Joseph Magliano

Joseph Magliano (July 1969 – October 15, 2006) was an American professional wrestler, known by his ring name "Jumping" Joey Maggs, who competed in North American regional and independent promotions including the United States Wrestling Association, Smoky Mountain Wrestling and the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, although he is best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling during the early to mid 1990s.

Early career
In 1987, Magliano made his professional debut in Buck Robley's Deep South Wrestling (later Southern Championship Wrestling) eventually winning the SCW Southern Heavyweight Championship twice. As the Magnificent Magliano and "Hotshot" Joey Knight, while teaming with Ricky Lawless as The Heavy Metal Connection, Magliano competed for promotions in Mississippi and Louisiana before eventually finding success in the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association during the early 1990s.

United States Wrestling Association
Making his debut in mid-1990, Magliano scored victories over John Tatum and Ken Wayne, before teaming with Rex King to win the USWA Tag Team Titles from the Dirty White Boys (Tony Anthony and Tom Burton) in Memphis, Tennessee on June 23, 1990. Winning a "battle royal" on June 25, he also defeated Johnny Hotbody, Tom Burton and The Galaxian in single matches while teaming with King.

Successfully defending the tag team titles against the Dirty White Boys, Scott Braddock and Jeff Gaylord, they lost the titles to Brian Lee and Don Harris on August 11. Losing to Brickhouse Brown and Reggie B. Fine two days later, he and King began wrestling single matches although Magliano suffered losses to Ken Wayne and King Cobra in the next few weeks.

Teaming once more with King, they would lose to Doug Gilbert and The New York Brawler on September 10 before returning to a singles career. Losing to Doug Gilbert, MC Jammer and Danny Davis in late 1990, he would begin teaming with Sheik Fabiano losing to Brian Christopher and Tony Williams, although he would defeat them in a rematch with Ken Wayne on November 26.

During his last months in the promotion, he would briefly hold the USWA Junior Heavyweight Championship defeating Danny Davis for the title on December 26 before losing it back to him days later on January 2, 1991.

World Championship Wrestling
In January 1991, he made his debut as "Jumping" Joey Maggs in World Championship Wrestling losing to Tom Zenk in Dothan, Alabama and, less than a month following his debut, appeared on Clash of the Champions losing to Sid Vicious on January 30, 1991.

Facing "Stunning" Steve Austin in a match for the WCW World Television Championship at Clash of the Champions XV in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 12, he would also lose to Thomas Rich of the York Foundation at Clash of the Champions XVI in Augusta, Georgia on August 5.

That same month, Magliano entered the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship Tournament losing to Badstreet in the opening rounds on August 31. He would also team with Johnny Rich as The Creatures, a masked tag team which appeared at Halloween Havoc of that year losing to Big Josh and P.N. News on October 27, 1991. The next year, although defeating Buddy Lee Parker on January 31, he would loose matches to Big Josh and Tommy Rich before leaving the promotion for a short time.

During a brief stint in Smokey Mountain Wrestling in early 1992, he and former rival Danny Davis participated in an 8-team tag team championship tournament for the vacant SMW Tag Team Championship on April 23 scoring an upset victory over Ivan and Vladimir Koloff in the opening rounds before being eliminated by the Heavenly Bodies in the semi-finals. The following month, he and Hector Guerrero defeated Rip Rogers & Barry Horowitz at the supercard Volunteer Slam I on May 22, 1992. He would also make occasional appearances in World Championship Wrestling during the summer facing Tom Zenk on May 30 and teaming with The Italian Stallion against Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton on August 16 as well as the World Wrestling Federation facing Rick "The Model" Martel and Yokozuna on WWF Prime Time Wrestling later that year.

During early 1993, Magliano teamed with Jim Powers at WWF house shows losing to the Beverly Brothers on February 16. Returning to WCW that same week, Magliano faced The Tasmaniac in a dark match on WCW Saturday Night on February 22, 1993. The following week, he and three other wrestlers were attacked by WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader after attempting to intervene on behalf of Chris Sullivan after defeating Vader via disqualification.

Teaming with Marcus Alexander Bagwell, the two lost to Shanghai Pierce and Tex Slazinger, and The Wrecking Crew.They also later lost to Maxx Payne and NWA World Heavywight Champion Barry Windham in single matches before he and Bagwell broke up with Magliano losing to his former tag team partner on March 26. Magliano would continue losing matches to Maxx Payne, Chris Benoit, 2 Cold Scorpio and The Russian Brute during the next several weeks.

He and Bob Starr would later loose to Kent and Keith Cole on May 21 and as he continued losing single matches to Erik Watts and Johnny Gunn. During the next month, he returned to the WWF making another brief appearance losing to Bam Bam Bigelow at Monday Night Raw on July 5.

Under the management of Teddy Long in early 1996, Magliano would defeat Disco Inferno on January 1 and, less than a week later, he would team with Frankie Lancaster and Men at Work losing to The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit) in a 4-man tag team match on WCW Pro. Briefly feuding with V.K. Wallstreet after being awarded a victory via disqualification on January 27, he later lost to Wallsteet and Big Bubba Rogers in a tag team match with Sgt. Craig Pittman at Superbrawl VI on February 11 although he would defeat Wallstreet in a rematch the following month.

Although regularly appearing on WCW Saturday Night and WCW Worldwide during the 1990s, Magliano would begin competing part time in various independent promotions including the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation defeating Quinn Nash for the MEWF Mid-Atlantic Championship on September 17, 1997.

Retirement and later years
Wrestling less frequently during the late 1990s, Magliano lost to Psychosis in one of his final appearances on December 27, 1997. Magliano would leave WCW the following year due to a nagging shoulder injury and relocated to Maryland where he enrolled in flight school to become a cargo pilot. According to Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer, Magliano died in Baltimore, Maryland on October 15, 2006; no cause of death was immediately available.

In wrestling

 * Finishing moves
 * Canadian Shocker (Enzuigiri)


 * Signature moves
 * Russian legsweep (He also performed the Russian leg-sweep on a regular basis as a finisher, according to David Melzter who voiced his opinion about Joe in a pre-empted episode of Live Audio Wrestling)

Championships and accomplishments

 * Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation
 * MEWF Mid-Atlantic Championship (1 time)


 * Southern Championship Wrestling
 * SCW Southern Tag Team Championship (2 times)


 * United States Wrestling Association
 * USWA Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * USWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rex King


 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI ranked him # 337 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1991.