Local turns weekend nights into fight nights
For Brian Woodyard, the rush of a wrestling crowd never really goes away. Once the walk-out music hits — in his case, “Blood” by Dropkick Murphys — he says it all comes back like riding a bike. That was the feeling Saturday, Nov. 1, when he stepped through the curtain at the DoubleTree Hilton in Abilene and returned to the ring for the first time in two years.
Woodyard is known in the wrestling world as Conor Murphy, the Pub Rat — an Irish-accented brawler with a catchphrase ready for any challenger: “I’m serving up a pint of beatdown.”
But during the week, he’s one of the new house parents at the Ben Richey Boys Ranch in Albany.
It’s a balance he’s proud of.
“We wanted to be home more,” Woodyard said of his move to Ben Richey with his wife, Mikala, earlier this year. “We had tossed around the idea of being professional foster parents, and we saw an opening here. It just felt right.”
A passion that
started young
His love for wrestling goes back to age seven, when his dad and uncle took him to see the Von Erichs at ACU’s Moody Coliseum. One moment, he was bravely yelling at the villain in the ring. The next, he was frozen in place.
“He turned around and pointed right at me and said, ‘Sit down and shut up,’” Woodyard recalled with a laugh. “I was shocked… but I was also hooked immediately.”
That childhood awe eventually led him to take up the sport in his 30s, training in Wichita Falls at the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame after volunteering there in 2016. He wrestled for Top of Texas Wrestling in Amarillo, making the long drive each week to perform in the ring.
The return
After a two-year break from the ring, Saturday’s match was for Rampage Wrestling, a Lubbock-based promotion with a loyal following in West Texas. Woodyard admits he felt the nerves of returning.
“I wasn’t sure if the crowd would remember me or if I still had it,” he said. “But as soon as my music hit, I busted through the curtain, and I was just… there.”
The hometown crowd didn’t disappoint, roaring as the Pub Rat defeated a DFW-area rookie known as The Punk Rock Kid — a fitting homecoming for Woodyard, who is originally from Abilene.
Though he grew up in Abilene and was performing only 35 miles from Albany, he stayed in character — a proud Irishman from Dublin, not a local boy from West Texas.
“When I show up on show day, I’m Conor Murphy,” he said. “I’ve got to be believable in all aspects of what I do.”
What’s next?
Work and family led to his temporary retirement, and he doesn’t expect to wrestle every weekend. But Conor Murphy isn’t done yet.
“Maybe once or twice a month,” he said. “I’ve still got a couple of good years left in me.”
For now, the kids at Ben Richey have a real-life entertainer at home — and the Pub Rat is once again serving pint-sized beatdowns in the ring.
