Chuck Palumbo

Chuck Palumbo
Chuck Palumbo
Born	June 15, 1971; West Warwick, Rhode Island
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Chuck Palumbo / Chuck; Custom Chucky P; Jungle Jim; The Dude
Billed height	6 ft 5 in (196 cm)
Billed weight	280 lb (140 kg)
Billed from	Providence, Rhode Island; San Diego, California
Trained by	Paul Orndorff; WCW Power Plant
Debut	1998

Charles Ronald (Chuck) Palumbo (born June 15, 1971 in West Warwick, Rhode Island) is an American professional wrestler, who has previously performed for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Wrestling career

World Championship Wrestling

Palumbo began his career in 1998 on the independent circuit, using a surfer gimmick and the ring name The Dude. Palumbo made a debut appearance on WCW Monday Nitro on October 19th, 1998 as a fan who accepted the challenge of Ernest "The Cat" Miller [1]. Six months later, he was offered a training contract by WCW in April 1999. Just prior to the hiring of Vince Russo & Ed Ferrera as bookers for WCW, many of the Power Plant wrestlers would debut on WCW Saturday Night and WCW Worldwide with a jungle gimmick. Palumbo would be undefeated in matches on the programs, which were mostly against other Power Plant graduates. In 2000, Palumbo made his debut on WCW Thunder. Palumbo showed talent and charisma, and was chosen by Eric Bischoff & Vince Russo to be the New Blood's version of Lex Luger in May 2000. He was given the nickname of "The Main Event".

The next month Palumbo would form the team "The Perfect Event" with Shawn Stasiak and the pair would go on to win WCW tag team gold together. The pairs main feud was against Kronik (Brian Adams & Bryan Clark). In August Stasiak and Palumbo helped form the Natural Born Thrillers with Mike Sanders, Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak, and Reno. They were briefly "coached" by Kevin Nash. Johnny the Bull, a tag team partner of Palumbo later on in WWE, would later join the group following the formation.

Palumbo and Stasiak won the WCW Tag team gold two more times before splitting in early January, 2001 when he and Stasiak won a tag team battle royal with Sean O'Haire and Mark Jindrak for a future tag team title shot. After the conclusion of the match Mike Sanders declared both teams victorious and that any combination of the four would face The Insiders ("Diamond" Dallas Page and Kevin Nash). Palumbo and Sean O'Haire would be the two members of the Natural Born Thrillers who would face and defeat Page & Nash for the tag titles at WCW Sin 2001 on January 14th, 2001.

Following the title victory, The Natural Born thrillers broke up when the team of Mark Jindrak and Shawn Stasiak would become jealous of Palumbo and O'Haire. The teams would face each other at WCW SuperBrawl Revenge 2001 on February 18th, 2001 for the tag team titles. Palumbo and O'Haire retained their titles, inadvertently turning face when the fans began backing the duo. The duo would also retain their titles against Totally Buff (Buff Bagwell & Lex Luger) at WCW Greed 2001 in March, WCW's last pay-per-view.

On the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Palumbo & O'Haire would defeat Team Canada's Mike Awesome & Lance Storm in the final WCW World Tag Team Championship Title defense on the program.

Palumbo and O'Haire came into the WWF on the June 28, 2001 episode of SmackDown! as part of The Alliance, Chuck and Sean dropped the WCW Tag Team titles to The Undertaker and Kane in mid-August.

Later on Sean was sent to developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling in early September 2001, and Chuck was thrown out of The Alliance in late October, so he joined the WWF in November.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

In late 2001, Chuck Palumbo found himself a tag team partner in Billy Gunn, the pair later given a gimmick that saw the pair grow increasingly affectionate toward each other, showing evidence of a homosexual relationship.

On the February 21, 2002 edition of SmackDown!, Billy and Chuck defeat Tazz & Spike Dudley to win the WWF World Tag Team Championships. They even found a "personal stylist" in March 21, 2002, the ambiguously flamboyant Rico.

On May 19th, 2002 Billy and Chuck lost the tag team gold to Rikishi and Rico, who was forced to team with Rikishi. Less than a month later Rico would help Billy and Chuck recapture their titles, but this reign wouldn't last long when Billy & Chuck lost the titles to Edge and Hulk Hogan.

