Vito LoGrasso

Vito LoGrasso
Lo Grasso, aka Big Vito, making his entrance at a show in March 2013
Ring name(s)	Skull Von Krush[1] Von Krus Vito Krus[1] Vito LoGrasso[1] Big Vito[1] Vito
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1]
Billed weight	249 lb (113 kg)[1]
Born	(1964-06-18) June 18, 1964[2] Brooklyn, New York
Billed from	Little Italy, Manhattan, New York, Staten Island, New York
Trained by	Johnny Rodz[1]
Debut	1990[1]

Vito Joseph LoGrasso^[2] (born June 18, 1964)^[2] is an American professional wrestler, of Italian origin, best known for his work in World Championship Wrestling as Big Vito and more recently World Wrestling Entertainment and working for their "developmental territories" Ohio Valley Wrestling and Deep South Wrestling as Vito.^[1]

Career

Independent & World Wrestling Federation (1990-1993)

LoGrasso started wrestling in 1990 on the independent circuit until being approached by NOW Wrestling Federation, based in Japan. He worked there for a while and then returned to the states in 1991 and became a jobber in the WWF. He wrestled on early editions of WWF Monday Night Raw as "Von Krus", a generic big wrestler who began with a subtly "evil foreigner" gimmick. He faced such superstars as Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and many others. The WWF liked his work, but they didn't have a place in it for The Fly Italian Guy. Vito then went on to work in the USWA and WWC.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1999)

After a lot of success in those promotions, Vito met up with extreme wrestler Tazz at a gym, and was able to get him hired in ECW. When he started in ECW, he changed his name to Vito "The Skull" LoGrasso and became a member of "Da Baldies" stable, who in the storyline, claimed to be an offshoot of a real life New York street gang, and as such took issue with New Jack calling himself a "Gangsta" and began a feud with him.^[1] Vito worked a couple of shows with the now defunct LIWF with Billy Alaimo and was on the Junkyard Dog memorial show in a casket match at The Elks Lodge in Queens, New York.

World Championship Wrestling (1999–2001)

In 1999 Vito left ECW for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) where he teamed with Johnny the Bull as The Mamalukes.^[3] Managed by Tony Marinara The Mamalukes captured the WCW World Tag Team Championship twice, and were, in storyline, jointly awarded the WCW Hardcore Championship.^[1] After being awarded the championship, however, Vito and Johnny were forced to face each other in a match to crown one champion, which Vito won.^[1]

In WCW Vito was billed from Staten Island, New York, which is where he actually grew up, not the later WWE work Little Italy.

In December 2000, the Mamalukes reunited and teamed together until March 2001, when WCW was acquired by the WWF. After the acquisition, Vito was one of the wrestlers who was lost in the shuffle, neither becoming a part of The Invasion nor taking one of the large ticket buyouts offered.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004)

Vito also had a brief run in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in late-2004 with Glenn Gilbertti, Trinity and Johnny Swinger as the "New York Connection".^[4] His only feud was with "Irish" Pat Kenney, in which they exchanged victories.^[5][6]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2007)

In early 2005, Vito worked dark matches for the now renamed World Wrestling Entertainment and signed a contract with them in July.^[7] He was assigned to their Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental territory for several months until he was ready to be called up to the main roster.

Vito made his debut on WWE television on the August 6 episode of WWE Velocity, where he helped Nunzio win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship from Paul London.^[8] Together Vito and Nunzio reformed the Full Blooded Italians stable, acting mostly as a tag team together on Velocity with scattered appearances on SmackDown!.^[1]

Vito and Nunzio turned heel once again (after a short flirtation with being faces with a brief feud against then-heel, Gregory Helms) in March 2006 under an angle in which Vito announced that he wanted to be recognized as a "Godfather" and he would wear a blazer and glasses.

Beginning in May, various wrestlers such as Orlando Jordan and Paul Burchill began approaching Nunzio in backstage situations and spreading rumors that they had, in storyline, seen Vito in public places in various forms of cross-dress.^[9][10] Nunzio originally wouldn't hear of any such thing until the June 2 SmackDown! when Vito came down the ramp, in a dress, to collect Nunzio after losing a match.^[11] The next week, after arguing about Vito's clothing choices, the two former friends faced each other in a match which Vito won after hitting Nunzio with The Code of Silence.^[12] Not long after, Nunzio joined the ECW brand, leaving Vito on SmackDown! alone.^[13]

The idea for the gimmick (which was said to come from Vito himself, but was in actuality Stephanie McMahon's idea) seemed to originate on The Sopranos, who also had a character named Vito who had recently been outed as a homosexual (though he was never seen in women's clothing).

