Dino Bravo

**Adolfo Bresciano** (August 6, 1949 – March 11, 1993) was an Italian-born Canadian professional wrestler, best known for his work as **Dino Bravo**, self-proclaimed as "Canada's Strongest Man".

## Professional wrestling career

Bresciano began wrestling in 1970, taking the "Dino Bravo" moniker from a wrestler from the early 1960s who had teamed with Dominic DeNucci as the Bravo brothers, Dino and Dominic.

He was trained by Gino Brito and often worked in a tag team with his mentor, billed as Brito's cousin. Bravo worked in a number of other tag teams, partnering with, among others, "Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods and DeNucci.

Bravo held the Jim Crockett Promotions version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Woods, winning the title from Gene and Ole Anderson and eventually losing the title to the Andersons.

Bravo also had a major program with Blackjack Mulligan, pinning Mulligan twice in a televised non-title match to set up a series of matches for Mulligan's United States title. Bravo did not win the U.S. title from Mulligan, but did receive several shots at NWA World Champion Harley Race during his tenure with Crockett.

By the late 1970s, Bravo had become a big enough draw to get a singles push in the Montreal territory. In December 1978, he defeated Gene Kiniski in Toronto to win the new Canadian heavyweight title as recognized in that area.

With Dominic DeNucci, Bravo captured the WWWF World Tag Team Title in March 1978 from Professor Tanaka and Mr. Fuji. Three months later in June, The Yukon Lumberjacks defeated Bravo and DeNucci for the title.

In the early 1980s, Bravo and King Tonga (later known as Haku) formed a tag team for a brief while, but never got much of a push.

Bravo was scheduled to headline a card against Hulk Hogan in 1986, but the match was canceled on short notice, with Bravo leaving the company shortly thereafter; the rumor was that the company did not want the Montreal crowd to cheer Bravo, the hometown hero, over Hogan, and that Bravo quit after finding out.

Bravo returned to the WWF the next year, with his hair dyed blond and working as part of Lucious Johnny Valiant's stable with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Brutus Beefcake. Beefcake was kicked out of the stable at WrestleMania III and Bravo took his place in The Dream Team tag team with Valentine.

Bravo returned to singles competition after a few months and began a strongman gimmick.

At the 1988 Royal Rumble, Bravo (who was legitimately strong and was said to be able to press more than 500 pounds) attempted to bench press what he claimed was 715 pounds, which would have been a world record at the time. Commentator Jesse "The Body" Ventura helped lift the bar at one point.

However, Bravo played the lift as a success and began billing himself as the "World's Strongest Man." In this gimmick, Bravo feuded with Don Muraco, Ken Patera, Jim Duggan, and Ron Garvin.

He played up his French Canadian heritage wearing the Fleur-de-lis and was managed by Frenchy Martin; who often toted around a sign reading *USA is not OK*.

In March 1988, Bravo lost in the first round of the WWF Championship tournament at WrestleMania IV against Don Muraco. During a rematch at SummerSlam in August, Martin distracted Bravo's opponent Muraco to allow Bravo to get the victory.

In October at the King of the Ring, Martin managed Bravo in a win over Jim Duggan in a flag match. At the Royal Rumble in January 1989, Bravo, accompanied by Martin, teamed with The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond) but lost a two out of three falls match against Jim Duggan and The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart).

After Frenchy Martin's departure, Bravo joined Jimmy Hart's stable and often teamed up with Earthquake, and Bresciano would often display h9is strength by doing push ups while the 460 lb. Earthquake sat on his back (although Tenta kept his feet on the floor, so not all of his weight was on his partner). The team of Earthquake and Bravo would have a lengthy feud with Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior.

Following a WrestleMania VII loss to Kerry Von Erich, he disappeared from WWF TV for several months before having a short run on several Canadian house shows as a babyface in matches against "The Mountie". Bresciano left the WWF and retired from active competition following a tour in Britain in April 1992. After his retirement, he helped train wrestlers in Montreal.

## Death

Dino Bravo was killed on Wednesday, March 10, 1993. His wife was taking his daughter to ballet class, he sat down to watch a hockey game on television and ended up shot 17 times with seven hits to the head and 10 to his torso. 44 years old at the time of his death, the crime remains an unsolved murder to this day; however, it is widely accepted that Dino’s involvement in smuggling was the reason for his death. As there were no signs of a break-in and no footprints outside the window of the home, there is speculation that Dino knew his killer, that the person was watching hockey with him when the assassination happened. While this cannot be known for sure, what is certain is that Dino’s wife found him later that evening when she returned home with their daughter.