Tony Parisi Antonio Pugliese ( 1941 – August 19 , 2000 ) was an Italian / Canadian professional wrestler , better known by his ring name , Tony Parisi . Parisi was primarily a tag team wrestler , and he 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 heart attack . Professional wrestling career . Early career . 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 . Pugliese also wrestled as a heel ( villain ) at times . He competed as " Tenor " Parisi ; in this gimmick , he wore a white tuxedo and sang opera to anger the crowd . World Wide Wrestling Federation . In 1966 , Pugliese began wrestling for the World Wide Wrestling Federation ( WWWF ) , where he was billed as the cousin of Bruno Sammartino . In this role , he was targeted by several heel wrestlers , who wanted to start feuds with the Sammartino family . On February 21 , 1966 , Pugliese teamed with Johnny Valentine to win the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship from Dan Miller and Dr . Bill Miller . They held the title belts for nine months before dropping them to the team of Baron Mikel Scicluna and Smasher Sloan on September 22 . In this match , Valentine turned on Pugliese by awarding the championship to their opponents when Pugliese was injured . Pugliese teamed with Miguel Pérez to challenge Scicluna and Sloan for the title on December 8 , but Pérez sustained an injury during the match and was replaced by Spiros Arion . Pugliese and Arion won the match and the title ; they held the belts for six months until June 1967 . The team split up when Pugliese left the country briefly and Arnold Skaaland was named as co - holder of the championship in his place . Traveling wrestler . In December 1967 , Pugliese teamed with Pedro Morales in the California - based World Wrestling Association ( WWA ) . They won the WWA World Tag Team Championship by defeating Buddy Austin and Freddie Blassie . While defending the title , Pugliese also returned to the WWWF and began competing for the International Wrestling Alliance ( IWA ) in Australia . He teamed with Mario Milano to win the IWA World Tag Team Championship in April 1968 . The team lost the belts to Skull Murphy and Killer Karl Kox in May , but Pugliese joined up with Dominic DeNucci to regain the title later that month . Although they dropped the title to Killer Kowalski and Bill Miller in June , Pugliese found a new partner in Don Leo Jonathan to regain the title on February 21 , 1969 . Two weeks later , The Spoiler and Pugliese ' s former partner Mario Milano won the belts , but Pugliese and Jonathan regained them in a rematch later that month . Returning to the United States , Pugliese formed another tag team in Big Time Wrestling , a Texas - based division of the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA ) . He teamed with Wahoo McDaniel to win the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship . Records from the time period in this promotion are unclear about the dates and title lineage , but there is a record of Pugliese and McDaniel holding the belts in 1969 . The following year , Pugliese held the IWA World Tag Team Championship for the final time , as he teamed with Mark Lewin to win the belts from Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson on May 15 , 1970 . They defended the title for just over a month before losing it to Kurt and Karl Von Steiger . Pugliese then joined the Buffalo , New York - based National Wrestling Federation ( NWF ) . Once again , he found success teaming with Dominic DeNucci . The pair competed in a tournament for the vacant NWF World Tag Team Championship in January 1972 ; they made it to the final round but lost to the team of Mitsu Arakawa and Yoshino Sato . Pugliese and DeNucci continued to challenge for the title , and they defeated Arakawa and Sato in March to win the belts . [ 15 ] They dropped the belts to Don and Johnny Fargo in May but regained them in a rematch the same month . [ 15 ] Later that month , however , the Fargos regained the belts . Pugliese and DeNucci were unable to regain them , but Pugliese teamed up with Luis Martinez to win the title in December . Records are unclear as to whom they won the belts from and how they lost them . Pugliese and DeNucci next traveled to Florida , where they competed for Championship Wrestling from Florida , an NWA territory . They defeated Toru Tanaka and Dick Slater to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship in January 1975 . Slater teamed with Johnny Weaver to win the belts back from Pugliese and DeNucci , however . Return to the World Wide Wrestling Federation . Pugliese ' s next major success came in the WWWF , where he had been wrestling sporadically since 1970 under the ring name Tony Parisi . He teamed with Gino Brito , who was wrestling as Louis Cerdan , to win the WWWF World Tag Team Championship on November 18 , 1975 . They defeated The Blackjacks ( Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza ) to win the belts and held them for over six months . They eventually dropped the title in a match against The Executioners ( a team composed of Killer Kowalski and Big John Studd , who wore masks to hide their identities ) on May 11 , 1976 . Also in 1976 , Parisi teamed with champion Bruno Sammartino in Madison Square Garden to defeat Ivan Koloff and Superstar Billy Graham . When the promotion ( which had since been renamed the World Wrestling Federation ) decided to reactivate the WWF International Heavyweight Championship in 1982 , Parisi became the new champion . He lost the belt to his former partner , Gino Brito , that August . Montreal ' s Lutte Internationale . Much of Pugliese ' s later career was spent wrestling as Tony Parisi in the Montreal - based Lutte Internationale ( also known as International Wrestling ) . He traveled throughout the province , competing primarily as a tag team wrestler . In 1982 , he teamed with Gino Brito to win the Canadian International Tag Team Championship from Gilles Poisson and Sailor White . Although they dropped the title to Pierre Lefebvre and Michel Dubois , they were able to regain the belts the following January from Lefebvre and Pat Patterson . Lefebvre teamed with Billy Robinson to win the title back , but Parisi and Brito won the title for the third time on December 12 , 1983 from then - champions Lefebvre and Patterson . Once again , Lefebvre took on a new partner , this time Frenchy Martin , to win the belts from Parisi and Brito the following month . Parisi ' s final reign with the title began on February 20 , 1984 , when he joined up with Dino Bravo to regain the belts . Their title reign lasted for several months before Lefebvre and Martin defeated Parisi and Bravo to win back the championship . Legacy . Pugliese promoted wrestling shows in Niagara Falls after retiring from the sport . He also ran an annual wrestling show at the CHIN Picnic in Toronto . In 1997 , Pugliese returned to the ring to compete at the second Ilio DiPaolo tribute show promoted by World Championship Wrestling show . He reunited with partner Gino Brito in a tag team match , and the pair defeated Greg Valentine and Terry Funk by disqualification . Pugliese is credited as the inspiration behind George " The Animal " Steele ' s gimmick of eating turnbuckle padding in the ring . A wrestler , who Steele believes was Pugliese , jokingly suggested the idea to Steele , who became well known for his fondness for turnbuckles . Personal life . Born in Italy , Pugliese moved to Thunder Bay , Ontario when he was nine years old , but soon moved to Niagara Falls , Ontario . He joined the YMCA in Niagara Falls and began amateur wrestling at the age of 16 . He enjoyed listening to opera music and once referred to his LP albums as his " prize possessions " . Pugliese met Chiara Vaccaro in Niagara Falls , and the couple married in 1968 . They had a daughter named Ida in 1976 . He operated the Niagara Family Inn and Big Anthony ' s Restaurant in Niagara Falls with his family until he died from a heart attack on August 19 , 2000 . He was related to Joseph Dorgan , who has wrestled under his relative ' s name as Johnny Parisi and is better known as Johnny Swinger .