Regardless of his passion for cross dressing, Vito continually explained that he was a straight man; including one instance of asking Diva Ashley Massaro out on a date while wearing a dress, to which she agreed.^[14] After this he began to "have more fun" during his matches, running around and waving his dresses and otherwise interacting with the fans, turning him once again face.^[15] As the gimmick took off various people began kayfabe voicing problems with a man wrestling while wearing a dress, including color commentator John "Bradshaw" Layfield (who refused to do commentary with him) and wrestlers Montel Vontavious Porter^[16] and William Regal^[17] who (kayfabe) threatened SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long with a sexual harassment lawsuit to get out of a match with Vito.^[18] At the same time, WWE began to "censor" any incidents of Vito's dress raising and exposing his (bethonged) buttocks. Despite his detractors, once he started wearing a dress Vito began an undefeated streak which didn't end until over four months later when he was defeated by Elijah Burke after interference from his partner Sylvester Terkay.

On November 2, 2006 WWE.com announced that Vito would be posing (non-nude) for the April 2007 edition of Playgirl. On May 15, 2007, Vito was released from his WWE contract.^[19]

Deep South Wrestling (2007-2008)

Vito defeated champion Bradley Jay and Ryan O'Reilly in a three-way round robin match to win the DSW Heavyweight Championship on January 25, 2007.^[1] Almost immediately upon winning the title he underwent a gimmick change, losing the dress and instead adopting martial arts-style trunks, a headband, and wrestling without shoes.^[1] When asked on DSW TV he announced that he changed his style of dress because his opponents were citing it as a distraction and claiming his clothing was the reason they were losing to him. The look was briefly shown during the Lumberjack tag match on Sunday Night Heat at WrestleMania 23, between Carlito and Ric Flair against Chavo Guerrero and Gregory Helms, Vito was grouped with the face lumberjacks. He held the title until February 22, when he lost it back to Bradley Jay.^[1]

Online Radio (2004-2008)

Vito formally hosted in 2004 along with Ryan Clark and Matt Boone a webshow on WrestleZone.com called WZR Radio which still airs today on WZROnline.com. Vito made a guest appearance on WZR on September 16, 2008 answering Questions from callers he also talked about his days in ECW and WCW also talking about his dress gimmick on SmackDown. Vito made another guest appearance on the October 21, 2008 edition of WZR which was a 3 hour show with the first 2 hours talking about WWE with Richard Gray and Ryan Clark, the 3rd hour Richard left and was replaced by Matt Boone.

Independent Circuit (2009-Present)

Vito has appeared at numerous events across the East Coast of the United States. On March 12, 2011, he wrestled "Bulldog" James Dylan at an Atomic Championship Wrestling event. He also formed a new tag team with Tate Hammer known as The Skull Von Hammer brothers, who defeated Jon Dahmer and Ryan Slater in a tag match at the same event. He has also wrestled on various tours of Europe with Irish Whip Wrestling. Several people he has mentored over the last two years have been signed to WWE Developmental deals.

Ring Warriors (2013-present)

On September 2013, LoGrasso debuten in Ring Warriors as the leader of The Slambinos stable.

Personal life

He was previously married to a woman named Kathy, with whom he had four children.^[1] The marriage ended in divorce, but they remained friends. Kathy died of cancer on September 1, 2007.^[20]

Vito's longtime girlfriend is wrestling personality, and model Noel Harlow. The occasionally work together in the US, where she is billed as "Lil Noel" as a play on his "Big Vito" name.^[21] Vito and Noel announced via their joint Twitter account,their engagement February 11, 2011. Wedding is scheduled for the near future. On September 2013, Vito opened a wrestling school in Florida.^[22]

Current

Vito continues to travel the world; performing in France,Italy, Malta, Nepal, and Canada, as well as wrestling in the US for ISPW, ACPW, ACW, PWX,DTW, and Wrestling for a Cause in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Vito's tour March 2010 of Nepal makes him the first former ECW, WCW, TNA, WWE, Superstar to work in that country. There he was involved in a riot involving 4,000 people that made international news and became an internet viral video.

