Gino Brito

Gino Brito
Birth nameLouis Gino Acocella
Born (1941-05-18) May 18, 1941 (age 78)[1]
Montreal, Quebec, Canada[1]
ResidenceCanada[1]
ChildrenGino Brito Jr.
FamilyJack Britton (father)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Gino Brito
Louis Cerdan
Billed height5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m)[1]
Billed weight240 lb (110 kg)[1]
Trained byGeorge Cannon[1]

Louis Gino Acocella[1] (born May 18, 1941), better known by his ring name Gino Brito, is a Canadian professional wrestler. He was a popular wrestler in Montreal, and was one of the promoters in the city in the 1980s. As Louis Cerdan, he was a WWWF Tag Team Champion, teaming with fellow Italian-Canadian wrestler Tony Parisi. Brito also trained Italian-Canadian wrestler Dino Bravo.

Professional wrestling career

Active wrestler

Brito was the son of wrestler Jack Britton. Born Gabriel Acocella, he and his brother Luigi were re-named Jack Britton and Lou Kelly, respectively, by promoter Paul Bowser, who wanted to attract Boston's Irish population to his events by featuring "Irish" wrestlers.[2]

Britton organized a central booking office for midget wrestlers in the 1950s.[1] Brito had a job for the promotion shuttling the wrestlers from city to city.[1] Before becoming a professional wrestler at the age of seventeen, Brito was an amateur wrestler.[1] At age seventeen, he was trained by George Cannon.[1] He began working with Detroit promoters Bert Ruby and Harry Light over a year later.,[1] who was organized a central booking office for midget wrestlers in the 1950s.[1] Brito had a job for the promotion shuttling the wrestlers from city to city.[1] Before becoming a professional wrestler at the age of seventeen, Brito was an amateur wrestler.[1] At age seventeen, he was trained by George Cannon.[1] He began working with Detroit promoters Bert Ruby and Harry Light over a year later.[1]

He first teamed with Tony Parisi in Tennessee, where the duo won the tag titles in Nick Gulas's promotion within two weeks.[1] The two also won the WWWF Tag Team Championship in 1975 from Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza.[1] They later lost the title to The Executioners.[1] Brito continued to wrestle through the mid-80s.

Promoting

He also promoted shows under the International Wrestling banner in Montreal beginning in the 1980s, when he earned a television deal for his promotion.[1] The promotion lost several key players in the mid-1980s, such as The Rougeaus, Rick Martel, and Dino Bravo.[1] It held events that sometimes had up to 10,000 fans in attendance.[3] The company, however, went bankrupt in 1987, nine months after the aforementioned wrestlers left.[1] The promotion was the last Quebec-based promotion to have a weekly television show.[4]

After International Wrestling closed, Pat Patterson convinces Brito to be the WWWF promoter in Montreal, a job Brito held for four years.[1] Brito also appeared in the WWF old-timers battle royal in November 1987 (the first eliminated in a match won by Lou Thesz that featured several former world champions).

In 2003, Brito began promoting again with a promotion called Canadian Professional Wrestling (CPW) in Hull, Quebec.[5][6] He joined with promoter Paul Leduc and his Montreal-based promotion.[5] The promotion draws crowds of approximately 600 people every couple of months.[5] More than 1,000 people attended the first anniversary event, in which Abdullah the Butcher and Pierre Carl Ouellet also participated.[6] In October 2004, at the age of 63, Brito wrestled a match for the promotion, a loss in a six-man tag team match.[7] In January 2005, the first of six events began airing on Canadian pay-per-view, which featured wrestlers from Brito's CPW, as well as footage from his International Wrestling promotion.[3]

Personal life

Brito's father, Jack Britton, and uncle were both professional wrestlers.[1] Brito's son, Gino Brito, Jr., also worked in the business for a short time.[1]

He is of Italian descent, which is reflected in his ringname Gino Brito.[1] To form the name, Brito shortened his father's name Britton.[1] He was good friends with other Italian wrestlers, such as Tony Parisi, Bruno Sammartino, and Dominic DeNucci.[1]

Brito was arrested in October 1992 on extortion and loan sharking charges in relation to his work as an "enforcer" for Loan Sharks in the Montreal area.[8]

After finishing his career in the wrestling business, Brito began working at Subaru car business—buying and auctioning—with his brother-in-law.[1]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad "Canadian Hall of Fame: Gino Brito". SLAM! Wrestling.
  2. ^ "The Acocellas" Mad Dogs, Midgets and Screw Jobs: The Untold Story of How Montréal Shaped the World of Wrestling by Patrice Laprade and Bertrand Hébert; ECW Press (2013) via Google Books; retrieved April 13, 2018
  3. ^ a b Lacroix, Corey David (November 12, 2004). "CPW secures PPV deal". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  4. ^ Leroux, Yves (January 16, 2005). "Gino Brito honoured at inaugural MWO show". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  5. ^ a b c Oliver, Greg (July 16, 2003). "Brito's CPW trying to grow". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  6. ^ a b Lacroix, Corey David (November 5, 2003). "CPW celebrates in style". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  7. ^ Lacroix, Corey David (October 22, 2004). "Gino Brito returns to the ring". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  8. ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/500x9k/wrestling_observer_rewind_oct_19_1992/
  9. ^ "North American Heavyweight Title (Maritimes)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  10. ^ "Gino Brito profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  11. ^ "International Wrestling International Tag Team Title (Montreal)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  12. ^ "History of the World Tag Team Championship". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  13. ^ "International Heavyweight Title/WWWF International Heavyweight Title History". Solie's Title Histories. Retrieved 2008-09-14.

This page was last updated at 2019-11-12 05:08 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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