held the championship until September of that year, when it was replaced by the Florida version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship. The Zambuie Express were declared the United States Champions, with the storyline being that they won a tournament.^[16] Two months later on November 5, the Zambuie Express lost the championship to the team of Dusty Rhodes and Blackjack Mulligan.^[16]

The team soon traveled to Memphis to compete for the

Daniels was not the only wrestler to use "Leroy Brown" as their ring name. Polynesian wrestler Leroy Tuifao also used the name "Leroy Brown" as he wrestled primarily in Hawaii.^[22] British wrestler Oliver Biney, better known as Rampage Brown, also used the name "Leroy Brown" for a period of time.^[23] The Junkyard Dog originally wrestled under the name "Leroy Rochester",^[24] which has led some sources to mistakenly list Roland Daniels' birth name as "Leroy Rochester".^[1]

Championships and accomplishments

• Championship Wrestling from Florida
  • NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kareem Muhammad^[15]
  • NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) (1 time)^[7]
  • NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (1 time) – with Kareem Muhammad^[16]
• Continental Wrestling Association
  • AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kareem Muhammad^[17][25]
• Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
  • NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship (1 time)^[12]
• Mid-South Wrestling
  • 2 times) – with Ernie Ladd^[9]
  • 1 time) – with Bill Irwin^[20]
• NWA Big Time Wrestling
  • Killer Tim Brooks^[3][26]
• NWA Hollywood Wrestling
  • WA Americas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[6]
  • NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Allen Coage^[4]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him # 484 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the
    PWI Years in 2003.^[27]

• List of premature professional wrestling deaths

References