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By SAM CINO
Staff Writer

Carmen Scordino was 16 years old, working the overnight shift at Nabisco seven nights a week in Niagara Falls, Ont. He was hoping to save up enough money to attend Ron Hutchison’s wrestling school in Toronto. A friend called and told him about a wrestling school opening in Niagara Falls, and that call is how it all started.

The Gator Wrestling Academy (GWA) was run inside the Niagara Falls Boxing Club, so Scordino didn’t have to move to Toronto, Not willing to relocate was a bonus to him at the time.

It was run by a man known as "Gator," who claimed he was professionally trained, but in reality, never was.

"I should have seen the signs on the first day when he fell out of the ring and broke open his head, but I thought it was ‘just a bad accident,’" says Scordino.

The GWA’s first students of note were Scordino, Matteo "Tony Carbonie" Cintione and "Big Jess" of the tag-team Bodycount. Cintione would later form the tag-team of The Italianos with Scordino.

After a while, Niagara Falls native wrestler "Dangerboy" Derek Wylde came to the GWA. He explained to the students that he was a trained professional wrestler who could help them.

The majority of the students left with Dangerboy, but Scordino stayed at the GWA.

"I was very naive at the time," he admits.

Gator ran the GWA’s first show in Niagara Falls in the now-legendary Polish Hall.

Scordino had his first match on that show and brought in about 150 people to see him wrestle.

"My entire family came to see me, along with my entire Grade 11 class of my high school. I had four months of training, but in Gator training this was more like three weeks total."

The crowd consisted of Scordino’s friends and family, but also included a few people who would later become local stars in their own right such as Jesse "JT Playa" Scott, who would become Tiberious King, and "Lazz".

Also on the show were already-established local stars such as Tyson Dux and El Tornado.

Cintione, who had previously left the GWA, came back long enough to get a small spot on the show.

"I remember he interfered in a match and karate-kicked someone and then ran backstage. That was his entire role," says Scordino, laughing about his long-time friend.

After the first GWA show, Scott and Lazz enrolled in the GWA School, along with Knoxx, the other half of Bodycount.

Scott and Big Jess had a lot of arguments and a falling out with Gator, who had all but skipped town and disappeared. He essentially had put Scordino in charge of the school.

"The owner of the boxing club kicked Gator out and was going to do the same with the school, but we talked it over with him and he let us stay."

New students came to the GWA, including former Total Nonstop Action star Cody Deaner, The Original Hacker (Josh Lessard), Ash, Kris Chambers and Jace Fury, as well as Cintione and Scott returning permanently. Dangerboy also returned and took over training duties at the school.

He arranged a show with the IWF league of Hamilton, Ont., which ended up mentally challenging Scordino as a result.

"At that time, the athletic commission was still around, and you had to be 18 or older and be a licensed wrestler to actually wrestle. I was still just 16 and having ‘wrestled’ a few times I knew what it was like, but I couldn’t do it anymore because I didn’t meet the criteria."

Scordino became very depressed, and stopped training altogether for two years. He would come to the school, but he would just sit and watch, in a mental funk.

He finally turned 18, and the GWA had now become Fighting Spirit Pro Wrestling.

Scordino had his first "real" match versus Knoxx.

"I shit the bed so badly. I was so fat, so young, I messed up everything. I just wanted to give up."

After the match, Dangerboy kicked him out of the school, telling him that if he didn’t want it badly enough he wasn’t fit to be in the school.

Scordino was still a fan and travelled to Toronto to watch WrestleMania 18, the headline match being Hulk Hogan versus The Rock.

"Toronto is a story in itself, but to sum it up we had no hotel, so we slept in a random park on the benches with our luggage as our pillows. We went to Fan Axxess [a fan interaction/autograph day] still with our luggage until some random guy offered us his apartment above a corner store for $50 each a night. It was better than nothing."

Scordino was captivated by Wrestlemania that weekend and was once again convinced he could be like the big stars.

"I was born to be a wrestler."

He returned home, joined a gym and lost 40 pounds. When he walked into the wrestler’s training practice, they were stunned at how he had changed so fast.

He had his first match on Canada Day versus Cintione in 2002. After that, they formed the tag-team of The Italianos, the longest-running team in Ontario to this day.

"And that is how I became a wrestler."

With the re-launch of Neo Spirit Pro Wrestling (NSPW) later this month, Scordino is excited to be back with his friends.

"We were the no. 1 federation back then, and we will become the no. 1 federation again."

The re-launch of NSPW, titled The Rising, will be at Fight Club Canada at 4536 Portage Rd. Unit 2 in Niagara Falls on Feb. 19.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with matches starting at 7:30 p.m.  

Tickets are $20 for reserved front row, $10 general admission and can be purchased in advance. Tickets are then $15 at the door.

Ticket locations are Pulp Comics, 4413 Queen St. in Niagara Falls, as well as United Family Martial Arts, 6824 Thorold Stone Rd.

The ticket hotline number is 289-668-3250.