Phil Pantos, better known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Phil Apollo, is a retired American

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 ...

who competed in North American independent wrestling promotions including International Championship Wrestling (ICW) and World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). During the 1980s, he was part of

Gary Hart Gary Warren Hart (''né'' Hartpence; born November 28, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination until he dropped out amid revelations of extramarital affairs. ...

's "New Age Management" stable in WCCW and teamed with Eric Sbraccia to form a team known as the Dynamic Duo, winning the

ICW Heavyweight Championship The ICW World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship of International Championship Wrestling. Many title defenses featured matches between Randy Savage and his real-life brother Lanny Poffo. After th ...

twice.

Professional wrestling career

Phil Pantos trained at Killer Kowalski's wrestling school prior to making his professional wrestling debut in 1986. Using the

Phil Apollo working for International Championship Wrestling (ICW) in his native Boston, Massachusetts. In March 1987 Apollo defeated Joseph Savoldi to win the

. Later that year Apollo left ICW, vacating the championship in the process. He moved on to working in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) where he became part of manager

's "New Age Management" group who also included

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 ...

, Al Perez,

Jeep Swenson Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...

and

John Nord John Eric Nord (born October 18, 1959) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association and World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s as Nord the Barbarian and Yukon ...

. His first major show appearance was as part of WCCW's 1987 "Labor Day Star Wars" show on September 7, 1987 where he defeated

Vic Steamboat Victor Hersey Blood (born April 18, 1960) is an American retired professional wrestler, best known by his ring name, Vic Steamboat. He is the younger brother of professional wrestler Ricky Steamboat, whom he took his ring name after. The majority ...

. A few months later, at WCCW's 1987 Christmas Star Wars he lost to The Missing Link. He later wrestled at the 5th Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions as well as WCCW's 5th Cotton Bowl extravaganza. Following his stint in WCCW Apollo returned to ICW where he was teamed up with Eric Sbraccia to form a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

known as the Dynamic Duo, a name taken in tribute to the WCCW team of the same name that was made up of Gentleman Chris Adams and

Gino Hernandez Charles Eugene Wolfe Jr. (August 8, 1957 – February 2, 1986) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Gino Hernandez. He is perhaps best known for his appearances with the Dallas, Texas-based promotion World Class Ch ...

. On March 5, 1989 the Dynamic Duo defeated the S & S Express (Vic Steamboat and Joe Savoldi) to win the

ICW Tag Team Championship The ICW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling) owned by Scotland's Insane Championship Wrestling promotion. Complimenting ICW's two established singles titles ( ICW World Heavyweight Championship a ...

Their first run with the championship lasted 118 days until the S & S Express regained the championship. The Dynamic Duo would briefly hold the tag team championship again in December 1989 as they defeated the Undertakers (

Henchman A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose value lies pri ...

and Punisher) on December 28, then lost the titles to The Lethal Weapons (

Dennis Condrey Dennis Condrey (born February 1, 1952) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the Continental Wrestling Association, Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling in the 1970s and 1980s. ...

and Doug Gilbert) only two days later. During the early 1990s, Apollo competed as a preliminary wrestler in 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) most notably facing

Adam Bomb Adam Bomb (born Adam Brenner, 14 August 1963) is an American guitarist who worked with artists like TKO, Black 'N Blue, Steel Pulse, John Paul Jones, and Michael Monroe. His stage name is a play on the name Atom Bomb. Early In 1979, Adam Bo ...

with manager

Johnny Polo Scott Levy (born September 8, 1964) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Raven. He is known for his appearances with professional wrestling promotions including Extreme Championship Wrestlin ...

in their debut on

Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

in 1993.

Championships and accomplishments

* International Championship Wrestling (New England) :*

( 1 time) :*

(

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 Erich Sbraccia * Pro Wrestling Illustrated :*PWI ranked him # 478 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1992

References

External links

Online World of Wrestling: Phil Apollo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apollo, Phil 20th-century professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers ICW/IWCCW Heavyweight Champions Living people Professional wrestlers from Massachusetts Year of birth missing (living people)