Val Puccio
| Val Puccio | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 9, 1965 Bronx, New York |
| Died |
January 7, 2011 (aged 45) Bronx, New York |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Big Malley Big Val Puccio Henchman Double Trouble #1 Chaos |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Billed weight | 475 lb (215 kg) to 530 lb (240 kg) |
| Trained by | Johnny Rodz |
| Debut | 1989 |
| Retired | 1997 |
Valentino "Val" Puccio (June 9, 1965 – January 7, 2011) was a professional wrestler best known under the ring names Val Puccio and Henchman and teaming with his twin brother Tony Pucci as "The Undertakers" and later as "Double Trouble".
Professional wrestling career
Trained by Johnny Rodz, Puccio began his wrestling career in 1989 and worked for various northeast U.S. independent promotions for most of his career.[1] Teaming with his twin brother Tony the duo formed a tag team called "The Undertakers", with Val using the ring name Henchman and Tony worked as Punisher. The duo started in International Championship Wrestling (ICW; later renamed International World Class Championship Wrestling or IWCCW). On December 11, 1989 the Undertakers defeated a team known as the S & S Express (Vic Steamboat and Joe Savoldi to win the ICW Tag Team Championship.[2][3] Their run with the championship only lasted 17 days as the Dynamic Duo (Phil Apollo and Eric Sbraccia) defeated them on a show in Portland, Maine.[2][3] In March 1990 the Undetakers won the championship again, this time renamed the IWCCW Tag Team Championship.[2][3] Almost a year later, on February 20, 1991 the Undertakers lost the championship to a team known as The Billion Dollar Babies (Mike Sampson and G.Q. Stratus).[2][3] After this the twins tourned Japan, working for All Japan Pro Wrestling in February and March of 1991. At this point in time the team changed their name after the World Wrestling Federation bought the rights to their original name to ensure there would be no confusion between the team and the WWF wrrestler Mark Calaway who worked as "the Undertaker".[4] The team took the name "Double Trouble" and worked for the WWF off and on between 1992 and 1994. On September 23, 1993 the duo defeated The Interns to become the first ever CWA Tag Team Champions for Century Wrestling Alliance.[5][6] On March 25, 1994 the team of Vic Steamboat and Ray Odyssey defeated Double Trouble to end their title run.[5][6] In 1994 the team worked as "the Trouble Makers" with Val being known as Chaos and Tony working as Mayhem. In 1995 Val worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), known as Big Val. His run was short lived, losing matches to Mikey Whipwreck and Hack Meyers.[7] After his ECW Run Val briefly held the CWA New England Heavyweight Championship, winning it from and losing it back to Tony Rumble.[8][6]
Personal life
Puccio's battles against obesity have been chronicled on the TLC series Inside the Brookhaven Obesity Clinic, where he was a patient.[9] Puccio died on January 7, 2011. His brother Tony made the announcement on Facebook. He was 45. His death is thought to have been caused by his obesity.[4]
Championships and accomplishments
- Century Wrestling Alliance
- CWA New England Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[8][10]
- CWA Tag Team Championship (1 time, first) – With Tony Puccio[5][6]
- IWCCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Punisher[2][3]
References
- ↑ "Slave2Training's BodySpace". Bodybuilding.com.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Boston: International Championship Wrestling Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "International Championship Wrestling (1984-1991/01)/International World Class Championship Wrestling (1991/01-mid-1990s) Tag Team Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
- 1 2 "Puccio, original Undertaker, passes away". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 2011-01-07. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
- 1 2 3 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "(New England) Century Wrestling Alliance tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- 1 2 3 4 "N.W.A. New England Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
- ↑ Extreme Championship Wrestling Results 1995
- 1 2 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "(New England) Century Wrestling Alliance New England Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ↑ Inside the Brookhaven Obesity Clinic episode listing, MSN.com, pulled 1/16/2008
- ↑ "C.W.A. New England Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved September 16, 2009.