Adolfo Bresciano (; August 6, 1948 – March 10, 1993), better known by the ring name Dino Bravo (), was an Italian-Canadian professional wrestler and promoter and alleged organized crime figure.
After training under Gino Brito, Bravo started his career in Montreal in the 1970s, working for Lutte Internationale. He became one of the top wrestling stars of Canada; winning several major titles including the Canadian International Heavyweight Championship six times, the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version) and the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship. He later signed with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment), where as a partner to Dominic DeNucci he won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship. Bravo was also the sole holder of the WWF Canadian Championship before the title was abandoned in 1986.
After leaving professional wrestling, Bravo became involved in organized crime, allegedly working for the Cotroni crime family of Montreal. He was killed in an apparent gangland slaying at his Laval, Quebec home by multiple gunshots in March 1993. His murder remains unsolved.
Early life Adolfo Bresciano was born in the comune of Campobasso, Molise, Italy, to Cecilia (née Cacchione) and Mario (later Maurice) Bresciano. The family emigrated to Canada when Bresciano was young, settling in the Centre-Sud neighbourhood of the Montreal borough of Ville-Marie. Bresciano started training in amateur wrestling from the age of 12.
Professional wrestling career Early career (1970-1972)
Bresciano began wrestling in 1970, taking the name "Dino Bravo" from a wrestler from the early 1960s who had teamed with Dominic DeNucci as the Bravo Brothers, Dino and Dominic. He was trained by Gino Brito and often worked in a tag team with his mentor, billed as Brito's cousin.
Grand Prix Wrestling (1972–1974) Bravo made his debut in Grand Prix Wrestling on August 25, 1972, defeating Frenchy Martin at a match in Quebec City. In November 1972 he began teaming with Brito, and on November 20 the duo captured what would be Bravo's first title when they defeated Gilles Poisson and Killer Kowalski to capture the Grand Prix Tag Team Championship. The team would continue into 1973, facing Poisson and Kowalksi in rematches, as well as taking on the Vachons (Butcher Vachon and Mad Dog Vachon). Bravo and Brito finally lost the titles on July 24, 1974, when they were defeated by the Cuban Assassins in Truro, Nova Scotia.
NWA Hollywood (1974–1975) Bravo then jumped to NWA Hollywood, making his debut on November 7, 1974, in Bakersfield, California, and pinning The Canadian Wolfman. Teaming with Victor Rivera, he soon captured the NWA Hollywood Tag-Team Championship and defended against teams such as Gilles Poisson and Don Arnold. They also faced the duo of Greg Valentine and John Tolos, and the Hollywood Blondes (Buddy Roberts and Jerry Brown).
International Wrestling Association (1975) Reforming his team with Brito, the two jumped to the International Wrestling Association (IWA) on March 9, 1975, but were defeated in their debut by IWA Tag-Team Champions The Mongols in Charlotte, North Carolina. The loss was just the start of a series of matches between the two teams, but Bravo and Brito were unable to capture the IWA tag-team titles. Bravo ventured into singles competition extensively for the first time in his career and challenged Bulldog Brower for the IWA North American Championship in Roanoke, Virginia, on July 7, 1975. Browser defeated Bravo via disqualification. Bravo earned rematches in August and September 1975, but each match saw the victor only win via disqualification.
Georgia Championship Wrestling (1975–1976) After a brief stop in Maple Leaf Wrestling in November 1975, Bravo travelled to another National Wrestling Alliance territory in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW). Bravo made his debut on December 5, 1975, and battled Tony Charles to a draw at a house show in Atlanta, Georgia. After going undefeated against Beautiful Bruce, Roger Kirby and Ron Starr, Bravo formed a team with Jerry Brisco. The new team faced other GCW tandems of the time, including Rip Hawk and Roger Kirby, Bob Orton Jr. and Bob Roop, Karl Von Steiger and the Alaskan (Jay York) and Frank Goodish and the Missouri Mauler (Larry Hamilton).
Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling (1976–1977) Bravo then traveled north to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, defeating Gene Anderson on April 26, 1976 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He formed a new team with DeNucci and "Mr. Wrestling" Tim Woods. Bravo held the Jim Crockett Promotions version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Woods, winning the title from Gene and Ole Anderson on in a televised match in Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 5, 1976.
Bravo and Woods engaged in a feud with the Andersons, defeating them that summer in multiple house show matches. The champions were also successful in defenses against Bolo Mongol and Boris Malenko, and Angelo Mosca and Blackjack Mulligan. However, on June 28, 1976, their run came to an end when the Andersons regained the tag-team championship in Greenville, South Carolina. The feud continued for the remainder of the summer and into the fall.
On November 3, 1976, Bravo and Woods were able to capture the titles once more, defeating Jacques Goulet and Michel Lamarche in a tournament for the vacated NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship. Their second reign lasted until January 17, 1977, when the Hollywood Blondes defeated them at a house show in Greenville, North Carolina. The following day, Bravo and Woods unsuccessfully challenged Ric Flair and Greg Valentine for the NWA World Tag-Team Championship.
Bravo re-entered singles competition and challenged Blackjack Mulligan for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship at a house show in Raleigh, North Carolina, defeating the champion via countout on March 29, 1977. This began a major program with Mulligan that saw Bravo pin Mulligan twice in a televised non-title match to set up a series of matches for Mulligan's United States title.
