Paul Roma

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Paul Centopani
Paul Roma 1994.jpg
Data
Ring name Paul Roma
height 183 cm
Fighting weight 111 kg
birth April 29, 1960
Kensington, New York, USA
debut 1985

Paul Roma (born Paul Centopani on April 29, 1960 in Kensington, New York ) is an American pro-wrestler . He became known as a tag team wrestler for the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling . Well-known partners were, for example, Jim Powers , Hercules Hernandez , Arn Anderson and Paul Orndorff .

Wrestling career

World Wrestling Federation (1985-1991)

Paul Roma started bodybuilding early . He made his wrestling debut in 1985 and quickly got a contract with what was then WWF. His first breakthrough came in 1987 when he and Jim Powers formed a tag team called The Young Stallions . The name of the team came about by chance because the announcer at the time, Vince McMahon, called them “a couple of young stallions”. On August 8, 1987 , Roma and Power were allowed to defeat reigning tag team champions The Hart Foundation on the show Superstars . At the Survivor Series on November 26, 1987, the Young Stallions were next to the Killer Bees only survivors of the tag team elimination match.

A short time later, WWF owner Vince McMahon lost interest in continuing to support Powers and Roma. This was due to the fact that there was a real antipathy among them . After a lost match against Demolition on March 19, 1989, a dispute arose between Powers and Roma. The team was then disbanded without giving any reason. Between June and August 1989 there was a short-term reunification of the two, but then Roma and Powers went their separate ways and from then on played individual matches.

It was only in May 1990 Romas career got a boost again when he, along with Hercules Hernandez , the team Ken Johnson and Buddy Rose defeat could. At first it looked like a one-off merger between Roma and Hernandez, but in the following months they were offered a larger storyline.

In June 1990, Roma's career got another boost when he and Hernandez performed a heel-turn when they attacked the rockers who came to his aid ( Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty ) after a lost match between Romas and Dino Bravo . Roma and Hercules officially became the Power and Glory tag team , which was managed by Slick . This was followed by a feud program with the Rockers, who were allowed to win Power & Glory in the Survivor Series .

Power & Glory challenged WWF Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation and The Rockers for the titles, but were never allowed to win them . At WrestleMania VII they had to lose their match against The Legion of Doom in less than a minute.

Roma was again used increasingly in individual matches during the summer of 1991, including against Davey Boy Smith , Virgil, Bret Hart and Ricky Steamboat . Power and Glory teamed up with Slick's other protégé, the Warlord , to play a series of six-man team matches. This pair had their last appearance in a pay-per-view when they lost to Ricky Steamboat, Kerry Von Erich and Davey Boy Smith at SummerSlam 1991 . Shortly after losing to the Legion of Doom at the Royal Albert Hall in England , Roma left the WWF for WCW . Hercules stayed in the league for a few more months before leaving.

World Championship Wrestling (1993–1995)

In 1993 Paul Roma signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling and was used there as part of the Four Horsemen alongside Ric Flair and Arn Anderson . Tully Blanchard was supposed to take over this position, but failed a drug test scheduled by the WCW. Paul Roma and Arn Anderson won the WCW World Tag Team Championship against "Stunning" Steve Austin and "Lord" Steven Regal (who stood in for the injured Brian Pillman ). They held the titles for about a month before they had to hand them over to the Nasty Boys ( Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags ).

Shortly after the pay-per-view Battle Bowl Roma was taken back to heel in 1993 when he defends his tag team partner Erik Watts in a match against Orndorff and Austin attacked and were known that he together work from now on with Orndorff. Their manager became the Masked Assassin , and they started a feud against Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio . A few months later, "Pretty Wonderful", as Roma and Orndorff called themselves as a tag team, were written in a feud against WCW World Tag Team Champions Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan , who they defeated at the Bash at the Beach in 1994 (at least according to the storyline) both Cactus Jack and Sullivan had not yet recovered from previous injuries. In the Fall Brawl 1994 Pretty Wonderful were allowed to defend their titles against Stars'N'Stripes ( Marcus Alexander Bagwell and The Patriot ), but had to give the belts to them a week later. At Halloween Havoc , Roma and Orndorff took back the titles.

The title changed again at the Clash of the Champions XXIX. The Patriot should risk his masking in return for the title match. At the end of the match there was a double pinfall , after which Stars'N'Stripes were declared the winners. Roma and Orndorff were separated and again played individual matches. Paul Roma was supposed to make the then newcomer "The Wunderkind" Alex Wright look good in their match against each other in SuperBrawl V , but dominated him for much of the match, but was defeated by Wright. Roma was soon released from the WCW. Various speculations are circulating on the Internet about the reasons for this dismissal. One of these rumors alleged that Roma were fired for being too tough on Wright, which Wright denied in an interview.

After the WCW

In late 1997 Roma attempted a comeback in the WWF, where he stood alongside a protégé of Mr. Fuji named Alex Roma under the name "Pretty Primos" at a house show, but neither was offered a contract. In 1998 Paul Roma retired from his active career to work in other areas related to bodybuilding and wrestling.

