Gino Brito
Gino Brito | |
---|---|
Birth name | Louis Gino Acocella |
Born | [1] Montreal, Quebec, Canada[1] | May 18, 1941
Children | Gino Brito Jr. |
Family | Jack Britton (father) |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Gino Brito Louis Cerdan |
Billed height | 5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m)[1] |
Billed weight | 240 lb (110 kg)[1] |
Trained by | George Cannon[1] |
Louis Gino Acocella[1] (born May 18, 1941), better known by his ring name Gino Brito, is a Canadian professional wrestler. He was a popular wrestler in Montreal, and was one of the promoters in the city in the 1980s. As Louis Cerdan, he was a WWWF Tag Team Champion, teaming with fellow Italian-Canadian wrestler Tony Parisi. Brito also trained Italian-Canadian wrestler Dino Bravo.
Professional wrestling career
Active wrestler
Brito was the son of wrestler Jack Britton. Born Gabriel Acocella, he and his brother Luigi were re-named Jack Britton and Lou Kelly, respectively, by promoter Paul Bowser, who wanted to attract Boston's Irish population to his events by featuring "Irish" wrestlers.[2]
Britton organized a central booking office for midget wrestlers in the 1950s.[1] Brito had a job for the promotion shuttling the wrestlers from city to city.[1] Before becoming a professional wrestler at the age of seventeen, Brito was an amateur wrestler.[1] At age seventeen, he was trained by George Cannon.[1] He began working with Detroit promoters Bert Ruby and Harry Light over a year later.,[1] who was organized a central booking office for midget wrestlers in the 1950s.[1] Brito had a job for the promotion shuttling the wrestlers from city to city.[1] Before becoming a professional wrestler at the age of seventeen, Brito was an amateur wrestler.[1] At age seventeen, he was trained by George Cannon.[1] He began working with Detroit promoters Bert Ruby and Harry Light over a year later.[1]
He first teamed with Tony Parisi in Tennessee, where the duo won the tag titles in Nick Gulas's promotion within two weeks.[1] The two also won the WWWF Tag Team Championship in 1975 from Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza.[1] They later lost the title to The Executioners.[1] Brito continued to wrestle through the mid-80s.
Promoting
He also promoted shows under the International Wrestling banner in Montreal beginning in the 1980s, when he earned a television deal for his promotion.[1] The promotion lost several key players in the mid-1980s, such as The Rougeaus, Rick Martel, and Dino Bravo.[1] It held events that sometimes had up to 10,000 fans in attendance.[3] The company, however, went bankrupt in 1987, nine months after the aforementioned wrestlers left.[1] The promotion was the last Quebec-based promotion to have a weekly television show.[4]
After International Wrestling closed, Pat Patterson convinces Brito to be the WWWF promoter in Montreal, a job Brito held for four years.[1] Brito also appeared in the WWF old-timers battle royal in November 1987 (the first eliminated in a match won by Lou Thesz that featured several former world champions).
In 2003, Brito began promoting again with a promotion called Canadian Professional Wrestling (CPW) in Hull, Quebec.[5][6] He joined with promoter Paul Leduc and his Montreal-based promotion.[5] The promotion draws crowds of approximately 600 people every couple of months.[5] More than 1,000 people attended the first anniversary event, in which Abdullah the Butcher and Pierre Carl Ouellet also participated.[6] In October 2004, at the age of 63, Brito wrestled a match for the promotion, a loss in a six-man tag team match.[7] In January 2005, the first of six events began airing on Canadian pay-per-view, which featured wrestlers from Brito's CPW, as well as footage from his International Wrestling promotion.[3]
Personal life
Brito's father, Jack Britton, and uncle were both professional wrestlers.[1] Brito's son, Gino Brito, Jr., also worked in the business for a short time.[1]
He is of Italian descent, which is reflected in his ringname Gino Brito.[1] To form the name, Brito shortened his father's name Britton.[1] He was good friends with other Italian wrestlers, such as Tony Parisi, Bruno Sammartino, and Dominic DeNucci.[1]
Brito was arrested in October 1992 on extortion and loan sharking charges in relation to his work as an "enforcer" for Loan Sharks in the Montreal area.[8]
After finishing his career in the wrestling business, Brito began working at Subaru car business—buying and auctioning—with his brother-in-law.[1]
Championships and accomplishments
- Eastern Sports Association
- Grand Prix Wrestling (Montreal)
- Grand Prix Tag Team Championship (1 time)[10] - with Dino Bravo
- Lutte Internationale
- Canadian International Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Rick McGraw (1) and Tony Parisi (3)[11]
- World Wide Wrestling Federation (World Wrestling Federation)
- WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tony Parisi[12]
- WWF International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[13]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad "Canadian Hall of Fame: Gino Brito". SLAM! Wrestling.
- ^ "The Acocellas" Mad Dogs, Midgets and Screw Jobs: The Untold Story of How Montréal Shaped the World of Wrestling by Patrice Laprade and Bertrand Hébert; ECW Press (2013) via Google Books; retrieved April 13, 2018
- ^ a b Lacroix, Corey David (November 12, 2004). "CPW secures PPV deal". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ Leroux, Yves (January 16, 2005). "Gino Brito honoured at inaugural MWO show". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ a b c Oliver, Greg (July 16, 2003). "Brito's CPW trying to grow". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ a b Lacroix, Corey David (November 5, 2003). "CPW celebrates in style". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ Lacroix, Corey David (October 22, 2004). "Gino Brito returns to the ring". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/500x9k/wrestling_observer_rewind_oct_19_1992/
- ^ "North American Heavyweight Title (Maritimes)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ "Gino Brito profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ "International Wrestling International Tag Team Title (Montreal)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ "History of the World Tag Team Championship". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ "International Heavyweight Title/WWWF International Heavyweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories. Retrieved 2008-09-14.