In the late summer of 2002, Billy and Chuck were the source of controversy when Chuck apparently proposed to Billy on September 5th, 2002 edition of SmackDown! asking him to be his "partner for life." Billy and Chuck had a marriage ceremony on the 2002 season premiere of SmackDown! Just before they tied the knot, however, they revealed that the entire ordeal was a publicity stunt, and both characters disavowed their on-screen homosexuality. When Billy and Chuck decided not to go through with the marriage, Rico turned on them by helping Eric Bischoff and 3-Minute Warning attack the duo. Rico subsequently jumped to RAW as the manager of 3-Minute Warning, who faced Billy and Chuck at WWE Unforgiven 2002 but lost.

Billy Gunn would later get injured in early October, 2002 and Chuck Palumbo was lost without a gimmick, becoming a regular on Smackdown!'s sister-show WWE Velocity for a few months.

In February, 2003 Palumbo formed the Full Blooded Italians (F.B.I) in WWE, a faction which had previously been seen in the ECW promotion. After a beating at the hands of Rikishi, Nunzio, threatened to bring in his "family" in order to gain revenge. The next week, Chuck Palumbo and Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli joined with Nunzio to form the F.B.I. and attacked Rikishi.

File:FBI WWE.jpg

Chuck Palumbo (far right) as a member of the FBI with Stamboli (far left) and Nunzio (middle)

This version initially gained little success, but would go on to have brief feuds with Los Guerreros, Chris Benoit, Rhyno, Brian Kendrick, Nathan Jones, APA, and The Undertaker. When the group turned face it grew in popularity and just when the group was starting to get over with the fans it was disbanded, as Chuck was sent to the RAW brand on March 22nd, 2004 along with A-Train in exchange for Rico and Jackie Gayda.

After Palumbo was traded to the RAW brand, he was kept off television until July, 2004, when he debuted a new look and entrance music. His new image resembled a cross between an auto mechanic and a greaser. It was not long before Palumbo was a regular on RAW's sister-show WWE Heat. Towards the end of his tenure there, he started using the nickname "Custom Chucky P" to go with a car mechanic/enthusiast gimmick. The gimmick became short-lived, and as of November 3, 2004, Palumbo ( along with Gail Kim and Nidia) was released by WWE. After his release, Palumbo went on to work for All Japan Pro Wrestling.

After WWE

Chuck Palumbo, along with the later released Johnny Stamboli, went on to become a member of Voodoo Murders, AJPW's main heel group, and took part a heated feud against RO&D. Palumbo teamed with former FBI partner Johnny Stamboli to challenge for the AJPW World Tag Team Titles on March 20, 2005, but were defeated by Jamal and Taiyo Kea of RO&D.

Stamboli and Palumbo's next stop would be with the Nu-Wrestling Evolution promotion in Italy, where the pair reformed the FBI, using the gimmick to make themselves the top babyfaces in the promotion.

Both he and Stamboli, would also make appearances in a World Wrestling Council show where they challenged Ultimo Dragon, Mistical, and Negro Guerrero, in a tag match which they would win; securing both the first and third falls.

Return to WWE

After the WWE Tribute to the Troops RAW special on December 19, 2005 in Afghanistan rumors of Chuck Palumbo returning to WWE came up. It was announced by Dave Meltzer that WWE had an interest in bringing back Chuck Palumbo due to the fact his brother is something of a war hero in Afghanistan. John "Bradshaw" Layfield mentioned on television that war hero Chris Palumbo is "the brother of one of our wrestlers."

During March 2006, Chuck Palumbo had dark matches with WWE losing to Rob Van Dam and Matt Hardy before the RAW and SmackDown! tapings respectively. On March 12 2006, it was announced on WWE.com that Chuck Palumbo would make his return to the WWE in an exclusive interview, he claimed that he was happy to be returning and that he looks forward to a singles competition with a goal of winning the WWE Championship.

Despite rumors, Palumbo did not debut for either WWE development territory Ohio Valley Wrestling and/or Deep South Wrestling though he began working house shows; wrestling several dark matches, first in July 2006, then several appearances throughout the rest of the year and into 2007 working SmackDown! dark matches weekly, assuming Palumbo will be assigned to the SmackDown! or ECW Roster.

In wrestling

Finishing and signature moves

Superkick / Jungle Kick / Whack! / International Business Organization Kick
Jungle Gym / Italian Grinder (Torture rack)
Italian Drop / 187 (Fallaway lift into a Samoan drop)
Chuck Deluxe (Belly to belly suplex)
Padlock (Inverted Boston crab)
Turnbuckle powerbomb