James Maritato
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| James Maritato | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Damien Stone James Stone Little Guido Nunzio Little Guido Maritato |
| Billed height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) |
| Billed weight | 175 lb (80 kg) |
| Born | March 12, 1972 Howard Beach, Queens, New York City, New York |
| Trained by | Billy Robinson |
| Debut | September 1991 |
James Maritato (born March 12, 1972 in Queens, New York) better known by the ring names Little Guido Maritato and Nunzio, is an Italian American professional wrestler currently performing for World Wrestling Entertainment on their Extreme Championship Wrestling brand.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Starting out
In high school, Maritato was an outstanding amateur wrestler from the state of New York. He was later trained as a professional by Billy Robinson, debuting in the professional ranks in the early 1990s. Maritato then went to Japan to compete in the shoot style UWF International promotion.
He is sometimes referred to as "The Sicilian Shooter" due to his background in shoot wrestling.
[edit] Extreme Championship Wrestling
He stayed in UWF until 1995 where he joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) under the name Damian Stone. He was later packaged as Little Guido and put in the comedy stable Full Blooded Italians (F.B.I.), alongside J.T. Smith, "Big" Sal E. Graziano., Tracy Smothers and Tommy Rich.
In 1999, he became a "serious wrestler", although still accompanied by "Big" Sal and proclaiming himself to be an F.B.I. member (though only the two of them were left). After his turn he was involved in some intense singles matches until late 2000, when he formed a tag team with Tony Mamaluke. The duo won the ECW Tag Team Championship in August of 2000 and held them until December when they lost them to Danny Doring and Roadkill. They continued to wrestle together until ECW folded in April 2001.
[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment
[edit] SmackDown! brand
When ECW closed Maritato wrestled for several independent promotions, mostly in the New York Tri-State area, often teaming with former partner Tony Mamaluke. They had a notable run in Ring of Honor before they were both signed by World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002.
Maritato was introduced on WWE TV as Nunzio, a possible reference to the mob/bodyguard characters Guido and Nunzio in the MythAdventures series of books by Robert Asprin, the (kayfabe) cousin of Jamie Noble on the December 12, 2002 edition of SmackDown! attacking Crash Holly after he defeated Noble in a match. Nunzio began a feud with Crash after this, defeating him on several occasions before going on to face the likes of Tajiri, Shannon Moore, and Chuck Palumbo.
The team of Nunzio and Noble soon faded and Nunzio reformed the Full Blooded Italians, this time with Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli and Chuck Palumbo but the team found little success. After WrestleMania XX, Palumbo was drafted to RAW, and the F.B.I. was reduced to a tag team. After Stamboli was released, Nunzio began competing in the cruiserweight division.
In 2005 Maritato returned to his Little Guido persona for one night, reuniting with the original Full Blooded Italians to take on Super Crazy and Tajiri in a Three-Way Dance at ECW reunion show One Night Stand.
As Nunzio he continued to perform on SmackDown! B-show Velocity as both a face and a heel, forming a short-lived tag team with Funaki. On the August 6 (taped on August 2) edition of Velocity, Nunzio won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Paul London after a new heel wrestler, Vito made his debut by giving Nunzio a blackjack, which he used to knock London out. Nunzio joined forces with Vito, thus becoming a full time heel.
The pair began feuding with The Mexicools and at No Mercy 2005, Mexicool member Juventud defeated Nunzio with a Juvi Driver to take the Cruiserweight Championship. Nunzio regained the title on November 15 at a house show in Rome, Italy but lost it right back to Juventud on the November 25 SmackDown!
A significant event occurred for Nunzio during a Triple Threat match when The Great Khali interrupted the match and threw him approximately 10 feet to the floor with no one, or no extra padding to soften the fall.
In late May 2006, Nunzio's partnership with Vito began to crumble after it was revealed that Vito (kayfabe) enjoyed cross-dressing, which made Nunzio feel betrayed and embarrassed. Nunzio broke up his alliance with Vito ending the WWE version of FBI.
[edit] Extreme Championship Wrestling brand
In June when the ECW brand was launched, Nunzio left SmackDown! to join other "ECW originals" on ECW, retaking his Little Guido name in the process. The F.B.I. was revived again, this time with Little Guido along side Tony Mamaluke and Trinity. The F.B.I. have been used for tag matches in ECW to either take on debuting tag teams or facing another tag team when a tag match is needed. At December to Dismember, The F.B.I. took on Elijah Burke & Sylvester Terkay in a losing effort.
[edit] In wrestling
- Managers
- Finishing and signature moves
-
- Sicilian Dropper (Leg drop bulldog)
- Sicilian Slice (Diving leg drop bulldog)
- Arrivederci (Springboard armbar takedown)
- Kiss Of Death (Inverted double underhook facebuster)
- Sicilian Crab (Boston crab)
- Sicilian Legsweep (Modified Russian legsweep)
- Second-rope front dropkick
- Jujigatame
- Fujiwara armbar
- Signature taunts
-
- The fangul.
- Points finger at his head, indicating he is smarter than his opponent.
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
-
- 1-time CW Tag Team Champion (with Luis Ortiz)
-
- 2-time ECW World Tag Team Champion (1-time with Tony Mamaluke, 1-time with Tracy Smothers)
- USA Pro Wrestling
-
- 1-time USA Pro United States Champion
- 1-time USA Pro Tag Team Champion (with Kid Kruel)
-
- 2-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion
[edit] Outside of wrestling
- On March 6, 2006, Maritato was seen supporting his brother on the NBC game show Deal or No Deal in which he won $25,000.
- James currently resides in New York City.
