{"id":38014,"date":"2019-02-09T23:15:21","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T04:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=38014"},"modified":"2019-02-09T23:15:21","modified_gmt":"2019-02-10T04:15:21","slug":"former-wwf-and-ecw-star-salvatore-bellomo-passes-away-at-67","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/02\/09\/former-wwf-and-ecw-star-salvatore-bellomo-passes-away-at-67\/","title":{"rendered":"Former WWF and ECW Star Salvatore Bellomo Passes Away at 67"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to a tweet sent out by a family member on Saturday night, former WWF and early ECW wrestler <strong>Salvatore Bellamo<\/strong>, who began in 1974 and managed to reinvent himself throughout the eras, has passed away following a battle with cancer. Earlier on Saturday evening, a family member whose cousin was married to Bellamo posted he was &#8220;fighting for his life&#8221; due to battles with cancer, and at 10:50 pm on Saturday night she announced he had lost his battle. He was 67 years old.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/BevG33\/status\/1094443520792936448<\/p>\n<p>Originally from Hornu, Belgium but of Italian descent, Salvatore Bellomo began working in North America, starting out in Mexico with <strong>EMLL<\/strong> (precursor to CMLL) and in Canadian territories like <strong>Stu Hart<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>Stampede Wrestling<\/strong>, <strong>Gene Kiniski<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>NWA All-Star Wrestling<\/strong> in Vancouver, and <strong>Frank Tunney<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>Maple Leaf Wrestling<\/strong> in Toronto. He would have his most success in Vancouver, winning the NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight title (ASW&#8217;s top singles title) and win NWA Canadian Tag Team gold alongside <strong>&#8220;Iron&#8221; Mike Sharpe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-38018\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/02\/van8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"297\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/02\/van8.jpg 297w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/02\/van8-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/02\/van8-282x420.jpg 282w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 297px) 100vw, 297px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When <strong>Vince McMahon Jr.<\/strong> acquired Stampede and Maple Leaf in the early 1980s, Bellamo began working for the WWF in 1982. Although he&#8217;d been a solid singles and tag team star on the rise in the Canadian NWA territories, in the WWF he was used primarily as an enhancement, often working more comedic angles.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bobby Heenan vs Salvatore Bellomo\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dVRezvqillg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Piper&#039;s Pit - Guest Salvatore Bellomo\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e07zz2kUcvQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By 1987, he had given up on the WWF and headed back to Europe, where he joined the prestigious <strong>Catch Wrestling Association (CWA)<\/strong> in Belgium. Wrestling as Tino Bellomo he could better showcase his mat skills beyond the pomp and circumstance of the WWF&#8217;s Rock N&#8217; Wrestling Era. He would wrestle for the CWA from 1988 until 1992, when he made his North American return.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Catchen\/Wrestling Salvatore Bellomo vs Franz Schuhmann Heumarkt 1990\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nj2Rr9O-Czo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By the early 1990s, he had grown his hair and beard out, becoming &#8220;Wildman&#8221; Salvatore Bellomo. He began to use his power and size more than his mat technician skills, but continued to be a great draw in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=B2emGB2C8g8<\/p>\n<p>In 1992, he returned to the US and joined a small NWA promotion based out of Philadelphia called <strong>Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW)<\/strong>. He took part in the first ever match to crown the ECW Heavyweight title, losing to <strong>&#8220;Superfly&#8221; Jimmy Snuka<\/strong>. He also became a mentor to a young aspiring talent named <strong>Sandman<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Sandman &amp; Sal Bellomo - ECW Promo [1993-08-31]\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Te7Ry9R-gP4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He wrestled for ECW for two years, departing just before the Eastern was rebranded to Extreme, but he would return to the new ECW in 1996, for a short program against JT Smith. But he would ultimately return to Europe for the remainder of his career, working at places like <strong>Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw)<\/strong> in Germany, <strong>Freestyle Championship Wrestling (FCW)<\/strong> in Netherlands, and the <strong>Belgian Catch Wrestling Federation (BCWF)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BWS\/BCWF - Wildman Salvatore Bellomo on his last match\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1vF-hAuTRzU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Our condolences to the entire Bellomo family and all his friends.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to a tweet sent out by a family member on Saturday night, former WWF and early ECW wrestler Salvatore Bellamo, who began in 1974 and managed to reinvent himself throughout the eras, has passed away following a battle with cancer. Earlier on Saturday evening, a family member whose cousin was married to Bellamo posted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":38017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,547,13],"tags":[4505],"class_list":["post-38014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-memorium","category-international","tag-salvatore-bellomo"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}