Tony Salantri
Encyclopedia
Anthony "Tony" Salantri is an American Film and television actor and a former American
professional wrestler
, better known by his ring name
s Tony Santarelli or Tony Stradlin, who competed in North American independent promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling
, the National Wrestling Alliance
and Deep South Wrestling, and World Wrestling Entertainment
.
One half of the tag team High Impact with Mike Taylor, he and Taylor were the first DSW Tag Team Champions holding the titles for a record 4½ months.
' Texas Wrestling Academy
in 2000. During 2001, Salantri began wrestling for NWA Wildside
participating in a battle royal for the NWA "Beat the Champ" Championship on April 19. He was the last man to be eliminated by Destiny.
In July, he made an appearance at CZW Deja Vu losing to M-Dogg 20 and, the following year, he performed for Bill Behrens' NWA Wildside
forming a tag team with Todd Sexton. Known as TNT, he and Sexton would feud with the Lost Boys
over the NWA Wildside Tag Team Championship holding the titles on two occasions.
Salantri moved on to Ultimate Pro Wrestling teaming with Kid Vicious, he lost to MTV
celebrity wrestler The Real World
s The Miz
and Lil Nate on July 11, 2003. During early 2004, he would defeat Lil Nate in a singles match and later won the Mat Wars championship tournament defeating The Miz in the tournament finals. On May 16, he lost to Tatsuhito Takaiwa
in a match for the vacant NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship in Tokyo, Japan on May 16.
Briefly feuding with Frankie Kazarian, he and Tommy Wilson began teaming together defeating Frankie Kazarian & Andrew Hellman on June 12 and Supa Badd & Shawn Riddik on July 17, 2004. After appearing on WWE Velocity
against Último Dragón on December 13, he joined Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
in October 2004 although had little success, he did score later victories over Frankie Kazarian
, Christopher Daniels
and Colt Cabana.
In 2004, Tony began wrestling for New Japan. His home base was New Japan's dojo in Santa Monica, CA, and would fly out to Japan for the bigger shows. Tony won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title from Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a 60 minute iron man match at the Tokyo Dome.
(WWE) although he continued wrestling for NWA Wildside during early 2005, teaming with Sexton, losing to Azrael and Tony Mamaluke and, in a 6-man tag team match with Brandon Thomaselli and Todd Sexton, defeated Caprice Coleman
, Sal and Vito Thomaselli on April 16. Making his last appearance on April 30, he and Sexton lost to Caprice Coleman and Tony Mamaluke after both he and Sexton were put in submission holds.
Eventually assigned to WWE's Deep South Wrestling territory under the name Tony Santarelli, he formed High Impact with Mike Taylor and made their debut at Deep South Wrestling's first televised event, defeating The Regulators
(Mike & Todd Shane) on September 1, although they lost to the Shane Twins in a rematch at a WWE live event three days later as well as to Team Elite on September 8.
Defeating Kid Kash and Johnny Parisi and the Slaughter Boys later that month, they also wrestled Team Elite to a 30-minute time limit draw on September 30. Facing Team Elite and The Regulators in several matches during October, Salantri also faced Mike Knox in a singles match losing to him on October 27. Defeating Nunzio
and Big Vito on November 3 due to outside interference by The Regulators, he would also defeat Palmer Cannon
during the opening rounds of the DSW Heavyweight Championship Tournament before being eliminated in the semi-finals by Mike Knox on December 1, 2005.
After defeating Team Elite on December 15, Salantri began wrestling singles matches defeating Eric Perez
, Johnny Parisi and The Freakin' Deacon
during the next few weeks before losing to Mike Know in a match to decide the number one contender to the DSW Heavyweight Championship on January 26, 2006. He and Taylor eventually appeared in a dark match on Monday Night Raw
defeating Team Elite (Mike Knox
& Derrick Neikirk) on February 6.
Within months of their debut, High Impact won the DSW Tag Team titles in a championship tournament defeating Cocki Siaki
& Bradley Jay
, Team Elite and the Gymini in the tournament finals on May 18 to become the first DSW Tag Team champions. During the next several months, he and Taylor would successfully defend the titles against The Bulldogs (Kid Kash & Jamie Noble
) and Urban Assault. He, along with Mike and Tracy Taylor, appeared at Six Flags
in a commercial for the supercard Park Slam on June 9.
In September, Salantri lost to Bradley Jay in a DSW title match. On October 5, 2006, lost the titles to the Untouchables. On October 19, 2006, he lost a singles title match to Bradley Jay. In their last appearance with the promotion, he and Taylor lost to DSW Tag Team Champions Gymini when Salantri was pinned by Jesse Gymini in January 2007; Tony, ended up tearing his quad and knee at a television taping and was unable to continue wrestling at the time.
winning the GCW Tag Team Championship on April 18 before losing the titles on May 30. Several months later, he resurfaced in NWA Anarchy
feuding with his former tag team partner Todd Sexton and eventually teamed with Andrew Pendelton III
against Sexton and Wesley Grissom, losing to them in a televised match during mid-August.
He later formed an alliance with Melissa Coates
and continued to taunt Sexton on Anarchy TV during the next several weeks although, at one point, he was later escorted from the NWA Arena after a storyline confrontation with promoter Jerry Palmer during an Anarchy TV taping on September 10. During an in ring interview with Coates on September 15, he was finally confronted by Grissom who was attacked by Salantri and Coates before Sexton ran them off.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
, better known by his ring name
Ring name
A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, martial artist, or boxer. While some ring names may have a fictitious first name and surname, others may simply be a nickname, such as The Undertaker.-Wrestling:...
s Tony Santarelli or Tony Stradlin, who competed in North American independent promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling
Combat Zone Wrestling
Combat Zone Wrestling is a independent wrestling promotion. In 1999, John Zandig and four of his students, Ric Blade, Lobo, Nick Gage and Justice Pain began to run backyard wrestling shows in New Jersey and Delaware, showcasing a brand of hardcore wrestling dubbed as "ultraviolence"...
