Gilberto Meléndez (December 2, 1933 – June 15, 2016) was a Puerto Rican professional wrestler better known under the ring name Gypsy Joe. While attaining much of his United States success in the Tennessee area, Meléndez also gained a following in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. His career lasted six decades, and his highly physical brawling style and tough reputation made him an early pioneer of the hardcore wrestling scene.LaFave, Jef
Wrestling legend Gypsy Joe now battling for life: Medical bills benefit show Saturday in Rossville
''Times Free Press'' (August 9, 2013). Retrieved on 3-15-2014.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Meléndez began his wrestling career in 1951 at age 18. During a lengthy tenure in his native Puerto Rico, he went under various monikers and learned the ropes with the likes of Pedro Morales and

Carlos Colón Sr. Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

Meléndez made his United States debut at Sunnyside Garden in

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

in 1963. Primarily using the name Gypsy Joe by this point, he mainly worked for Nick Gulas and later Jerry Jarrett in the

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

region, particularly Mid-Southern Wrestling. During his Gulas run, he was often teamed with

heels The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exert ...

like Tojo Yamamoto, with whom he formed the No Pain Train, and The Cuban Assassin. He also joined forces with Frank Martinez to be collectively known as the Blue Infernos. The masked duo would attain tag team championships on numerous occasions. By the 1970s, Gypsy Joe was a local star of Chattanooga, Tennessee, regularly performing at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium on Saturdays and appearing on local WDEF-TV. His career wasn't limited to the South, however, winning championships around the country as well as in Canada's Stampede Wrestling. However, with the rise of national promotions like the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling in the 1980s, the local industry that Joe had developed a career in began to dwindle. He would not be among those fortunate enough to find success in the major US promotions. Joe eventually made his way overseas into the

Japanese wrestling Professional wrestling in Japan has existed for many years. The first Japanese to involve himself in catch wrestling, the basis of traditional professional wrestling, was former sumo wrestler Sorakichi Matsuda. There were subsequent attempts before ...

scene, to work for All Japan Pro Wrestling where his highly physical brawling style akin to The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher was met with success. Bloody encounters with the likes of

Mr. Pogo was a Japanese professional wrestler best known for his work under the ring name . He helped popularize hardcore wrestling in the 1990s with "death matches" in promotions such as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, W*ING and Big Japan Pro Wrestlin ...

and a penchant for taunting his opponents to attack him with weapons earned Joe a strong reputation in the death match scene and helped solidify his cult following in the region. Despite his aging body, Joe remained active in Japan throughout the '80s and '90s where he also refereed and mentored upcoming stars of the hardcore style.

Return to the United States and retirement

After many taxing years in the ring, an elderly Gypsy Joe returned to the United States in the 2000s where he performed on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...

primarily in the Southeast. In 2001, he attended the International Wrestling Association's Juicio Final event held in his native Puerto Rico, where he received the recognition of the promotion. In April 2003, a 69-year-old Joe faced New Jack in an infamous hardcore match before a small crowd. Due to Joe's no-selling throughout the match and headbutting New Jack

hard Hard may refer to: * Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture * Hard water, water with high mineral content Arts and entertainment * ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series * Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock super ...

on the nose, New Jack legitimately attacked Joe with a chain, a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, and several other weapons. With audience members angrily cursing Jack, the match ended in a chaotic no-contest and became a widely circulated viral video. New Jack was then arrested and charged with assault with a weapon. During this period, although mainly working in his home state of Tennessee, the haggard Gypsy Joe maintained his reputation as a resilient veteran with indie appearances throughout the US. On July 30, 2005, he was enlisted as the special guest referee for CZW Tournament of Death IV held in New Castle, Delaware. The tournament featured various performers that credit Joe for pioneering the in-ring style they now emulate. In 2007, '' WWE Magazine'' named Gypsy Joe the world's oldest wrestler at the age of 73. On February 13, 2010, he appeared in the corner of Eddie Kingston and

Necro Butcher Dylan Keith Summers (born July 13, 1973), better known by the ring name Necro Butcher, is an American professional wrestler. Throughout the years he has worked for various promotions, including Ring of Honor, Full Impact Pro, IWA Mid-South, Pro W ...

as Butcher's mentor for their No Rules tag team match at the

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

8th Anniversary Show in New York City. Joe wrestled his last match at the Gypsy Joe retirement show on January 7, 2011. Held in Tullahoma, Tennessee by the Southern Wrestling Federation, the bout marked an end to a career which began 60 years prior.

