Perry Satullo

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Perry Satullo
Statistics
Ring name(s) The Gargoyle
The Iron Horseman
Perry Saturn
Saturn
Billed height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Billed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Born October 25, 1966
Cleveland, Ohio
Billed from Boston, Massachusetts
Trained by Killer Kowalski
Debut 1990

Perry Satullo (born October 25, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio), better known as Perry Saturn, is a semi-retired American professional wrestler. During his career, he has worked in Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation.

Satullo grew up in a broken home in less than favorable circumstances, but, to this day, still credits his father Donnie as being his number one hero. Donnie Satullo was a truck mechanic who worked long hours but was always there for Perry. When Perry was 7, Donnie hosted an arm wrestling match in their backyard with the neighborhood kids. Perry easily won the tournament, making the thought apparent to Donnie that his son would be a future wrestling hero, but with the Satullo family's low income and Perry's wild teen lifestyle, they had him enlist in the United States Army at the age of seventeen to become an Army Airborne Ranger (he logged over one hundred airplane jumps in that time) before eventually embarking on a career in professional wrestling.

Contents

[edit] Career

Satullo began training at Killer Kowalski's school in Malden, Massachusetts around 1988, taking the ring name Saturn from the Roman god of the same name. He debuted on October 27, 1990 in Waltham, Massachusetts, wrestling for the United States Wrestling Federation, where he would later hold the Light-Heavyweight Championship. Satullo also wrestled in Kowalski's International Wrestling Federation as The Iron Horseman, a cowboy complete with black leather stetson and chaps. Satullo eventually won the IWF Light Heavyweight Championship, and would also win the IWF Tag Team Championship along with Terra Rizing. Satullo began wrestling for independent promotions throughout New England, as well as touring Japan with New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1993.

[edit] The Eliminators

While working as the manager of a nightclub in Boston, Satullo met bouncer George Caiazo, who expressed an interest in becoming a wrestler. Satullo sent Caiazo to Kowalski's school to train, and then offered to form a tag team with him. The Greek equivalent of the god Saturn was Cronus, so Satullo chose the ring name "John Kronus" for Caiazo. As Saturn and Cronus were their cultures' respective gods of the harvest, Satullo proposed that they be known as "The Harvesters of Sorrow". Promoter Jerry Lawler advised Satullo that the significance of the name would not be evident to many fans, so they became known as "The Eliminators".

The Eliminators wrestled their first match together at a USWA house show in 1993. They were hired at a starting salary of $40 a week (they later negotiated a 100% pay rise), and shared an apartment with four other wrestlers. The Eliminators won the USWA World Tag Team Championships on May 2, 1994 from Satullo's mentor, Eddie Gilbert, and Brian Christopher. They held the titles until June 13 when they were defeated by PG-13. Satullo later traveled to Japan with Caiazo to wrestle for the WAR.

[edit] Extreme Championship Wrestling

The compactly-built and heavily-tattooed Satullo and the high-flying Caiazo caught the attention of Paul Heyman's ECW when they were brought in to job to Rick and Scott Steiner, and the Eliminators were hired by ECW in 1995. Heyman quickly abandoned plans to give them a sadism and masochism gimmick and instead booked them as an unstoppable force in the ECW tag division, giving them a manager, Jason, to compensate for their weak interview skills. The Eliminators captured the ECW Tag Team titles three times between 1996 and 1997, and feuded with teams such as The Gangstas and The Pitbulls. After The Pitbulls' manager Francine cut Satullo's hair, he shaved his head in a homage to Mickey Knox, the character depicted by Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers (in reality, Satullo was beginning to go bald).

Satullo was a trainer in the ECW House of Hardcore, a professional wrestling school at which Taz and Mikey Whipwreck also taught. While Satullo was respected for his focus on fundamentals and technical wrestling, he was criticized for manhandling trainee Pablo Marquez after Marquez made a mistake.

On May 31, 1997 in Trenton, New Jersey Satullo tore his ACL when he landed on a crutch while executing a kick on Big Dick Dudley. After an intense reconstructive surgery, Satullo was given a recovery time of up to a year. He began rehabilitating after two months and returned to action in August. However, Satullo had become impatient with what he regarded as Caiazo's lack of motivation and dedication, and refused to reform the Eliminators. Paul Heyman offered to release him from his contract if he could find alternate employment, and Satullo entered into negotiations with World Championship Wrestling.

[edit] World Championship Wrestling

[edit] The Flock

On August 28, 1997 Satullo was offered a job by WCW road agent Terry Taylor, who had been impressed by a bump that Satullo had taken in a Scaffold Match. He debuted in WCW on September 8, facing Billy Kidman, but was sidelined for a month afterwards as his knee had still not entirely healed. Later that year, both Satullo and Kidman would go on to join The Flock, a heel stable of misfits and misanthropists led by the nihilistic Raven. Satullo's childhood was referenced, with Raven bringing up the violence Satullo incurred at the hands of his stepfather. The enforcer of The Flock, Satullo would win gold on November 3, 1997 when he defeated Disco Inferno to win the WCW Television Championship. He held the title for a month before losing it to Disco in a rematch.

