12/30/2023 0 Comments Captain lou albano funeralNevertheless, Albano continued to be one of the most recognized celebrities of the 1980s, and helped attract a whole new audience to pro wrestling. Lou’s newfound mainstream fame and babyface status was entertaining, if not a little bizarre, for the older WWF fans who remembered him as the most controversial, devious and hated manager in the history of the promotion. In fact, throughout most of the Eighties, Albano was a wrestling celebrity on the scale of Hulk Hogan and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. The Captain parlayed his MTV rock `n wrestling success into other Hollywood ventures, including several movies, commercials and a hit television program ( The Super Mario Brothers Super Show). Barnum-esque wit and personality, became a key element of the “Rock `n Wrestling Connection” angle that essentially launched the WWF to national prominence. It was in the tag team ranks, though, that Albano was most successful, guiding more than fifteen different teams to WWE gold, including the likes of the Wild Samoans, The Valiant Brothers, The Yukon Lumberjacks, The Blackjacks, The Moondogs, The Executioners, Saito & Fuji, The British Bulldogs, and many other legendary pairings.Īfter appearing in Cyndi Lauper’s smash-hit video Girls Just Wanna Have Fun in 1984, Albano, with his P.T. Still, he did manage many other men to championships, including Intercontinental titleholders Don Muraco and Greg Valentine. In fact, it was one of Albano’s men - the powerful “Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff - who finally did the impossible and ended Sammartino’s eight year-long first However, other than Koloff, Albano was never able to guide another man to the World title. With Toru Tanaka, Ivan Koloff and many others were led to battle against Sammartino by Capt. However, despite the modest success of The Sicilians, Albano did not truly break out as a star until he ended his partnership with Altimore and forged a completely new identity as a manager. Their other major championship, the United States Tag Team title, was captured in Atlantic City, New Jersey on July 10, 1967. On June 30, 1961, The Sicilians won promoter Fred Kohler’s prestigious Midwest Tag Team title in Chicago, which helped them immensely in building their reputation in the eyes of the fans. The Sicilians, despite their somewhat limited wrestling ability, were able to win a few titles while raising their stock in the world of tag team competition. Along with partner Tony Altimore, Albano created a fair amount of controversy doing the stereotypical Italian gangster gimmick, so much so that, according to Albano himself, he and Altimore were once approached in Chicago by some legitimate “wise guys” and told - in no uncertain terms - to tone their act down. In either case, the rowdy Captain made the fans care about him, which, in the wrestling business, is all that really matters.īorn Louis Vincent Albano on Jin Rome, Italy, Lou Albano began his professional wrestling career in 1953 and first rose to national prominence in the late-Fifties as part of a tag team known as The Sicilians. Later in his career, Albano transformed that intense fan hatred into babyface popularity and he became one of the most beloved figures in wrestling. His vaudevillian style approach to cutting interviews, combined with his over-the-top personality and boisterous ring persona made Albano (who once summed up his talents by stating, “I’m a good bullsh***er”) one of the most controversial managers of all time. For a man who, by his own admission, was not a tremendous wrestler, Albano certainly made a huge impact in the business and was, for many years, one of the most well-known crossover celebrities that wrestling had to offer. In the nearly forty years that “Captain” Lou Albano was involved in professional wrestling, be it as a wrestler or manager, he created controversy, excitement, and in many cases, genuine hatred from the audiences he performed for.
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