Allen Coage
| Allen Coage | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 22, 1943 New York, New York |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | "Buffalo" Allen Coage Bad News Allen Bad News Brown |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Billed weight | 255 lb (116 kg) |
| Billed from | Harlem, New York |
| Trained by | Antonio Inoki |
| Debut | October 23, 1977 |
Allen Coage (AKA Bad News Brown and Bad News Allen) was an American professional wrestler with the WWF among many other companies. He is also the 1976 Olympic Bronze Medal winner in Judo, in the Heavyweight division.
Career
After short stints with New Japan Pro Wrestling and the then-World Wide Wrestling Federation, Bad News Allen found a long-term home in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, centered in Allen's homecity of Calgary. Allen would remain with Stampede from 1982 until 1988, with some tours of Australia during that time, and would have matches with wrestlers like The Dynamite Kid and Owen Hart. It was during his time with Stampede that Coage would meet his wife, Helen.
Allen returned to the World Wrestling Federation in 1988 as Bad News Brown, and it was during this time that he would achieve his greatest notoriety. While the roster was mostly filled with ultra-virtuous babyfaces and cowardly and monster heels, Bad News was something entirely different; a tough loner who stood on his own and fought to his last breath. While booked as a heel, Bad News Brown was more a tweener, and his character would become the template for later characters such as Stone Cold Steve Austin. Some memorable moments from his WWF tenure included winning the battle royal at WrestleMania IV, fueding with Roddy Piper at Wrestlemania VI which started before at the Royal Rumble and with Jake the Snake Roberts where Bad News had a sewer rat against Jake's snake along with other moments like attacking Jack Tunney on The Brother Love Show. Coage would eventually leave the WWF in 1990 due to, as he claims, Vince McMahon's failure to live up to his promises.
Coage continued to work in independent promotions for several more years, until he retired in 1998 due to knee damage. He is currently living in Calgary with his wife. He still occasionally works indy shows for friends, and is considering starting a promotion himself. Additionally, he teaches wrestling, and works as a security officer in Airdrie, Alberta.
In wrestling
- Quotes: "Its gonna be good news for me, and baaaad news for 19 other turkeys, cause I'm gonna prevail just like on the streets of Harlem."
- Finishing and signature moves: Ghetto Blaster (Enzuigiri)
- Managers: Oliver Humperdink
Championships and accomplishments
- The Olympics
- 1-time Olympic Bronze medal winner (Judo, Heavyweight class)
- 2-time Pan-American Games Gold medal winner
- Professional wrestling
- National Wrestling Alliance
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him # 187 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
- Stampede Wrestling
- 2-time Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Champion
- Other Titles
- 1-time ICW Heavyweight Champion
- 1-time IWA Heavyweight Champion