Pro wrestler Vinnie Massaro is a relative unknown to those who primarily dedicate their viewing experiences to what comes on their televisions and streaming services a few times a week. Massaro has been in the ring for nearly three decades starting in Hayward, California, and making it to the top promotions Japan has to offer.
Early Career and Dreams
He’s been a mainstay on the independents and is helping to train and wrestle those on the come up in West Coast Pro, Pandemonium Pro Wrestling and elsewhere. While he understands that the dream of reaching WWE or All Elite Wrestling (AEW) may be dashed, he told Fox News Digital he’s fallen in love with helping the younger generation grow as professional wrestlers.
Massaro said the dream, in the first place, was never to get to WWE or World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He wanted to be on Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as the hardcore promotion was becoming popular in the Northeast. But that goal went sideways when WWE bought out ECW.
International Experience
As he started training, Massaro turned his attention to Japan and performing at the famed Korakuen Hall. He said, “But after I started training, the main thing I wanted to do was wrestle in Japan,” he said. “My favorite wrestler was (Mitsuharu) Misawa and I was like, I want to meet Misawa, hopefully, one day, I want to wrestle Misawa and I’d like to wrestle for All Japan Pro Wrestling and then when he started (Pro Wrestling) Noah, when it was at Korakuen Hall, I wrestled for Noah.”
Massaro admitted that his skills in the ring are limited to hitting hard and showing his strength in the ring. A Spanish Fly off the top rope was probably never going to happen. He said he could have gone down two paths. He said he could have been Ole Anderson, who was “set in his ways,” or he could have been Terry Funk, who adapted to different styles of wrestling and performed all over the world.
Upcoming Match
Soon, Massaro will get to tag with Japanese wrestling star Shigeo Okumura as they go up against a team led by Lucha Libre legend Blue Panther. Massaro, Okumura and Andrew Cass will take on Blue Panther, Jiah Jewel and Seabass Finn in a six-man tag team match at Pandemonium Pro’s End of Summer Event on Sept. 5 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
