D’Lo Brown had a great run with WWE during the Attitude Era, and at one point he was known for the chest protector that he wore to the ring. The chest protector ended up getting D’Lo some major heat from the fans who often talked about whether or not the chest protector was actually a weapon.
The former WWE star recently joined the Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast, and he revealed that Jim Ross is the one who originally pitched the idea to him, but he admitted that he was hesitant to use the chest protector at first.
“I was sitting in catering and Jim Ross came and sat down next to me and said; “Kid, you are a talent and you can wrestle and you’ve got some character but we need to get you something that separates you and makes you stand out.” I thought okay but he said he needed time to think on it. The next week at catering he sat down next to me again and said what about doing something like Iron Mike Sharpe with his forearm but something different and because you do a frog splash lets do a chest protector. My initial thought was to just nod and walk away and hope he would forget but inside I thought about it and no way would that work and I’d be the laughing stock of the locker room.”
The chest protector gimmick wasn’t an instant hit, but it did eventually catch on. D’Lo Brown credits Road Dogg for getting it over after he played him in the DX parody of The nation.
“At first people still didn’t get it and they didn’t understand it and it really didn’t become part of the consciousness until Dx did that parody of The Nation and Road Dog played me. When he came out he was shaking his head he was wearing the chest protector and he was overdoing me and to a point where people thought that I didn’t do that and two seconds later I came out and it was like, okay he really does do that and wear that.”
