Salvatore Bellomo (June 18, 1951 – February 10, 2019) was a Belgian-Italian professional wrestler with a career spanning more than three decades.
Career[]
Working in North America under various ring names of Italian derivation, Bellomo portrayed a wildman in the ring, thought to be unpredictable and/or brutal by wrestling audiences. The list of titles he has held over the years is almost as colorful and includes everything from the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship to the WXW Heavyweight Championship.
WWF[]
Bellomo's solid in-ring work eventually landed him a stint in the growing pro-wrestling empire of Vince McMahon. At first, his record was actually quite favorable - particularly in Pennsylvania throughout 1983 and 1984, where the then-World Wrestling Federation put him over the likes of Johnny Rodz, Tony Colon and Butcher Vachon on a regular basis. Bellomo also wrestled former heavyweight champion Bob Backlund at the Philadelphia Spectrum on August 4, 1984, jobbing for Backlund in what would be Backlund's last WWF match of the decade.
From this point on, Bellomo was most recognizable as a jobber on WWF programs throughout the 1980s. He even lost cleanly to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan in a match at Madison Square Garden in November 1984. Being the fall guy was not necessarily ignominious, as Bellomo got to work with a veritable who's-who of professional wrestling in some of the biggest venues to hold wrestling around the world. During one "Piper's Pit" segment, Bellomo made an "unscheduled" appearance, inspiring host Roddy Piper to quip, "What are you doing here? I didn't order a pizza."
ECW[]
Bellomo was an early performer for Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1993, wrestling in the first-ever ECW Championship match (losing to Jimmy Snuka).
Later life[]
Although retiring at BWS: Collision Detected on November 25, 2006, Bellomo continued to be active in the business up to his death, working as a trainer for the Belgian Wrestling School located in Terhagen and Flémalle (Belgium). He often tried to send his kids home with his trademarked expression of saying "Cha Cha!".
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Managers
- The Cosmic Commander
- Theme music
- "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf (ECW)
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Flemish Wrestling Force
- FWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA All-Star Wrestling
- NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (2 times) - with Mike Sharpe (1) and Bill Cody (1)
- NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver version) (1 time)
- NWA Hollywood Wrestling
- NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Victor Rivera
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him # 276 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1992.
- World Xtreme Wrestling
- WXW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- WXW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with The Mad Russian