The Great Cerenzio

1. What made you decide to become a professional wrestler?

I grew up in a family that followed wrestling. That’s how I started watching wrestling. One of the my fondest memories of growing up was getting to stay up late on Monday night to watch primetime wrestling. I loved wrestling more than anything, I knew I could do it and I wanted to do it. So, since I was too young to cross the street, I have been wanting to be, and pursuing becoming, a pro wrestler.

2. Where did you train? How did you go about finding them as a trainer?

I began working-out religiously in the 7th grade. I was in incredible shape throughout high school. I did this for the sole purpose of the hope that I would find a way to get into wrestling. At the time I really knew nothing about how to do this. Things were still very secret and nobody really knew much of anything. Eventually I came across ECPW. As a regular I got to know a few of the guys and while I hoped, I still didn’t’ realize how possible it really was. There were 2 turning points. I remember being in a lunch room with the Kodiak Bear. Kids were really being brutal to him. I mean, more so than usual and he kept his cool. I said something to the kids to defend him and mentioned that I’d like to wrestle. He said only one thing to me, “whenever your ready”….That same night while thinking if he was serious, I saw Sure Thing Ryan Wing for the first time. I was not really as big as I used to be anymore, still in great shape but surely “small”. Wing was much smaller at the time than he is now. My wife saw him wrestling and said, “if they can do it, you can do it”. To make a long, boring story short, that was the first time I realized that if I could figure out how THEY got in, I could actually do this. I finally brought it up to one of the wrestlers, Sergeant Pain, and he invited me to an ECPW show the following weekend. That’s the first time I learned of wrestling schools and how close they have always been to me. I joined right away. I continued to train there as well as some other schools. I can’t really credit my training to the school. It was wrestlers like Dave Delicious and select other incredibly talented workers that played the key role in my training. However, the school did provide the means to working with these great people.

3. What has been your most memorable moment in the business thus far?

That’s a hard one. There are a few. One of the biggest was getting to know Jimmy Snuka and his son. He (along with Undertaker and a few others) was the one who really drove my ambition to want to be a wrestler. A few other quick ones have to be: being ribbed in the locker room by George Steal, Hearing my name chanted for the first time. Wrestling with the NWA, my first GWF show and #1: My first match ever, nothing can describe that. When the 3 count came, I achieved a life long dream. No matter what happened after that, I had been a pro-wrestler. My first match was against Dave Delicious (in 1998). I selected him personally. To this day We’re friends and have wrestled 7 times with more on the way. I have 0 wins, 2 draws and 5 lose against Dave. My way of returning the favor. I’ll get him one day….or will I???

4. What made you decide to begin the GWF?

I love to wrestle. I was not getting enough opportunities to wrestle and when I did I often had an uncomfortable experience in the locker room. I found myself in a dilemma, I love to wrestle, I work very hard at it, wasn’t getting to wrestle much, and was having bad experiences when I did. During a conversation with a friend he made a joke about the only solution being to start a new federation, the GREAT WRESTLING FEDERATION……so, I did. My main goal, TREAT WORKERS RIGHT and make the fans happy at all cost. You WILL enjoy your time with the GWF, as a worker, or a fan. I guarantee it.

5. What is more important.. running a well booked show with a low attendance or a well attended show that is poorly booked?

I am going to stray a tad off this one. The most important thing is running a well RUN show with workers who care. The FANS are the reason we run. Wrestling is a SHOW. That means that the ONLY important thing is that the fans are treated like royalty, have a good time and go home happy. This could easily fit under? #4. To many people only care about showing of the moves they can do, looking big and strong, “winning” etc etc etc. There is only 1 goal in the GWF. Entertain the fans at all cost. A direct answer I suppose would be this: A well attended show with poor booking only happens once. A well booked show with low attendance will bring those people back with friends and give you something to be proud of when you go home.

6. What do you enjoy more, wrestling or promoting?

I am a wrestler who promotes, not a promoter who wrestlers. I love wrestling and I will do anything in order to take part in it, that is why I promote. Both are rewarding in there own way and I’ve come to enjoy both…but 1st and foremost, WRESTLING.

7. What do you think of the current state of wrestling? Do you think the oversaturation of promotions in NJ is hurting the wrestling in that state?

Wrestling is tough these days. It seams like it’s a current fad put it down. It wrestling is DOWN unless something happens to make it UP. Kind of like a miserable person. Always unhappy unless something makes them HAPPY. Wrestling is entertainment. Don’t try to hate it. Watch it, enjoy it as much as you can and learn whatever you can. I can think of worse things to do with my time. Bad wrestling isn’t really that bad. The indies sure have changed. I’d like to see more fun, less seriousness. That’s when casual people watch. When they don’t have to follow to much, don’t have to watch someone who’s pretending, try to convince them how big and strong he is and how he’s gonna beat up who.. When they can come, sit, eat, watch, laugh, enjoy….that’s when wrestling is good.

8. Who are your favorite wrestlers to watch in the ring?

In the USA: Undertaker, Jarret, Dave Delicious, Taka, Booker-T, Hubie Volk,

9. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

I don’t have much but when I do I like Video games, launching rockets, R/C everything, photography, Deep Sea fishing, movies, volleyball, beach, and lots of other fun stuff. I keep busy.

10. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I would like to be wrestling more. Maybe there will be a GWF training center by then. I know I’ll still be playing wrestling games on the SUPER-DUPER-Nintendo. Other than that, I just plan on continuing to meet new people, learn, & enjoy life. 5 years is a long time that will pass quickly. We’ll see what happens.

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