At the same time, Bravo formed a new partnership with Tiger Conway Jr. and defeated the Hollywood Blondes on April 10, 1977, to recapture the Mid-Atlantic Tag-Team Championship. While champion, he continued to challenge Mulligan for the United States Championship but was unsuccessful, losing by disqualification or countout as well as getting pinned multiple times.
On May 31, 1977, Bravo earned his first shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, facing champion Harley Race in Raleigh, North Carolina. Bravo was pinned, but a few days later on June 3 battled the champion to a time limit draw. After unsuccessfully challenging Race and Mulligan for their respective singles championships, Bravo and Conway lost the Mid Atlantic titles to Flair and Valentine on June 30, 1977, in Anderson, South Carolina.
Georgia Championship Wrestling (1977–1978) Bravo returned to GCW on July 23, 1977, and defeated Roger Smith at a television taping. Three days later he faced Randy Savage for the first time, pinning him at a house show in Atlanta.
World Wide Wrestling Federation (1978) Traveling north, Bravo made his debut for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE) at a televised match in Philadelphia on January 31, 1978, defeating Frank Marconi. Bravo quickly formed a team with Dominic DeNucci, with the duo appearing together for the first time on the March 4, 1978, episode of Championship Wrestling with a victory over Baron Mikel Scicluna and former WWWF Champion Stan Stasiak.
On the March 18 episode of Championship Wrestling, Bravo and DeNucci defeated WWWF World Tag Team Champions Mr. Fuji and Toru Tanaka in a non-title match. Two weeks later, on the April 1, they had a rematch for the title, and Bravo and DeNucci captured the WWWF Tag Team Championship. After successfully retaining against Fuji and Tanaka, the duo defended against a variety of teams including Johnny Rodz and José Estrada, Luke Graham and "Superstar" Billy Graham, and Scicluna and Stasiak. The Yukon Lumberjacks defeated Bravo and DeNucci to capture the WWWF Tag-Team Championship in a match taped on June 26 in Madison Square Garden.
After unsuccessfully challenging the Lumberjacks in a series of rematches, Bravo moved on to singles competition and defeated "Superstar" Billy Graham via disqualification in multiple matches. He then began a house show series with Luke Graham in the fall of 1978. On the November 18, 1978, episode of Championship Wrestling, he teamed again with DeNucci to challenge the Yukon Lumberjacks; the former champions won by disqualification. Bravo's final WWWF match came on December 30, 1978, where he was defeated by Víctor Rivera.
Maple Leaf Wrestling / Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling (1978–1979) By the late 1970s, Bravo had become a big enough draw to get a singles push in the Montreal territory. While still finishing up his WWWF commitments, Bravo jumped to Maple Leaf Wrestling and defeated Rocky Della Serra in a televised match on December 16, 1978. One day later he faced Gene Kiniski in a match for the vacated NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship, and secured his first ever singles title.
On January 14, 1979, the new champion faced AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkle at Maple Leaf Gardens, defeating the outside champion via disqualification.
While still holding the NWA Heavyweight Championship, Bravo returned to Mid-Atlantic to engage in a series of matches with Greg Valentine in January 1979. Bravo also defeated Ric Flair in singles action on January 20, 1979 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. "The Nature Boy" then travelled to Maple Leaf Wrestling to challenge Bravo for his Canadian championship on February 4, 1979, and again Bravo was victorious. Greg Valentine then traveled to Toronto on March 25 and was in turn beaten by Bravo. However, on April 8 Valentine defeated Bravo in a no disqualification match in Toronto to capture the Canadian Heavyweight title.
Dino Bravo then toured Mid Atlantic in April, facing United States Champion Ric Flair on April 10 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Falling in defeat, Bravo then challenged Ken Patera two days later for the Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Title and lost via disqualification. Bravo returned to Maple Leaf Wrestling in May. He faced Canadian Champion Greg Valentine on June 30, 1979 in Toronto and regained his title.
American Wrestling Association (1979–1981)
Bravo forfeited the Canadian Heavyweight Championship in September 1979 and moved to the American Wrestling Association a month later, making his debut as part of a 17 man battle royal (won by Andre the Giant) in an event held in St Paul, Minnesota on October 23, 1979. Bravo was undefeated in singles competition, defeating Buddy Wolff, Super Destroyer Mark II (Sgt Slaughter), Sonny Driver, Lord Alfred Hayes, until finally losing to Adrian Adonis on January 27, 1980 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
On February 2, 1980 he earned a shot at the AWA Heavyweight Championship and defeated titleholder Nick Bockwinkel via disqualification. Bravo also formed a team with Greg Gagne and had a series of matches with The East-West Connection (Jesse Ventura and Adrian Adonis). After the latter duo gained the AWA Tag Team Championship Bravo & Gagne unsuccessfully challenged for the titles in several house shows. His final match came on January 25, 1981 when he defeated Ben DeLeon on AWA All Star Wrestling.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1981–1982) While still wrestling for Varoussac, Bravo ventured overseas for the first time and participated in a tour of Japan with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He made his debut for the promotion on a televised event on October 8, 1981, teaming with Riki Choshu in a loss to Hulk Hogan and Stan Hansen. Bravo went on to defeat Ryuma Go, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Kantaro Hoshino, Kengo Kimura and Osamu Kido as the tour ran from October to November.