Stephen DiSalvo (born April 7, 1949) is an American retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

Professional wrestling career

Early career

DiSalvo broken into professional wrestling in the mid-1980s following a career in

powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...

. He was initially trained by Billy Anderson and

Red Bastien Rolland "Red" Bastien (January 27, 1931 – August 11, 2012) was an American professional wrestler best known for his time in Capital Wrestling Corporation where he was a 3 time WWWF United States Tagteam champion with his kayfabe brother, ...

Canada (1986–1989)

Wrestling as Steve Strong in the 1980s, he was a performer in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

-based International Wrestling. He was managed by Eddy Creatchman. DiSalvo previously had made a one-off appearance for the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWF) in 1987, wrestling twice on a house show event in Quebec (losing to Tito Santana via countout and defeating Outback Jack later in the night). Moving on to

Stampede Wrestling Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the prom ...

, he was known as "Strangler" Steve DiSalvo. Here, he feuded with Phil LaFleur over who had the better physique. DiSalvo smashed a trophy over LaFleur's head on TV, leading to several matches between the two. DiSalvo also helped

Don Muraco Don Muraco (born September 10, 1949) is an American retired professional wrestler and podcaster. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1981 to 1988, where he held the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Cha ...

win the Stampede North American Title from Mahkan Singh.

World Wrestling Council (1989)

DiSalvo moved on to the

World Wrestling Council The World Wrestling Council (WWC) (Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha"), is a Puerto-Rican professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón Sr., Victor J ...

(WWC) promotion in Puerto Rico in 1989, where he again was known as "Sadistic" Steve Strong but this time with a satanic gimmick. He had brawls with

Abdullah the Butcher Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling matc ...

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, and Invader #1. He also won the

WWC World Tag Team Championship The WWC World Tag Team Championship is the tag team title contested for in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council. History Abroad (2017) On February 11, 2017, Thunder and Lightning defended the WWC World T ...

teaming with

Jason the Terrible Karl Moffat (born July 31, 1959), better known by the ring name Jason the Terrible, is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with Stampede Wrestling and in Japan. Professional wrestling career In August 1981, M ...

. He also feuded with "El Acrobata de Puerto Rico"

Carlos Colon 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 ...

. He won the

WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship The WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the top title contested for in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council. The championship was establi ...

in a Texas Death match by defeating Colon on May 27, 1989. He had a successful reign of 133 days until Colon defeated him at The Aniversario 1989 in a Barbed Wire match in October 7. The feud ended when DiSalvo lost against Colon in a Retirement match for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship on November 23, 1989.

Various promotions (1989–1990)

On February 13, 1990, he received a tryout match with the WWF at a ''

WWF Superstars is a List of wrestling video games, wrestling video game manufactured by Technōs Japan and released for arcade game, arcades in 1989. It is the first WWE, WWF arcade game to be released. A series of unrelated games with the WWF Superstars (Game ...

'' taping losing to

The Red Rooster Paul Worden Taylor III (born August 12, 1955) is an American retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Terry Taylor and for his time as an in-ring performer in National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, and Wo ...

. He next made an appearance on a March 18 house show in Calgary, Alberta, defeating

Buddy Rose Paul Robert Perschmann (November 27, 1952 – April 28, 2009) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Playboy Buddy Rose. He wrestled primarily for the AWA, WWF, and for promoter Don Owen in Pacific Northwest ...

. The following month, he competed on a joint house show tour with the WWF and Arena Wrestling Alliance, tagging with Mano Yanez on three events against

The Pitbulls The Pitbulls (sometimes written as The Pit Bulls) were a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of "Pitbull #1" Gary Wolfe and "Pitbull #2" Anthony Durante. They were best known for their tenure in Extreme Championship Wrestling, where ...

World Championship Wrestling (1990–1991)

Two weeks later, DiSalvo received a tryout match for

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

(WCW) on April 23, 1990. He was signed to the company later that year and given the gimmick of "The Minotaur". DiSalvo made his first televised appearance on the January 5, 1991 episode of ''

WCW Saturday Night ''WCW Saturday Night'' is an American weekly Saturday night television show on TBS that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Launched in 1971 initially by Georgia Championship Wrestling, the program existed through various incarna ...

'', defeating

Man Mountain Bailey A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chrom ...

. He began a house show series against The Juicer and was undefeated, and later faced The Junkyard Dog.

Late career (1991–2001)

DiSalvo also appeared in the

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The territory was originally part o ...

, where he wrestled as Billy Jack Strong. He became Steve DiSalvo again and drifted around the independent circuit before retiring in 2001.

Championships and accomplishments

*Americas Wrestling Federation **AWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *California Pro Wrestling **CPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **CPW Brass Knuckles Championship (2 times) *

Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship The Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship was the major title in the Canadian professional wrestling promotion Stampede Wrestling. From its establishment in 1968 until 1972, it was Stampede's secondary singles championship, becoming th ...

( 1 time) *

( 1 time) **

( 1 time) - with

WWC Television Championship The WWC Television Championship is a tertiary championship that is currently defended in the World Wrestling Council. The title was initially created in 1986 and used until 2003, then from February 3, 2007 until July 11, 2008. The title was brought ...

( 3 times)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Disalvo, Steve 1949 births 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers American powerlifters Faux Native American professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestlers from Massachusetts Stampede Wrestling alumni Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Champions WWC Television Champions WWC Universal Heavyweight Champions