In 2006, Roma reappeared on the wrestling scene when he accepted the post of commissioner for the Connecticut Championship Wrestling Independent Promotion . There was also a reunion of "Pretty Wonderful" with Paul Orndorff. Since then, Roma has competed in the IAW (Independent Association of Wrestling), where he won the IAW Heavyweight Championship and IAW Tag Team Championship three times .

Boxing career

After leaving the WWF in 1991, Roma played three boxing matches under his wrestling name. He justified the decision to take on Paul Roma instead of Paul Centopani with the fact that, in his opinion, the gimmick was more recognizable. On his debut on March 6, 1992, Paul Roma lost in the fourth round to Jerry Arentzen by TKO when his coach threw in the towel. This victory was one of only two that Arentzen could box in 22 fights. On April 1, 1992 Roma defeated Norman Fortini and on May 5, 1992 Norman Shrink - the only boxing match for both opponents. Paul Roma then ended his boxing career to return to wrestling.

Private life

Roma has been married since 2006 and runs a wrestling school in Bridgeport, Connecticut .

Titles and awards

  • 1 × CWA World Middleweight Championship
  • Independent Association of Wrestling
  • 3 × IAW Heavyweight Championship
  • 3 × IAW Tag Team Championship with Repo Man (1 ×), Hercules (1 ×), and Alex Roma (1 ×)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Online World of Wrestling: Paul Roma Profile . Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  2. ↑ a b Broken Neck.com
  3. ↑ CageMatch: Paul Roma Profile . Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  4. ↑ a b Accelerator's Wrestling Rollercoaster: Paul Roma Profile . Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  5. ^ Graham Cawthon: WWF Show Results 1987 . Retrieved April 3, 2007: "Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart (w / Jimmy Hart & Danny Davis) defeated Paul Roma & Jim Powers"
  6. ^ Graham Cawthon: WWF Show Results 1987 . Retrieved on April 7, 2007: "Roma & Jim Powers defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart (w / Jimmy Hart) via disqualification when the champions illegally double teamed the challengers"
  7. ^ Brian Shields: Main event - WWE in the raging 80s . Pocket Books, 4th Edition 2006, ISBN 978-1-4165-3257-6 .
  8. ↑ prowrestlinghistory.com: WWF SummerSlam Results (1990) . Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  9. ^ A b Graham Cawthon: WWF Show Results 1990 . Retrieved April 3, 2007: "December 27, 1990: WWF Tag Team Champions Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart defeated Paul Roma & Hercules"
  10. ↑ prowrestlinghistory.com: WWF WrestleMania Results (VII) . Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  11. ↑ prowrestlinghistory.com: WWF SummerSlam Results (1991) . Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  12. ↑ prowrestlinghistory.com: WWF UK Tour results (WWF at Royal Albert Hall) . Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  13. ↑ a b c d e Royal Duncan & Gary Will: Wrestling Title Histories . Archeus Communications, 4th Edition 2006, ISBN 0-9698161-5-4 .
  14. ↑ prowrestlinghistory.com: WCW Starrcade Results (1993) . Retrieved April 7, 2007.
  15. ↑ prowrestlinghistory.com: WCW Clash of the Champions Results (XXVI) . Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 7, 2007. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prowrestlinghistory.com
  16. ↑ prowrestlinghistory.com: WCW Bash at the Beach Results (1994) . Retrieved April 7, 2007.
  17. ↑ Mick Foley: Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks . HarperCollins, 2000, ISBN 0-06-103101-1 , p. 277.
  18. ↑ prowrestlinghistory.com: WCW Fall Brawl Results (1994) . Retrieved April 7, 2007.
  19. ↑ prowrestlinghistory.com: WCW SuperBrawl Results (V) . Retrieved April 7, 2007.
  20. ^ Graham Cawthon: WWF Show Results 1998 . Retrieved April 7, 2007: "December 30, 1997: Alex & Paul Roma defeated Ross Greenburg & Brian Walsh"
  21. ↑ Solie's Vintage Wrestling: IAW Heavyweight Title History . Retrieved April 7, 2007.
  22. ^ Paul Roma in the BoxRec database
  23. ↑ Jerry Arentzen in the BoxRec databaseTemplate: BoxRec ID / Maintenance / Wikidata expert different from local expertTemplate: BoxRec ID / Maintenance / Wikidata name different from local name
  24. ↑ Norman Fortini in the BoxRec databaseTemplate: BoxRec ID / Maintenance / Wikidata expert different from local expertTemplate: BoxRec ID / Maintenance / Wikidata name different from local name
  25. ↑ Norman Shrink in the BoxRec databaseTemplate: BoxRec ID / Maintenance / Wikidata expert different from local expertTemplate: BoxRec ID / Maintenance / Wikidata name different from local name
  26. ↑ CWA Middleweight Track List

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Roma, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Centopani, Paul (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Kensington, New York