Standing 6’ 7” and owning an abundance of charisma, Tyrus (real name: George Murdoch) spent years in the ring with the WWE and retired last year after a run as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. But, since stepping out of the ring, Tyrus’ ability to talk a good fight has been serving him well in the media landscape, where he now hosts Outkick’s Maintaining with Tyrus show, and interviews a wide range of guests.
At 51, Tyrus says that he’s finally learned to gain control of his weight by becoming accountable, and that means having some real talk with himself.
“It’s just a conversation,” says the host of Outkick’s Maintaining with Tyrus about his approach to interviewing guests such as Lara Trump, Kevin O’Leary, or even Piers Morgan .
“I don’t have an agenda.” The former pro wrestler is not new to broadcast media. He’s been honing his craft for more than ten years thanks to his successful guest appearances on The Greg Gutfield Show on Fox News, and becoming a frequent voice on the channel. In 2023, Tyrus was given the duty of hosting the first episode of Fox News Saturday Night and returned regularly. In February, 2024, Tyrus debuted OutKick’s Maintaining with Tyrus, and he’s found that having all of those honest conversations has made him more accountable in his own life.
One important issue that has dogged the big man for most of his life has been gaining control of his weight. “Before, if I was having a bad day, I’d grab a Snickers, or a sandwich or twenty,” he smirks. “But as I got older, and more confident in myself, I was able to control that more. But that was something that I always struggled with.”
Tyrus says that he was able to convince himself that weight issues were a non-issue
In his younger days, working security in clubs, Tyrus recalls that he was actually the lightest in the crew, despite weighing more than 400 pounds, and this made it difficult for him to get a handle on his shape.
“The stuff you will say to make yourself okay with not being okay is amazing,” reflects Tyrus on his inability to be accountable to himself at that time. “The energy you take to cover up your B.S. If you just faced it in the mirror, it’ll be so much better for you.” Because of his own challenges with mastering his weight, Tyrus doesn’t believe in telling people that it’s okay to be obese through fear of upsetting someone’s feelings. “I haven’t been the best at this, but if you eat less, and burn more, you lose weight. And if you don’t, you don’t. It’s that simple,” he concludes.
Tyrus had played college football for the Nebraska-Kearney Lopers in his youth, but an injury diverted him into pro wrestling. With his larger-than-life presence, he signed with WWE in 2006 but was released from his contract two years later. He returned to the company in 2010 and soon shot to fame as Brodus “The Funkusaurus” Clay, flanked by backing dancers and a look completed by a velour tracksuit.
Behind the scenes, however, WWE’s then chief, Vince McMahon was reportedly not happy with the weight that he had gained while away from WWE, and the story goes that McMahon responded by making Tyrus wear revealing trunks. “Vince McMahon called down and he wanted me in trunks, and I think a lot of that has to do with, when you get a big guy, you wanna make sure he’s eating right and if he has to where damn trunks, he’s gonna diet and stay on top of his training.”
Fortunately, the late and legendary Dusty Rhodes, who also famously battled the bulge but became a mat megastar, gave Tyrus the encouragement he needed to own his plight and suck it up with the trunks so that his star could continue to rise. Tyrus’ says that one big reason for his weight gain between those WWE runs was because his career had taken another surreal turn and he’d worked as a bodyguard for Snoop Dogg, no less.
“He can eat anything his wants, and he doesn’t gain a pound,” jokes Tyrus, who was happy to be part of the heavily eating entourage, but wasn’t immune from piling on the flab himself, reaching 498 pounds on his return weigh-in at WWE. “I left the WWE at 333 pounds,” he explains, meaning that he’d gained a whopping 165 pounds in two years. “I didn’t realize, I had gotten so fat. It’s no excuse, it’s just you will see whatever you want to see.” Making the decision to get back in control, Tyrus worked with coaches like Rob Macintyre and began earning awards for his commitment to making a change. Tyrus says he got all the way back down to 356 pounds during his second stint with WWE.
Tyrus conquered the wrestling world, and is now conquering a new style of working out
After a run with TNA/ IMPACT Wrestling, Tyrus retired from the wrestling ring in 2023 after finally becoming a world heavyweight champion in the National Wrestling Alliance. During his tenure with the NWA, now owned by Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, Tyrus was able to lift the profile of the promotion by displaying the NWA belt on a Gutfield! commercial that aired during Super Bowl LVII. Living life as a pro wrestler brought Tyrus many fond memories, and meant that he got to travel the world, but alas, travel would prove to be one of the most difficult aspects of a grappler’s lifestyle for this man-mountain.
“The toughest thing on my body, besides wrestling and football, and bar fighting, and bodyguarding, was travelling on the planes,” explains Tyrus, who suffered with a number of issues in the air including swelling in his knees. Now he avoids flights (and bar fights) wherever possible. “I used to have panic attacks in WWE because I would gain 12 pounds of water, flying,” he says.
Tyrus says his trainer would explain to him that the weight gain was due to water retention caused by the pressure of flights. By moving to New Jersey and being closer to his broadcast job, Tyrus is no longer constantly in the air, and has recently even been able to throw away a walking cane that he’d come to rely on to help him get around. “I could not wait to see how far I could chuck that thing down my yard, because I was done with it,” he jokes.
Now on the other side of 50, Tyrus has come to terms with the fact that he’s not going to be lifting super heavy like he did in his WWE heyday. But one thing that has put some pep back in his step is the act of stretching.
“You have all of this heavy weight going on, and you’re used to just throwing stuff around, and everyone is like ‘wow,’ you know? You surround yourself with monsters. If you do that now, four hours later you will be laying in the living room of your house and you can’t move anymore,” he laughs. “My trainer said why are you still lifting heavy? What do you have left to prove?”
Rather than run out and buy beard dye to reclaim his youth, Tyrus says that he’s embraced the new chapter that being over 50 brings, and opts to celebrate the wisdom that he’s learned from surviving on this planet instead. He’s finding that intermittent fasting is helping to shift more weight, and loves to tuck in to lean protein’s like fillet mignon. Tyrus is still on his weight-loss journey, and is now attempting to get under 300 pounds. “Talk to the person in the mirror, lead by example, and people will want to talk to you about it when they see the results of you being a better you,” says the no-nonsense host. Now that’s real talk.