Tommy Cairo

Thomas "Tommy" Cairo (born February 19, 1958) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his 1994 feud with The Sandman in Eastern Championship Wrestling. He is the co-owner of the New Jersey-based Force One Pro Wrestling promotion and school.

Contents [hide] 1 Career 2 Personal life 3 In wrestling 4 Championships and accomplishments 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Career Cairo was a bodybuilder before training as a professional wrestler. As a bodybuilder he placed 9th place in the Mr. America 1985 Medium group.[4] He debuted in 1988.[5][6]

In 1993, Cairo wrestled several matches with the Japanese UWF International promotion. In the same year, Cairo joined Eastern Championship Wrestling, where he used the song "We Will Rock You" by Queen as his entrance music. On May 14, 1993 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Cairo won a battle royal to become the inaugural NWA Pennsylvania Heavyweight Champion. He held the title until August 7, 1993, when he was defeated by Tony Stetson.

Cairo was originally an ally of The Sandman, assisting him in his feud with Jason Knight. The alliance crumbled after The Sandman was temporarily blinded following a match and inadvertently struck his wife, Peaches. When The Sandman regained his sight and saw Cairo assisting Peaches to her feet, he attacked Cairo. The Sandman subsequently became estranged from his wife (claiming "life's a bitch, and then you marry one"), and Peaches became the valet of Cairo.[5][7]

The Sandman, who had abandoned his "surfer" gimmick in favour of a "pimp" gimmick, claimed that Cairo had neglected to pay one of The Sandman's prostitutes, Woman. The Sandman began harassing Cairo and Peaches, demanding Cairo "Pay Your Bills!" This eventually became Cairo's nickname.[7]

Following the highly-publicised caning of Michael P. Fay in Singapore on May 5, 1994, Cairo and Peaches faced The Sandman and Woman in an intergender "Singapore Caning" match on May 14, 1994. After Cairo and Peaches defeated their opponents, Peaches caned The Sandman's crotch until Woman threw salt in her eyes, enabling The Sandman to regroup and use his cane on both Cairo and Peaches. The feud led to a "Cane on a Pole" match on June 24, 1994 that The Sandman won after retrieving a second cane from beneath the ring, and a "Dueling Canes" match on July 16, 1994 at Heat Wave 1994 that was also won by The Sandman.[7]

In late 1994, The Sandman was once again "blinded" after a lit cigarette was pushed into his eye during an "I Quit" match with Tommy Dreamer. The Sandman subsequently claimed that he would have to retire as a result, with Dreamer responding by dedicating the remainder of his career to The Sandman. Cairo began mocking The Sandman, which led to Dreamer heavily beating him in a match on November 5, 1994 at November to Remember 1994. During The Sandman's retirement ceremony, The Sandman reconciled with Peaches (Woman had abandoned him upon his blinding) before revealing that he was not in fact blinded and attacking Dreamer. The Sandman later revealed that his "blinding" had been an elaborate ruse concocted to trick Dreamer into hurting Cairo on his behalf.[7]

Cairo left ECW in the mid-1990s. On June 24, 1995 in Williamstown, New Jersey, Cairo defeated Devon Storm in the finals of a tournament for the vacant NWA North American Heavyweight Championship. He was stripped of the title in 1996 after no-showing a defence, due to the birth of his first child.

Between 1996 and 1997 Cairo held the Ultimate Championship Wrestling North American Heavyweight Championship title, he wrestled in various matches with the likes of Chris Chavis aka "Tatanka", Bruce Hart son of the legendary Stu Hart and brother of Bret Hart and Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Falcon Coperis and former partner of one time WWE ChampionShawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty.

Between 1998 and 2000, Cairo operated the Outlaws of Wrestling promotion in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[3] In the same time period, he appeared with USA Pro Wrestling, winning both the Heavyweight and North American championships.[5]

In September 2001, Cairo retired from professional wrestling and began working as an electrician. In 2007, Cairo returned to wrestling when he, former wrestling radio host Phil Varlese, and wrestlers The White Lotus (Pat Di Giacomo), and Diego DeMarco (James Pillman) opened a professional wrestling school and promotion in the Northeastern United States known as Force One Pro Wrestling.[3][8] Force One Pro Wrestling held its inaugural event, "Pledge of Allegiance", on May 19, 2007 in Egg Harbor City, New Jersey, with Cairo, (in his capacity as commissioner) crowning Heavyweight Champion Breaker Morant and Junior Heavyweight Champion White Lotus