Romeo Valentino

Romeo Valentino (born July 8, 1968 ) is a retired American professional wrestler and promoter.

Valentino was born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 8, 1968.

A fan of pro wrestling growing up, he was encouraged to join Larry Sharpe's famed Monster Factory after hearing about the school on the WCAO talk radio program The Larry Katz Show.

Valentino was put in contact with his future trainer Duane Gill after calling the show and began working out at the facility.

He competed in a number of independent promotions in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States during the 1990s and early 2000s including American Commonwealth Wrestling, CyberSpace Wrestling Federation, The Bad Crew's Eastern Wrestling Federation, Music City Wrestling, National Championship Wrestling, NWA New Jersey, Ozark Mountain Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Alliance.

He also had a brief stint as a preliminary wrestler in World Championship Wrestling.

He was a major star in Maryland Championship Wrestling and the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, two of the biggest Mid-Atlantic promotions in the late 1990s.

Often called "The Cornerstone of MCW", Valentino was one of the promotion's top heel performers during its early years.

He was the inaugural MCW Heavyweight Champion, winning the title three times, a former MCW Rage Television Champion, and a two-time MCW Tag Team Champion with "Wiseguy" Jimmy Cicero and "Soda Pop" Ronnie Zukko.

He made his professional debut against Ricky Blues on August 11, 1990.

After a few years wrestling on the local independent circuit, Valentino began teaming with Dino Casanova as The Goodfellas (or The Goodfellows) in the summer of 1993.

In the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, they defeated The Outrageous Ones (Quinn Nash and Ricki Lane) for the MEWF Tag Team Championship.

They also challenged the Lords of Pain for the WWA Tag Team Championship in Essex, Maryland on April 9, 1994.

Three months later, they wrestled "Superstar" Johnny Gunn and Tommy Dreamer at Sauconfest '94 for the then vacant American Commonwealth Wrestling tag team championship.

The Goodfellas spent the few years teaming together in the Mid-Atlantic region wrestling for NWA New Jersey, Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Alliance.

In early-1995, Dino Casanova and Romeo Valentino began wrestling for World Championship Wrestling making their debut at the February 2nd edition of WCW Worldwide against The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Several weeks later, the team appeared in the main event match on WCW Main Event against Stars & Stripes (Marcus Bagwell and The Patriot).

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader, after an on-air argument with Eric Bischoff, interjected himself in the match attacking all four men.

This was included as a dark match at SuperBrawl V at the Baltimore Arena that same night.

Valentino made a few appearances after the PPV, most notably, wrestling Sting on WCW Pro (February 21) and teaming with Ricky Santana against The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) on WCW Saturday Night (April 13).

His last appearance was on WCW Saturday Night against Brian Pillman on June 17, 1995.

Shortly before splitting up with Casanova, Valentino began wrestling in singles competition.

On February 26, 1995, Valentino lost to Johnny Gunn in a match to crown the first MEWF European Champion.

The following year, he joined Adam Flash and Quinn Nash to form Menace 2 Society.

The group defeated Axl Rotten and Corporal Punishment for the MEWF Tag Team Championship in Baltimore on September 13, 1996, however, they lost the belts to The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) in College Park, Maryland a day later.

Nevertheless, Valentino and his partners remained together for another few weeks.

Competing under the Freebird Rule, they challenged other teams, most notably, former tag team champions Darkside (Glen Osborne and Rockin' Rebel) on October 13, 1996.

At the end of 1997, Valentino made his debut in Music City Wrestling where he wrestled J. C. Ice at Tennessee Homecoming in Nashville on November 27, 1997.

He subsequently faced Rex King and Shane Eden on MCW TV before leaving the promotion.

In the summer of 1998, Valentino joined Maryland Championship Wrestling, which had split from the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, and appeared on the 1st annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup to wrestle Mark "The Shark" Shrader.

That fall, he was among the participants in the championship tournament to crown the first MCW Heavyweight Champion.

On October 11, Valentino defeated Corporal Punishment in the tournament finals to become the promotion's first heavyweight champion.

He successfully defended his title in rematches against Cpl. Punishment which included a tag team match with Tom Brandi against Cpl. Punishment and Terry Funk at MCW's "Legends Come to Town" show in Glen Burnie, Maryland on November 4, 1998.

After a two-month reign, Valentino finally lost the heavyweight title to King Kong Bundy in Denton, Maryland on December 4, 1998.

He was voted "Wrestler of the Year" at MCW's first-ever year-end award ceremony.

Valentino regained the belt from Bundy in Glen Burnie on January 7, 1999.

In the MEWF, Valentino was the last-ever MEWF Heavyweight Champion, losing the belt to MCW Heavyweight Champion Danny Doring in a unification match at the 5th annual Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup in 2003, as well as a former MEWF Maryland Unified Mid-Atlantic Champion.

As one-half of The Goodfellows (or Goodfellas) with Dino Casanova and as a member of Menace 2 Society with Adam Flash and Quinn Nash, he twice held the MEWF Tag Team Championship.

He also teamed with Don Bass, Tom Brandi, and "Doomsday" Danny Rose at various times in his career.

Valentino was inducted into the MCW Hall of Fame shortly after his retirement in 2006.