Early in 1998, Satullo was defeated by fellow Flock member Van Hammer in a "Loser Leaves The Flock" match. However, Raven opted to throw Hammer out of the Flock instead. Problems began to arise between Raven and Satullo, and the latter eventually left The Flock, turning face by standing up to the domineering Raven. Raven held all the other Flock members in thrall, so Satullo challenged him to match on the September 12, 1998 Fall Brawl pay-per-view. If Satullo won, The Flock would be freed, but if Raven won, Satullo would become his slave.

On the August 26 episode of Nitro, Raven's lackey Lodi challenged him to a match, with the stipulation that Lodi would leave The Flock if Satullo won, and Satullo would become Lodi's servant until Fall Brawl if he lost. Satullo unexpectedly lost following copious interference from The Flock, and Lodi forced Satullo to carry his bags, made him hold up pro-Lodi signs at ringside and ordered him to chant Lodi's name while Lodi wrestled. Lodi also used Satullo to defeat the enemies of The Flock.

Raven began questioning whether Satullo could "hurt those he wants to free so badly" and forced him to face Riggs. Satullo won cleanly, but refused Raven's order to break Riggs' fingers. When Satullo refused, Raven broke his fingers (Satullo would not break his agreement with Lodi because of a personal honor code which would not allow him to break his word, and Lodi ordered him to allow Raven to harm him). Raven repeatedly tried to goad Satullo into breaking his word, but was unable to do so. Finally, on September 13 at Fall Brawl, Satullo defeated Raven with help from Billy Kidman, disbanding The Flock forever.

[edit] Late 1998-early 1999

Satullo went on to feud with Eddie Guerrero and Ernest Miller before beginning a rivalry with Chris Jericho. After Jericho cost Satullo a number of matches with the help of crooked referee Scott Dickinson, he mocked Satullo's complaints and accused him of crying "like a schoolgirl". This lead to Jericho challenging Satullo to a "Loser wears a dress for ninety days" match at Souled Out on January 17, 1999, which he won after some suspect officiating from Dickinson. Satullo began wearing a variety of dresses to the ring, and using a variation of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" as his entrance music. He appeared to begin enjoying wearing the dresses, and even began wearing makeup to complement the dresses. Satullo finally stopped wearing dresses after defeating Jericho in a dog collar match at Uncensored on March 14, 1999.

[edit] The Revolution

Raven and Satullo reunited in March 1999, feuding with Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit, members of the Four Horsemen. At Slamboree 1999 the former Flock members defeated Benoit and Malenko and champions Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman for the WCW World Tag Team Championships. After Raven was injured, Satullo lost the titles to Bam Bam Bigelow and Diamond Dallas Page when Chris Kanyon betrayed him. He then teamed with Benoit in order to regain the titles. They were successful, but lost the titles several days later to Page and Kanyon. Benoit and Satullo continued to team together, and eventually formed a stable with Shane Douglas and Dean Malenko known as The Revolution. After Benoit left the Revolution to align himself with fellow Canadian Bret Hart, the remainder of the stable began feuding with him. They then moved on to feuds with Jim Duggan and The Filthy Animals before disbanding.

At this point, Kevin Sullivan became the WCW head booker. Sullivan bore a grudge against Benoit (who had had an affair with Sullivan's wife) and made it clear that he had no intention of pushing Benoit, along with a number of other wrestlers, including Malenko and Satullo. Benoit, Malenko and Satullo asked that neither Sullivan nor his friend road agent Mike Graham be allowed to book their matches. In response, Graham allegedly threatened them with a knife while drunk, fearing that he would lose his job. Satullo and the others used this as leverage to be allowed out of their contracts, and they began negotiations with the World Wrestling Federation, along with Eddie Guerrero. Satullo negotiated a three year contract, and, along with Benoit, Malenko and Guerrero, left for the WWF.

[edit] World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

[edit] The Radicalz

Benoit, Guerrero, Satullo and Malenko, dubbed The Radicalz, debuted in the WWF on January 31, 2000, appearing in the front row of a live episode of RAW and brawling with the New Age Outlaws after The Road Dogg literally fell into their laps. Cactus Jack urged them to help him fight the heel McMahon-Helmsley Faction, but they quickly turned on Jack in order to gain employment from Triple H, then controlling the WWF. Benoit left the group amiably when he became sidetracked by his feud with Chris Jericho, and the three remaining Radicalz began feuding with Too Cool and Chyna. After Guerrero left to be with Chyna, Satullo and Malenko teamed together for a while before disbanding.

