Tony Marino
| Tony Marino | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Tony Silipini |
| Born |
April 20, 1931 Rochester, New York, United States |
| Residence | Florida, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Battman Devil Blue Dino Lanza Tony Marino |
| Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
| Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg) |
| Debut | 1954 |
| Retired | 1987 |
Tony Silipini (born April 20, 1931) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Tony Marino.
Tony Silipini was born in 1931. He started wrestling in 1954 near his hometown of Rochester, NY. He wrestled under a number of names over the years in different areas of the country. In Australia he was called Dino Lanza.
When Marino started working in the WWWF in 1963, he started off as a jobber. With the Batman craze sweeping the country in 1966, Marino created a wrestling version of the superhero. His custom outfits were created by Karl & Hildegarde's of Columbus, Ohio. He debuted the persona in the Buffalo, NY area and had a smaller wrestler dressed as Robin. Bruno Sammartino, who had purchased the promotional office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, brought Marino into Pittsburgh as "Battman" and installed him as a major wrestler in the territory. As The Battman, Marino became a fixture and very popular wrestler on Pittsburgh's very popular Studio Wrestling TV show. By 1970 the Batman gimmick was phased out.
He formed a tag team with WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino. Marino wrestled with a mask as "The Battman" on the Pittsburgh circuit.
On December 9, 1969, Tony teamed with Victor Rivera in Madison Square Garden, where they defeated International Tagteam Champions Professor Toru Tanaka and Mitsu Arakawa in 2 straight falls. Marino and Rivera were the tag champions for almost seven months. Along the way, they scored wins over Killer Kowalski and Waldo Von Erich at Madison Square Garden, and Kowalski and Krippler Karl Kovacs at Sunnyside Gardens, Queens, NY. On June 15, 1970, at Madison Square Garden, they lost their titles 2 falls to 1 to The Mongols, the team of Bepo Mongol and Geto Mongol. Both tagteams were undefeated up to that point. After the Battman gimmick was obsolete, Marino returned to jobbing. In a 1971 match against George The Animal Steele, Marino broke his leg. In 1972, Marino left the WWWF.
In 1972, Marino started traveling in National Wrestling Alliance territories. In December 1972, he defeated Kurt Von Hess and Karl Von Shotz along with Fred Curry to win the Detroit version of NWA World Tag Team Championship. On January 5, 1973, they lost the titles to Kurt Von Hess and Karl Von Shotz. They received their second Detroit titles on February 2 and lost it to Kurt Von Hess and Karl Von Shotz on February 18.
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