Legacy

Although he never found success in major American promotions, Gypsy Joe is known for his longevity in the wrestling business, which spanned seven decades, as well as his innate toughness as a hardcore brawler. According to legend, he was the first wrestler ever to jump successfully off a steel cage onto an opponent. Joe's extensive career in

and participation in death matches solidified this fierce reputation, and his highly physical in-ring approach helped popularize the hardcore style. Gypsy Joe was inducted into the Tennessee Wrestling Hall of Fame on November 7, 2015, by Mick Foley at Money Mark Productions' event "A Night with Foley" at the

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

Fairgrounds.

Personal life

Meléndez was born in Orocovis, Puerto Rico and then moved to Tullahoma, Tennessee where he gained much of his US career success. He was survived by a daughter named Jenee Beal and a nephew, Dan Wilson, who also served as his manager. He also has a first-born daughter by the name of Debralee Suzette Meléndez, born in New York, on November 4, 1953, and known as Debra S. Anello (her married name), and a daughter and son by another union: Jeannette Melendez and Gilberto Melendez Jr.. In August 2013, reports surfaced that, after a five-year struggle with gout, Meléndez had his right foot amputated. It was elaborated that the veteran wrestler had also been struggling with rickets and that his entire leg may need amputation. He died on June 15, 2016, from complications following an extended illness. He was buried at Maury Memorial Gardens in Columbia, Tennessee.

Championships and accomplishments

*American International Wrestling **AIW West Virginia Heavyweight Championship (3 times) *

Central States Wrestling Heart of America Sports Attractions, also known as the Midwest Wrestling Association, Central States Wrestling and the World Wrestling Alliance, was an American professional wrestling promotion that ran shows mainly in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska ...

** NWA Central States Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with

** NWA Central States Television Championship ( 1 time) **NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Georgia version)'' (1 time) – with Skull Murphy * International Championship Wrestling **

ICW United States Tag Team Championship The ICW United States Tag Team Championship was the top tag team championship in International Championship Wrestling. Because the championship is a professional wrestling championship, it is not won or lost competitively but instead by the decisi ...

( 1 time) – with Tojo Yamamoto * Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-Atlantic version)'' ( 1 time) - with Louis Tillet * NWA Mid-America **

NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship The NWA Mid-America Tag Team championship was a tag team title promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion NWA Mid-America that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, United States, from the 1940s until 1 ...

( 7 times) – with Leroy Rochester (1), Dutch Mantel (1),

Buzz Tyler Buzz Tyler (November 4, 1948 – November 11, 2021) was an American professional wrestler who competed in North American regional promotions during the 1970s and 1980s including the National Wrestling Alliance, most notably teaming with J. J. Dill ...

(1), Tojo Yamamoto (3), and Tom Renesto, Jr. (1) ** NWA Six-Man Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Tojo Yamamoto & The Beast ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' ( 1 time) – with Frank Martinez ** NWA World Brass Knuckles Championship ( 4 times) ** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' (

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) – with Frank Martinez *

NWA Western States Sports Western States Sports (also known as the Amarillo Territory) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Amarillo, Texas in the United States. Founded by Dory Detton in 1946, the promotion enjoyed its greatest success in the 1960s and ...

** NWA Western States Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Killer Tim Brooks *'' Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' ** PWI ranked him #432 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991 *Southern Wrestling Federation **SWF Hardcore Championship (1 time) * Stampede Wrestling ** Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Jim Wright *Tennessee Wrestling Alliance **TWA Hardcore Championship (2 times) * United States Wrestling Association **

USWA Junior Heavyweight Championship The USWA Junior Heavyweight Championship was a short-lived title in the United States Wrestling Association The United States Wrestling Association (USWA) was a professional wrestling promotion based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company was foun ...

( 1 time) * World Wrestling Council ** WWC North American Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) - with Infierno II

References

External links

Gypsy Joe profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gypsy Joe 1933 births 2016 deaths 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers American amputees Sportspeople with limb difference Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan Professional wrestling referees People from Orocovis, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican male professional wrestlers Stampede Wrestling alumni NWA World Light Heavyweight Champions Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champions