Satullo moved into the Hardcore division, pursuing then-champion Crash Holly. After Malenko tried to win the Hardcore Championship for himself, the former partners turned on one another. Guerrero was drawn into their feud, leading to a triple threat match at Judgment Day 2000 with Guerrero's European Championship on the line. Guerrero was able to retain with the assistance of Chyna.

Satullo was later joined by Terri Runnels, who became his manager and onscreen girlfriend. After failing to proceed in the King of the Ring tournament, Satullo went after the European Championship once more, finally beating Guerrero on July 23. Terri's rivalry with The Kat led to a feud between Satullo and Al Snow, and on August 31 Snow defeated Satullo for the European Championship.

The Radicalz reformed in late 2000, feuding with the revived D-Generation X and defeating them at Survivor Series 2000. That same evening, the Radicalz attacked Stone Cold Steve Austin during his match with Triple H, briefly reforging their alliance with Triple H.

Dean Malenko began trying to win the affections of Lita, the valet of The Hardy Boyz. This led to a feud between the Radicalz and The Hardy Boyz, with the former defeating the latter at Armageddon 2000. Satullo helped Guerrero defeat Test at WrestleMania X-Seven, but Guerrero later left the Radicalz once more, again reducing them to Satullo and Malenko (Benoit had left in early 2001), with Terri still accompanying Satullo. The remaining Radicalz returned to the tag team division.

[edit] Moppy

On May 12, 2001 Satullo faced a jobber, Mike Bell, on an episode of WWF Jakked. After Bell botched an arm drag, dropping Satullo on his head, Satullo appeared to become enraged and legitimately attacked Bell. Satullo repeatedly kicked Bell and threw him out of the ring to the floor, with Bell landing directly on his head. He continued his onslaught by picking up the semi-conscious Bell, and slamming him into the metal steps around ringside. Satullo maintains that he was genuinely groggy as a result of the blow to the head and was operating mainly on instinct.

After the match against Bell, Satullo immediately underwent a significant gimmick change and, possibly as punishment for his actions, was involved in storylines about his becoming infatuated with a mop. After receiving (kayfabe) head trauma in matches against the Acolyte Protection Agency and Raven, Satullo began acting eccentrically and speaking nonsensically, allegedly as the result of a concussion. Satullo began uttering the phrase "you're welcome" at inopportune intervals, and then fell in love with "Moppy", an (inanimate) mop which he believed was alive. Terri Runnels told Satullo to pick between Moppy and her, and was infuriated when Satullo chose the mop. She left Satullo for Raven, who would help her enact vengeance on Satullo by "kidnapping" Moppy and feeding 'her' into a woodchipper. Satullo in turn gained a measure of revenge when he defeated Raven at WWF Unforgiven 2001 on September 23.

Despite it being a rumored punishment, Satullo's new gimmick was surprisingly well-received by fans, and somewhat got over as a result. However, he did not receive a push of any sort, further fueling claims that the entire gimmick was intended as a humiliating act of attrition.

In April 2002, Satullo reinjured his ACL, and was sidelined for four months. During this time, the WWF would rebrand themselves World Wrestling Entertainment though this would not affect Satullo as he was released by WWE before returning in November 2002.

[edit] Independent circuit

After leaving WWE, Satullo went on to tour Europe and Australia with the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion, where he was managed by Midajah.

On March 26, 2003 Satullo debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He formed a loosely affiliated stable with fellow ECW alumni The Sandman and New Jack, and wrestled several hardcore matches before leaving the promotion the next month.

In April 2004, Satullo was shot three times in the neck with a .25 caliber handgun while foiling an attempted rape, suffering severe damage to his C-5, C-6, and C-7 vertebrae. Satullo only learned of this after he visited a physician and complained of burning sensations in his neck, originally attributing the impact to a punch from behind. After having steel plates and screws inserted into his neck, Satullo returned to the ring on September 17, 2004, and continued to receive epidural treatment. Since then, Satullo has continued to make appearances on the independent circuit but has gone into partial retirement due to the severity of his neck injury.

[edit] In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves
The name of this maneuver, derived from The Cat in the Hat, was taken from Chris Jericho, who'd previously listed it in his list of 1,004 holds he knew to better Dean Malenko's 1,000 holds.[1][2]

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • 2-time IWF Light Heavyweight Champion
  • 1-time IWF Tag Team Champion (with Terra Ryzing)
  • 1-time USWA World Tag Team Champion (with John Kronus)
  • United States Wrestling Federation
  • 1-time USWF Light Heavyweight Champion
  • PWI ranked him # 227 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
  • PWI ranked him # 89 of the best tag teams of the PWI Years (with John Kronus)

[edit] Personal life

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Satullo has a son named Rocky who was born on May 27, 1987.

[edit] References

  1. ^ SLASHwrestling RAW Review. Retrieved on 2007-03-08. “Lawler says it's the "moss covered, three handled family gredunza" which means Saturn's been reading a lot of Dr. Seuss...I think.”
  2. ^ Chris Jericho bio. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
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