Sabatino Piscitelli (born August 24, 1983) is an American former

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He is known for his time in

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

, under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

Tino Sabbatelli. Prior to joining WWE, Piscitelli played five seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He was selected by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

in the second round (64th overall) of the

2007 NFL draft The 2007 NFL draft was the 72nd annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draf ...

. He also played for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

. He played collegiately at

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

Early life

Sabatino Piscitelli was born on August 24, 1983, in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

. Piscitelli began his football career at Boca Raton High School. He began playing as a junior in high school, playing both

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He received second team all-state honors as a senior and received four letters as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the school's

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team.

College football career

GP – Games Played, T – Tackles, AT – Assisted Tackles, TFL – Tackles for Loss, FF – Forced Fumbles, FR – Fumbles Recovered, PD – Passes Defensed, INTs – Interceptions, TDs – Touchdowns
°

Redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

† All-Pac 10 Honourable Mention
‡ All-Pac 10 First Team

Professional football career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Piscitelli received an invitation to attend the

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

due to his outstanding performance in his last year at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

. He posted the fastest pro agility time of 2006, ran a 4.44 second

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

, and bench pressed 225 lbs for 19 reps. He was selected by the

in the second round of the

, through a pick traded by the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

in exchange for Anthony "Booger" McFarland. In his rookie season, he broke his right foot and was placed on the injured reserve. On November 30, 2010, the Buccaneers released him.

Cleveland Browns

Piscitelli was signed by the

on December 1, 2010. He became a free agent after the season.

Kansas City Chiefs

Piscitelli signed with the

on August 4, 2011.

Career statistics

GP – Games Played, ST – Solo Tackles, AT – Assisted Tackles, FF – Forced Fumbles, PD – Passes Defensed, INTs – Interceptions, TDs – Touchdowns

Professional wrestling career

WWE (2014–2020)

In October 2014, Piscitelli signed a developmental contract with

and began training to become a

at the

WWE Performance Center WWE Performance Center (WWE PC) is a group of professional wrestling schools owned by American company WWE. They serve as tryout and training facilities for WWE, and also contain sports science and medical facilities as well as live events and ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. He made his in-ring debut for WWE's

developmental territory Development of the human body is the process of growth to maturity. The process begins with fertilization, where an egg released from the ovary of a female is penetrated by a sperm cell from a male. The resulting zygote develops through mitos ...

, NXT, at a

live event A house show (also commonly called a live event) is a professional wrestling event produced by a major Professional wrestling promotion, promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in o ...

on April 4, 2015, competing unsuccessfully in a

battle royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...

. After ten months of training, he suffered a concussion during an NXT live event. In October 2015, he was given the

Anthony Sabbatelli, later tweaked to Tino Sabbatelli. He was featured on an exclusive TV show on the

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...

called ''Breaking Ground'', which featured his NXT training. Sabbatelli made his televised debut on the October 12, 2016, episode of '' NXT'', teaming with

Riddick Moss Michael Carter Rallis (born October 10, 1989) is an American professional wrestler and former college football player. He currently performs on the independent circuit. Rallis is best known for his tenure in WWE under the ring names Riddick Moss ...

in a loss to TM-61 in the first round of the 2016

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament held by the American promotion WWE, and is featured on its NXT brand, having first been established in 2015. In subsequent years, wrestlers from the NXT U ...

. He made a further appearance on the January 4, 2017, episode of ''NXT'', again teaming with Moss in a defeat to

The Revival Revival most often refers to: *Resuscitation of a person *Language revival of an extinct language * Revival (sports team) of a defunct team *Revival (television) of a former television series *Revival (theatre), a new production of a previously pr ...

. Sabbatelli appeared again on the May 10 episode of ''NXT'', teaming with Moss in a loss to DIY. He had his first televised singles match on the September 20 episode of ''NXT'', losing to

Johnny Gargano John Anthony Nicholas Gargano (born August 14, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. , he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand and is one-half of #DIY with Tommaso Ciampa. Gargano is known for his time in NXT, where ...

. Sabbatelli and Moss had their first televised victory on the October 25 episode of ''NXT'', defeating the team of

Oney Lorcan Christopher Girard (born December 21, 1985) is an American retired professional wrestler signed to WWE as a coach at the Performance Center as well as a producer for NXT, having previously performed on said brand under the ring name Oney Lor ...

and

Danny Burch Martin Harris (born 31 December 1981) is an English professional wrestler best known for his time with WWE, where he performed on the NXT brand under the ring name Danny Burch. He is a former one time NXT Tag Team Champion with Oney Lorcan. ...

. In early 2018, Sabbatelli and Moss entered the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic losing to Sanity in the first round. Sabbatelli turned on Moss on April 25 after losing to Heavy Machinery. He suffered a torn pectoral muscle at the end of April and underwent surgery. On April 17, 2020, it was announced that he was released from his WWE contract.

All Elite Wrestling (2020)

Piscitelli made his

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

debut under the ring name Sabby on the July 21, 2020, episode of ''

AEW Dark ''AEW Dark'', or simply ''Dark'', is an American professional wrestling streaming television program that was produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), running from October 8, 2019, to April 25, 2023, on AEW's YouTube channel. ...

'', teaming with Brady Pierce in a losing effort against Best Friends.

Return to WWE (2020–2021)

On October 16, 2020, it was reported that Piscitelli had re-signed with WWE. However on June 25, 2021, Piscitelli was once again released from his WWE contract.

Personal life

Piscitelli is of Italian descent. He has a sister named Sabrina, and a brother named Sean, also a professional wrestler who performs on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. ...

under the ring name Sean Swag. As of 2018, he is in a relationship with fellow professional wrestler Amanda Saccomanno, better known by the ring name

Mandy Rose Amanda Rose Saccomanno (born July 18, 1990) is an American professional wrestler, television personality, and fitness and figure competitor. She is best known for her career in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Mandy Rose, and was ...

. On September 17, 2022, they announced their engagement. They were married on November 2, 2024 at the Park Chateau Estate and Gardens in

East Brunswick, New Jersey East Brunswick is a Township (New Jersey), township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The suburban bedroom community is part of the New York metropolitan area and is located on the southern sho ...

Championships and accomplishments

*''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' **Ranked No. 351 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' in 2017

References

External links

* *
Tampa Bay Buccaneers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabbatelli, Tino 1983 births Living people 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century American professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers American professional wrestlers of Italian descent Professional wrestlers from Florida American football safeties Cleveland Browns players Kansas City Chiefs players Oregon State Beavers football players People from Boca Raton, Florida Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Boca Raton Community High School alumni Players of American football from Florida