Famous People Of Niagara Region - Tony 'Cannonball' Parisi

1941 - August 19, 2000

Tony 'Cannonball' Parisi

 (Photo; www.nflibrary.ca)

Born in Cosenza, Italy.

Born Antonio Pugliese, he was an Italian/Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Tony Parisi. He moved to Thunder Bay, Ontario when he was nine years old, but moved to Niagara Falls, Ontario shortly after. He joined the YMCA in Niagara Falls and began amateur wrestling at the age of 16.

Pugliese made his professional wrestling debut in Detroit, Michigan in 1961. He soon began competing in Canada, where he was a popular babyface, fan favorite. In one of his first matches, he faced Gino Brito, who later became his long-time tag team partner. Pugliese and Brito moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1962 to wrestle in a promotion operated by Nick Gulas, where they won the promotion's tag team title within two weeks of their arrival. Throughout his career, Pugliese formed many tag teams in various promotions with other wrestlers of Italian descent, including Dominic DeNucci, Tony Marino, and David Sammartino, who competed as Bruno Sammartino, Jr.

Although Pugliese often wrestled in Ontario throughout his career, he also competed as far away as Australia and Japan. In 1973, he participated in the first annual Champion Carnival tournament promoted by All Japan Pro Wrestling. He lost in the first round to Hiro Matsuda.

Pugliese also wrestled as a villain at times. He competed as "Tenor" Parisi; in this gimmick, he wore a white tuxedo and sang opera to anger the crowd. Outside the ring Pugliese enjoyed listening to opera music and once referred to his LP albums as his "prize possessions".

Primarily a tag team wrestler, and he won tag team titles in several organizations, including the World Wide Wrestling Federation. He held the WWWF World Tag Team Championship from 1975 to 1976. As a singles wrestler, he also won the WWF International Heavyweight Championship.

He was related to Joseph Dorgan, who has wrestled under his relative's name as Johnny Parisi and is better known as Johnny Swinger.

Pugliese promoted wrestling shows in Niagara Falls after retiring from the sport. He also ran an annual wrestling show at the CHIN Picnic in Toronto.

In 1997, Pugliese returned to the ring to compete at the second Ilio DiPaolo tribute show promoted by World Championship Wrestling show. He reunited with partner Gino Brito in a tag team match, and the pair defeated Greg Valentine and Terry Funk by disqualification.

Pugliese is credited as the inspiration behind George "The Animal" Steele's gimmick of eating turnbuckle padding in the ring. A wrestler, who Steele believes was Pugliese, jokingly suggested the idea to Steele, who became well known for his fondness for turnbuckles.

After retiring from wrestling, Pugliese continued to work in the industry and also operated the Niagara Family Inn and Big Anthony's Restaurant in Niagara Falls with his family. The restaurant is like a wrestling museum, complete with hundreds of pictures, memorabilia and other vignettes of Parisi's career.

Pugliese died from a heart attack on August 19, 2000 in his hometown of Niagara Falls, Ontario, at the coffee shop that he went to every morning. He was 58. He was inducted into the Niagara Falls Virtual Sports Wall Of Fame on January 13, 2008.