Tony Puccio
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Anthony Puccio was a
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 ...
best known 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 ...
s Tony Puccio and Henchman and teaming with his brother Val Puccio as "The Undertakers" and later as "Double Trouble".


Professional wrestling career


Early career

Trained by Tony Altomare, Puccio began his wrestling career in 1987 and worked for various northeast U.S. independent promotions.


International World Class Championship Wrestling (1989 - 1991)

Teaming with his brother Val the duo formed a
tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establis ...
called "The Undertakers", with Val using 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 ...
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 Joseph Anthony Savoldi Jr., (born Giuseppe Antonio Savoldi; March 5, 1908 – January 25, 1974) more commonly known by his nickname "Jumping Joe" Savoldi, was an Italian-American professional wrestler, football player, and Special Ops agent for ...
to win the
ICW Tag Team Championship The ICW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling) owned by Scotland's Insane Championship Wrestling promotion. Complimenting ICW's two established singles titles ( ICW World Heavyweight Championship ...
. 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 Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...
. In March 1990 the Undertakers won the championship again, this time renamed the IWCCW Tag Team Championship. 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).


Japan (1991-1992)

After this the twins toured Japan, working for
All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...
in February and March 1991. Their first match came on February 23, 1991, when they faced "The Land of Giants" duo of Butch Masters and Nitron. They also faced
Mighty Inoue Sueo Inoue (April 12, 1949 – November 27, 2024), better known by the ring names Mighty Inoue () and All Mighty Inoue, was a Japanese professional wrestler and referee. He is best known for his appearances with International Wrestling Enterprise ...
&
Rusher Kimura was a Japanese professional wrestler, best known by his ring name . He was a five-time IWA World Heavyweight Champion, making him a five-time world champion. Sumo wrestling career He was a sumo wrestler under the ''shikona'' Kinomura, a d ...
, as well as
Dean Malenko Dean Shelly Simon (born August 4, 1960), better known by the ring name Dean Malenko, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a senior producer. He is best known for his time in the World Wres ...
and
Joe Malenko Jody Simon (born June 4, 1956) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Joe Malenko. He is the son of Boris Malenko and the older brother of Dean Malenko. Professional wrestling career Early career (1977–19 ...
. In November 1992 they wrestled for
Wrestle Association R Wrestle Association R (formerly known as Wrestle and Romance and abbreviated as WAR) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded and run by Genichiro Tenryu as the successor to Super World of Sports, and which lasted from 1992 to 2000 ...
losing the teams of Haku and
The Berzerker The Berzerker are an Australian/British industrial death metal band from Melbourne formed in 1995. The band's music, heavily influenced by older death metal and grindcore bands such as Carcass, Obituary, and Napalm Death, can be characteris ...
; and
Genichiro Tenryu , better known as is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling. "Tenryu" was h ...
and
Takashi Ishikawa is a Japanese former professional wrestler and sumo wrestler from Fujishima, Higashitagawa District, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Sumo wrestling career He played baseball up to junior high school, but at Sakata Minami High School he switched t ...
.


World Wrestling Federation (1991-1994)

At this point in time the team changed their name after the
World Wrestling Federation 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, ...
bought the rights to their original name to ensure there would be no confusion between the team and the WWF wrestler Mark Calaway who worked as "the Undertaker". The team took the name "Double Trouble", making their first appearance on September 30, 1991, at a dark match in Wheeling, WV where they defeated a preliminary team at a
Wrestling Challenge ''WWF Wrestling Challenge'' is a professional wrestling television show that was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE). It was syndicated weekly and aired from 1986 to 1995. The show became simply known as ''WWF C ...
taping. They won another dark match against preliminary opposition in Huntington, WV at a
WWF Superstars is a List of wrestling video games, wrestling video game manufactured by Technōs Japan and released for arcade game, arcades in 1989. It is the first WWE, WWF arcade game to be released. A series of unrelated games with the WWF Superstars (Gam ...
taping. In June 1992 they began teaming regularly on WWF house shows. The tour was part of the settlement that they reached with the WWF over "The Undertaker" name. They were winless in house show encounters with
The Bushwhackers The Bushwhackers were a professional wrestling tag team who competed first as the New Zealand Kiwis and then as The Sheepherders during their 36-year career as a tag team. They wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation, Jim Crockett Promotions ...
. In August they entered a house show series against High Energy, and in September they received title matches against WWF Tag-Team Champions
The Natural Disasters The Natural Disasters were a professional wrestling tag team composed of John Tenta, Earthquake (John Tenta) and Fred Ottman, Typhoon (Fred Ottman) who worked in the World Wrestling Entertainment, World Wrestling Federation between 1991 and 1993. ...
. After going winless, Double Trouble finally gained their first victory of the year on October 2, 1992, in Poughkeepsie, NY when they defeated
Mark Thomas Mark Clifford Thomas (born 11 April 1963) is an English comedian, best known for the political stunts that he performs on his show, ''The Mark Thomas Comedy Product'' on Channel 4. Thomas first became known as a guest comic on the BBC Radio 1 ...
and Phil Apollo. They finished the year facing
Road Warrior Animal Joseph Michael "Joe" Laurinaitis (September 12, 1960 – September 22, 2020), better known by his ring name Road Warrior Animal (or simply Animal), was an American professional wrestler. Along with Road Warrior Hawk, he was one-half of the tag t ...
in handicap matches. In 1993 they wrestled only one match, losing to
The Steiner Brothers The Steiner Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Rick Steiner (real name Robert Rechsteiner) and Scott Steiner (real name Scott Rechsteiner). The brothers wrestled as amateurs at the University of Mich ...
on January 30 in Providence, RI. After a lengthy absence they returned on July 7, 1994, to face the tag-team champions
The Headshrinkers In professional wrestling, the Samoan SWAT Team was a tag team comprising Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa'i, who work in Major League Wrestling (MLW), where they are former MLW World Tag Team Champions. The original Samoan SWAT Team primarily compri ...
in Landover, MD. Following two more matches against The Headshrinkers the duo left the promotion.


Century Wrestling Alliance (1993-1997)

During their hiatus from the WWF in 1993, the duo also worked in the CWA. On September 23, 1993, the duo defeated The Interns to become the first ever CWA Tag Team Champions for Century Wrestling Alliance. On March 25, 1994, the team of Vic Steamboat and
Ray Odyssey Ray Samalonis (born January 31, 1968) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Surfer" Ray Odyssey. Professional wrestling career Odyssey competes primarily in Northeastern United States, Nor ...
defeated Double Trouble to end their title run. In 1994 the team worked as "the Trouble Makers" with Val being known as Chaos and Tony working as Mayhem. Their final match in the CWA came on December 12, 1994, when they defeated
Alex Shane Alexander Daniel Spilling (born 15 November 1979) is a British professional wrestler and professional wrestling commentator who is best known by his ring name "The Showstealer" Alex Shane. Spilling also works as a promoter, wrestling coach and ...
& Cherokee Renegade in Elizabethton, Tennessee.Tag Teams Database » Undertakers » Matches
Cage Match
In 1995, his brother Val worked in
Extreme Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as Nationa ...
and they split up. Tony would go on his own working for Northeast Wrestling and Century Wrestling Alliance until his last match in 1997.


Personal life

Tony made the announcement on
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
that his brother, Val passed away on January 7, 2011, at 45. It was believed to be from obesity.


References


External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Puccio, Tony 1962 births American male professional wrestlers 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from New York City Living people