Biography



Here is a short biography of Bad News Brown, Covering His Years As A Judo Champ, and of Course, A Pro-Wrestler.

Bad News Allen REAL NAME: Allen Coage
BORN: October 22, 1943 in New York City
6'2", 255 pounds
AKA: Bad News Allen, Bad News Brown, Buffalo Allen

 Allen Coage has always been Bad News for opponents.
 Wrestling fans know him best as Bad News Allen, but he had that nickname before entering the squared circle.
  He got that nickname during his days in judo, where he took bronze at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the heavyweight division, and won two straight gold medals at the Pan-American Games. He's even in Black Belt Magazine's Hall of Fame.
  His judo coach had a friend that worked for a sports paper in Japan, and was looking for new recruits for pro wrestling. Coage wavered, as he was never a wrestling fan, but eventually decided to do it, partly for the chance to go back to Japan, where he had trained in judo for a year.
  Coage tutored under Antonio Inoki and the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo starting in 1977 and spent 15 years with NJPW.
 "When I went there, I enjoyed it," Coage told SLAM! Wrestling in a April 1998 interview. "For me, training for wrestling was a lot easier than judo itself. Judo was a real hard, rugged sport. When I trained in Japan for a year, it was really, really tough. So when I went back, this time I was getting paid to do it. Before I was doing judo because I loved it, and I didn't get paid for it."
  After learning the ropes with New Japan, Coage hit the road. "I don't think there's been a spot on this earth I haven't hit. I've been everywhere," he said.
  His favorite place to wrestle continues to be Japan, where he still does occasional tours for New Tokyo Pro Sports. He also counts Australia as a favorite, and he even lived 'Down Under' for a while.
 In 1982, he made his first tour with Stu Hart's Stampede promotion. Bret Hart and Dynamite Kid had been on tour with Coage in Japan, and convinced Stu to bring him in.
  After six months, Coage left and returned to Australia.
  "Stu kept bugging me, he kept begging me to come back because he liked my style and I was making money for him," the four-time winner of Stampede's North American title explained. "So I came back in 1983, and hooked up with my wife and I've been here ever since."
  Allen and Helen Coage now live in Calgary, and have nine children -- three boys and six girls -- and 13 grandkids, with another on the way. The two met in Redwater, outside of Edmonton, after Coage missed both the babyface and heel bus. A friend of Helen's recognized Coage and offered him a ride into Edmonton. "To make a long story short, that was it. They invited me to a party and we got together. We've been together ever since." Coage is now has landed immigrant status in Canada.
 Bad News Allen wrestled in Japan most of his career, and that's partly why he is not a bigger name for North American wrestling fans.
  "I didn't want to work in the States, because you've always got to fight with the promoters for your money," he said.
  Coage's first stint with the WWF came in 1978 when it was actually the WWWF, and run by Vince McMahon Sr. At the time, NJPW had a relationship with the WWWF, and sent Coage in for some American-style experience. It was in the WWWF that he started using Bad News Allen as his ring name, instead of the New Japan nickname of Buffalo Allen Coage.
  Then when Stu Hart folded the Stampede promotion for the first time, he sold the rights to his area to the WWF. At the time, Stu "arranged for Dynamite, Davey [Boy Smith], Bret and myself to go into New York. I never went because my wife was pregnant, and that was going to be our last child. I wanted to be home for once, not always on the road. So I stayed until 1988."
 Coage was in the WWF until 1990 as Bad News Brown, but it isn't an experience he cherishes.
 He had a few matches against Hulk Hogan, feuded with Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts and Bret Hart but never held a title, nor headlined a pay-per-view. He did however win the Battle Royale at WrestleMania IV.
  "They never kept their word to me," he said. "It wasn't a fun time for me. You see, when I left there I was really happy. I was brought there under false pretenses. They never kept their word to me. I was just sick of the lying all the time ... That was 2 1/2 years of my life that I really didn't enjoy."
  Even the money wasn't the answer. "I was making a lot of money, but I had to pay two different sets of taxes and I had to fight with Vince [McMahon Jr.] all the time for my money ... In Japan, you made a deal before you even wrestled what you money was going to be. You signed the contract and that was it. It was money in the bank. You never had to worry. They never cheated you on anything. There were no problems. But with Vince there was always some kind of problem."
  He considers his favorite matches to be against Inoki, and against Hulk Hogan. But two wrestlers really stand above all for him. "The two best wrestlers that I ever worked with, bar none, were Dynamite Kid and Ricky Steamboat. They were the best at that time, pound for pound, without a doubt."
  Coage is proud of his career, that he "always worked hard" in ring before big or little crowds. "It was always business with me. There was never no playing ribs on people, making fun of people. I was there to work and do my job and get paid for it."
  These days, Coage still travels to Japan, and works occasional spot shows for promoters like Tony Condello in Winnipeg and Tim Flowers in Vancouver.
  "It's funny. A lot of people will see me on the street, and they actually think I'm retired," he said.
  Eventually, he'd like to end up promoting, based out of Calgary.
  But it won't be Bad News for other promoters -- he plans to work with friends like Condello and Flowers, not compete directly against them.

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