February 24, 2011, He returned to defeat the Himalayan Tiger in Kathmandu, Nepal for the Golden Cine Professional Wrestling Show held at the Dasharath Stadium in front of 20,000 people, to be come the first ever Profession Wrestling Champion of Nepal.^[23] On March 1, 2011 Vito presence was requested by the US Embassy of Nepal . He was greeted and congratulated by the councilor of public affairs of US embassy to Nepal, Terry J. White and staff .

Vito is well known for his charity work for Children's Hospitals, Autism Awareness, and Homes for Soldiers. He also is a public speaker and mentor, speaking at numerous schools and events throughout the country.

July 2012, Vito has joined the fight to save the Pa771 ROTC in Coatesville, Pa. He helped raise money and awareness of the local program that does over 400 hours of community service per year. It was announced in August 2012 the program was saved.

July and August 2012, Vito began filming the feature film "Apnea" set to release Fall 2013. February and March 2013, Vito began filming "The Church" with Clint Howard and Bill Mosley. Vito is set to film Rumble Rama with Gene Sninsky June 2013

March 2, 2013 Vito made his ring return wrestling in Canada for the ECW Hardcore Roadtrip teaming with Nunzio against Pitbull Gary Wolfe and Balls. He also faced Al Snow earlier on the card. August 2013 Vito opened a wrestling school in Clearwater, Fl and launched a website BigVito.com

On September 19, 2013, Vito appeared in Ring Warriors as the leader of the stable The Slambinos.

On September 18, 2013, LoGrasso announced his relationship between his wrestling school and Dragon Gate USA, as the Farm territorie.[24]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Code of Silence (Lifting spinning DDT)^[25][26]
  • Luca Brasi (Double arm DDT)^[1]

• Signature moves
  • Corner slingshot splash
  • Delayed vertical suplex^[25]
  • Diving elbow drop^[25]
  • Dress Code (Kimura with the opponent's head up his dress) - used as Vito
  • Japanese arm drag
  • Savate kick,^[1] with theatrics^[25][26]
  • Swinging neckbreaker^[25]

• With Johnny the Bull
  • Catching hip toss into a sky lift slam^[25]

• Managers
  • Disco Inferno / Glenn Gilbertti^[27]
  • Tony Marinara^[27]
  • Noel Harlow

• Nicknames
  • Knuckles^[28]

• Entrance themes
  • "Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather)" (instrumental) – WCW
  • "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" by Prong - ECW
  • "King of the Streets" by Boner - ECW
  • "Hard as Stone A" by Jim Johnston - WWE

Championships and accomplishments

• Atomic Championship Wrestling
  • ACW Tristate Championship (1 time)

• American Championship Pro Wrestling
  • ACPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)

• Big Time Wrestling
  • BTW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Deep South Wrestling
  • Deep South Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]

• European Wrestling Promotion
  • Ironman Hardcore Knockout Tournament (2002)

• Golden Cine Professional Wrestling
  • Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship of Nepal (1 time)

• International Wrestling Association
  • IWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]

• Midwest Championship Wrestling Alliance
  • MCWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Helmut Hessler^[29]

• United States Extreme Wrestling
  • UXW United States Championship (1 time)^[1]

• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW Hardcore Championship (2 times) – won jointly with Johnny the Bull^[1]
  • WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Johnny the Bull

References

External links

• WrestlingEpicenter.com August 2008 Interactive Interview with Big Vito LoGrasso
• Gerweck profile
• Cagematch profile
• Online World of Wrestling profile
• Vito LoGrasso at the Internet Movie Database

v t e WCW Hardcore Champions Norman Smiley Brian Knobbs Bam Bam Bigelow Shane Helms (joint holder) Evan Karagias (joint holder) Shannon Moore (joint holder) Terry Funk Eric Bischoff Big Vito Jonny the Bull (joint holder) Lance Storm Carl Ouellet Reno Crowbar Meng The Barbarian

Persondata
Name	Lograsso, Vito
Alternative names
Short description	American professional wrestler
Date of birth	June 18, 1964
Place of birth	Brooklyn, New York
Date of death
Place of death