Italians

[WolfofWords]

Last week, I talked about the character Robbie E and his connection to the Jersey Shore. One thing that I did not talk about concerning The Jersey Shore was that the show was protested by several Italian-American groups which led to several advertisers choosing to withdraw their support of the show. After thinking about things further, I remembered how the world of pro-wrestling has presented Italians and Italian-Americans. Like the Jersey Shore, it has not always been positive but has always been proud. Here are a few gimmicks that involved different Italians (real or fake) who fought in the grappling arts. In retrospect, some of them are even more problematic than Robbie E (who



The Full-Blooded Italians (aka The FBI)

This massive group started in Extreme Championship Wrestling, the fabled company that regularly engaged in bloody and chaotic fights. Of course, the other facet of ECW that is often overlooked is its comedy. Many of their most popular and enduring acts balanced comedy with ass-kicking. When it started in 1995, the joke of the FBI was that most of the members actually had no Italian ancestry at all. The founders of the group were JT Smith (an African-American) and Big Val Puccio (an actual Italian-American). They were joined by Tommy Rich, Tracy Smothers, and Kid Kash (White Southerners), George Gray (White Chicagoan), Ulf Herman (a German), and Nelson Frazier Jr. (another African-American).



The group did include actual Italian-Americans Sal E. Graziano, Salvatore Bellomo, Big Guido, and Little Guido Maritato. Those last two are of special interest because “guido” is seen by many as a slur against Italian-Americans and its use was specifically objected to by groups protesting The Jersey Shore.



The group would make their way to the ring doing the Italian chin flick gesture to a cover of The Bee Gee’s Staying Alive. They would speak in exaggerated Italian accents and use mannerisms clearly ripped from movies like The Godfather, Goodfellas, and Rocky. They would loudly idolize famous Italian-Americans like Rocky Balboa and Frank Sinatra. A big part of their gimmick was challenging people to dance-offs which often devolved into chaos. The usually politically correct ECW crowd (heavy sarcasm) chanted “Where’s my pizza?” at them.



The original group fell apart at some point but the torch was carried further by Little Guido (changing his name eventually to Nunzio), Tony Mamaluke, Big Vito, Chuck Palumbo, and Johnny “The Bull” Stamboli. The group traveled through World Wrestling Entertainment, All Japan Pro Wrestling, TNA Wrestling, and various indie promotions. Pretty much from 2000 on, the group was entirely comprised of actual Italian-Americans with the sole exception being the occasional return of Tracy Smothers. The group usually maintained its comical nature but the joke was no longer appropriating Italian-American culture.


Salvatore Sincere

I cannot find whether or not wrestler Tom Brandi actually had any Italian ancestry but he did appear in the WWF during the New Generation era, a time when most debuting characters were caricatures. He debuted as Salvatore Sincere whose last name was incorrectly pronounced as it would be in English. He was a typical Bronx Italian/Mafioso character who was billed from Italy (not any specific town or city but just the country). His main gimmick other than speaking like a Goodfellas character is that he kept saying that he was sincerely a good guy but was actually a villain. He eventually dropped the gimmick after just over a year and went by his real name. Fun fact: Salvatore Sincere vs. Shawn Michaels was the first match I remember watching in its entirety. Another fun fact: Salvatore Sincere and Angel Orsino wrestled at least one match on the indies as “The Full-Breasted Italians” which is weird.



Disco Inferno and The Mamalukes

I have spoken of Disco Inferno before as the real-life Glenn Gilbertti is a character I have often been fascinated with. On the surface, his gimmick seemed to be devoted to the long-lost art of disco dancing which he often did before, during, and after matches. However, the character was really modeled after the character of Tony Manero played by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. So being an Italian-American (which Gilbertti actually was) was also part of the lifeblood of his character. While it was not immediately a huge part, it became so during a storyline in 1999.

Disco apparently had a gambling problem (on top of his losing matches problem} which put him in debt with some mafiosos that he owed money to. Disco was increasingly desperate to win matches so that he could up his pay and get out from under the debt to very dangerous people. Eventually, he was accompanied to the ring by Tony Marinara as his manager. Marinara was there to ensure that Disco would win and be able to pay off his debt. When Tony could not make this happen, he brought in The Mamalukes (another derogatory Italian term) to make some money. The Mamalukes were made up of Big Vito and Johnny the Bull. Disco became their enforcer. If he could not be trusted to win matches, he could help others win matches.

Big Vito, Johnny the Bull, and Tony Marinara (who changed his name to Tony Mamaluke) eventually joined up with the Full-Blooded Italians. Tony joined in 2000 in ECW and the other two joined the WWE after in 2003 and 2005.


Santino Marella

Canadian Anthony Carelli actually did have some Italian ancestry but his character pumped up that aspect of him to eleven. When the WWE was touring in Milan, Italy, an open challenge for the Intercontinental Championship was issued by “The Samoan Bulldozer” Umaga. A young man was chosen from the crowd who was introduced as a local named Santino Marella. Due to Bobby Lashley’s interference, the plucky Santino would win the championship during this first match. Naturally, he would be given a contract and brought back to the Americas to compete in the WWE.



Through the years, Santino would become more and more of a goofball with an exaggerated accent based somewhat on his actual relatives. It also felt like Andy Kaufman’s “Foreign Man” as Santino constantly mispronounced people’s names and spouted malapropisms. As he delved more and more into comedy, his style became much more slapstick. This led to him creating a finishing move called “The Cobra” which involves putting a snake puppet on his hand in order to do a throat thrust to his opponent. I believe that this finisher presently has the best record of winning matches out of any finishing move in the business.



Santino would also go on to do a cross-dressing angle where he dressed up as his “twin sister” Santina and competed against women. This was a weird time. Thankfully, Santina disappeared and never returned. Santino was released from WWE and is currently the onscreen authority figure for TNA Wrestling doing the same gimmick.