Antonio Pugliese
| Tony Parisi | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Birth name | Antonio Pugliese |
| Born | January 22, 1941 Cosenza, Calabria, Italy |
| Died | August 19, 2000 (aged 59) Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada |
| Spouse(s) | Chiara Vaccaro (m. 1968; his death 2000) |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Antonio Pugliese Parisi Tony Parisi |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Billed weight | 241 lb (109 kg) |
| Trained by |
Bert Ruby Harry Light |
| Debut | 1961 |
Antonio Pugliese (1941 – August 19, 2000), better known by his ring name, Tony Parisi, was an Italian-born Canadian professional wrestler. Parisi won tag team titles in several organizations, including the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). He held the WWWF World Tag Team Championship from 1975 to 1976. As a singles wrestler, he also won the WWF International Heavyweight Championship.
After retiring from wrestling, Pugliese continued to work in the industry and also operated a hotel and restaurant. He died in 2000 after suffering a major aneurism.
Pugliese made his professional wrestling debut in Detroit, Michigan in 1961. He soon began competing in Canada, where he was a popular babyface (fan favorite) wrestler. In one of his first matches, he faced Gino Brito, who later became his long-time tag team partner. Pugliese and Brito moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1962 to wrestle in a promotion operated by Nick Gulas; they won the promotion's tag team title within two weeks of their arrival. Throughout his career, Pugliese formed many tag teams in various promotions with other wrestlers of Italian descent, including Dominic DeNucci, Tony Marino, and David Sammartino (who competed as Bruno Sammartino, Jr.).
Although Pugliese often wrestled in Ontario throughout his career, he also competed as far away as Australia and Japan. In 1973, he participated in the first annual Champion Carnival tournament promoted by All Japan Pro Wrestling. He lost in the first round to Hiro Matsuda.
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