First off - dont worry Jay Moore and Karateman your writeups are coming, I just forgot them at school.
This writing has not been edited by my school - pure brain matter is what you see.
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By SAM CINO
Staff Writer
Carmen Scordino was 16 years-old, working the overnight shift at Nabisco seven nights a week in Niagara Falls hoping to save up enough money to attend Ron Hutchison’s wrestling school in Toronto. A friend of his called and told him about a wrestling school opening up in Niagara Falls, and that is how it all started.
The Gator Wrestling Academy (GWA) was run inside the Niagara Falls boxing club, so Scordino didn’t have to move to Toronto, which was a bonus to him at the time.
It was run by a man known as “Gator”, who claimed he was professionally trained, but in reality, never was.
“I should have seen the signs on the first day when he fell out of the ring and broke open his head, but I just thought it was ‘just a bad accident’,” says Scordino.
"The guy was just a big con man.”
The GWA’s first students of note were: Scordino, Matteo “Tony Carbonie” Cintione and “Big Jess” of the tag-team Bodycount. Cintione would later form the tag-team of The Italianos with Scordino.
After a time, Niagara Falls native wrestler “Dangerboy” Derek Wylde came to the GWA, explaining to the students how Gator was just stealing their money and not providing any true training to them, while Dangerboy was a trained wrestler and he could help them out more.
The majority of the students left with Dangerboy, but Scordino stayed at the GWA.
“I was very naïve at the time,” he admits.
Gator ran the GWA’s first show in Niagara Falls, in the now legendary Polish hall.
Scordino had his first match on that show, and brought in about 150 people to see him wrestle.
“My entire family came to see me, along with my entire grade 11 class of my high school. I had four months of training, but in Gator training this was more like three weeks total.”
The crowd consisted of Scordino’s friends and family, but also included a few people that would later become local stars in their own right: Jesse “JT Playa” Scott, who would become Tiberious King, and “Lazz”.
Also on the show were already established local stars such as Tyson Dux and El Tornado.
Cintione, who had left the GWA previously, came back long enough to get a small spot on the show.
“I remember he interfered in a match and karate-kicked someone and then ran backstage. That was his entire roll,” says Scordino, laughing about his long-time friend.
After the first GWA show, Scott and Lazz enrolled in the GWA School, along with Knoxx, the other half of Bodycount.
Scott and Big Jess had a lot of arguments and a falling out with Gator, who had all but skipped town and disappeared. He essentially had put Scordino in charge of the school.
“The owner of the boxing club kicked Gator out, and was going to do the same with the school, but we talked it over with him and he let us stay.”
New students came to the GWA, consisting of then young local stars like Cody Deaner, The Original Hacker, Ash, Kris Chambers and Jace Fury, with Cintione and Scott returning permanently. Dangerboy also returned and took over training duties at the school.
He arranged a show with the IWF league out of Hamilton, Ont., which ended up mentally challenging Scordino as a result.
“At that time, the athletic commission was still around, and you had to be 18 or older, and be a licensed wrestler to actually wrestle. I was still just 16 and having “wrestled” a few times I knew what it was like, but I couldn’t do it anymore because I didn’t meet the criteria.”
Scordino became very depressed, and stopped training altogether for two years. He would come to the school, but he would just sit and watch, in a mental funk.
He finally turned 18, and the GWA had now become Fighting Spirit Pro Wrestling (FSPW). It would later change it's name to Neo Spirit Pro Wrestling (NSPW) and become one of, if not the, top league in Ontario.
Scordino had his first “real” match versus Knoxx.
“I shit the bed so badly. I was so fat, so young, I messed up everything. I just wanted to give up.”
After the match, Dangerboy kicked him out of the school, telling him that if he didn’t want it bad enough he wasn’t fit to be in the school.
Scordino was still a fan, and travelled to Toronto to see Wrestlemania 18, the headline match being Hulk Hogan vs The Rock.
“Toronto is a story in itself, but to sum it up we had no hotel, so we slept in a random park on the benches with our luggage as our pillows. We went to Fan Axxess [a fan interaction/autograph day] still with our luggage until some random guy offered us his apartment above a corner store for $50 each a night. It was better than nothing.”
Scordino was captivated by Wrestlemania that weekend, and was once again convinced he could be like the big stars.
“I was born to be a wrestler.”
He returned home, joined a gym and lost 40 pounds. When he walked into the wrestlers training practice, they were stunned at how he changed so fast.
He had his first match on Canada Day versus Cintione in 2002. After that, they formed the tag-team of The Italianos, the longest-running team in Ontario to this day.
“And that is how I became a wrestler.”
With the re-launch of Neo Spirit Pro Wrestling (NSPW) later this month, Scordino is excited to be back with his friends.
“We were the No.1 federation back then, and we will become the No.1 federation again.”
The re-launch of NSPW, titled The Rising, will be at Fight Club Canada at 4536 Portage Rd. Unit 2 in Niagara Falls on Feb. 19.
Doors open at 6:30 p. m. with matches starting at 7:30 p. m.
Tickets are $20 for reserved front row, $10 general admission and can be purchased in advance. Tickets are then $15 at the door.
Ticket locations are Pulp Comics at 4413 Queen St. in Niagara Falls, as well as United Family Martial Arts at 6824 Thorold Stone Rd.
The ticket hotline number is 289-668-3250.
Card is subject to change.