, the National Wrestling Alliance
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
and Deep South Wrestling, and World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
.
One half of the tag team High Impact with Mike Taylor, he and Taylor were the first DSW Tag Team Champions holding the titles for a record 4½ months.
Early career
Salantri started training with Shawn MichaelsShawn Michaels
Michael Shawn Hickenbottom , better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American television host and retired professional wrestler. He presents the Outdoor Channel show MacMillan River Adventures, and is currently signed to WWE, where he has served in an ambassadorial role since December...
' Texas Wrestling Academy
Texas Wrestling Academy
The Texas Wrestling Academy is a professional wrestling training school that was operated by Shawn Michaels and Rudy Boy Gonzalez...
in 2000. During 2001, Salantri began wrestling for NWA Wildside
NWA Wildside
NWA Wildside was an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cornelia, Georgia, with an office in Atlanta, Georgia, operating between September 1999 and April 2005....
participating in a battle royal for the NWA "Beat the Champ" Championship on April 19. He was the last man to be eliminated by Destiny.
In July, he made an appearance at CZW Deja Vu losing to M-Dogg 20 and, the following year, he performed for Bill Behrens' NWA Wildside
NWA Wildside
NWA Wildside was an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cornelia, Georgia, with an office in Atlanta, Georgia, operating between September 1999 and April 2005....
forming a tag team with Todd Sexton. Known as TNT, he and Sexton would feud with the Lost Boys
Lost Boys
Lost Boys is the first horror novel and short story by author Orson Scott Card.-Plot summary of novel:The novel, set in 1983, revolves around a game programmer and his family. His claim to fame is a fictional Atari computer game called Hacker Snack...
over the NWA Wildside Tag Team Championship holding the titles on two occasions.
Salantri moved on to Ultimate Pro Wrestling teaming with Kid Vicious, he lost to MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
celebrity wrestler The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
s The Miz
Mike Mizanin
Michael "Mike" Gregory Mizanin is an American professional wrestler and reality television personality better known by his nickname and ring name The Miz. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment on its Raw brand...
and Lil Nate on July 11, 2003. During early 2004, he would defeat Lil Nate in a singles match and later won the Mat Wars championship tournament defeating The Miz in the tournament finals. On May 16, he lost to Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Tatsuhito Takaiwa is a Zainichi-Korean professional wrestler. Takaiwa is one of the more well-traveled junior heavyweights in Japan, having wrestled for New Japan, and Zero-One, as well as making special appearances in All Japan and NOAH....
in a match for the vacant NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship in Tokyo, Japan on May 16.
Briefly feuding with Frankie Kazarian, he and Tommy Wilson began teaming together defeating Frankie Kazarian & Andrew Hellman on June 12 and Supa Badd & Shawn Riddik on July 17, 2004. After appearing on WWE Velocity
WWE Velocity
WWE Velocity was a professional wrestling television program produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It replaced two syndicated WWE shows, Jakked/Metal. Once a weekly Saturday night show on Spike TV and on Sky Sports 2 in the UK on Sunday mornings, Velocity became a webcast from 2005 to 2006...
against Último Dragón on December 13, he joined Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla is a professional wrestling promotion that is run by wrestlers themselves as it was created by Southern California wrestlers Disco Machine, Excalibur, Joey Ryan, Scott Lost, Super Dragon, and Top Gun Talwar...
in October 2004 although had little success, he did score later victories over Frankie Kazarian
Frankie Kazarian
Frank B. Gerdelman is an Armenian-American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Frankie Kazarian or simply Kazarian. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
, Christopher Daniels
Christopher Daniels
Daniel Christopher Covell is an American professional wrestler, best known in the United States by his ring name "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. He is also known for performing under the ring name Curry Man. He is currently under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , while also...
and Colt Cabana.
In 2004, Tony began wrestling for New Japan. His home base was New Japan's dojo in Santa Monica, CA, and would fly out to Japan for the bigger shows. Tony won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title from Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a 60 minute iron man match at the Tokyo Dome.
Deep South Wrestling
On March 17, 2005 Salantri signed a contract with World Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
(WWE) although he continued wrestling for NWA Wildside during early 2005, teaming with Sexton, losing to Azrael and Tony Mamaluke and, in a 6-man tag team match with Brandon Thomaselli and Todd Sexton, defeated Caprice Coleman
Caprice Coleman
Caprice Coleman is an American professional wrestler who competes in Mid-Atlantic and Southern independent promotions including Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, NWA Wildside, Ring of Honor and, in recent years, Live Action Wrestling and the Christian Wrestling Federation...
, Sal and Vito Thomaselli on April 16. Making his last appearance on April 30, he and Sexton lost to Caprice Coleman and Tony Mamaluke after both he and Sexton were put in submission holds.
Eventually assigned to WWE's Deep South Wrestling territory under the name Tony Santarelli, he formed High Impact with Mike Taylor and made their debut at Deep South Wrestling's first televised event, defeating The Regulators
Shane Twins
The Shane Twins are a professional wrestling tag team that consist of twin brothers Mike and Todd Shane. They were best known for their appearances in World Wrestling Entertainment as Gymini.-History:The Shane Twins debuted in the Florida based Independent Pro Wrestling promotion in 1998...
(Mike & Todd Shane) on September 1, although they lost to the Shane Twins in a rematch at a WWE live event three days later as well as to Team Elite on September 8.
Defeating Kid Kash and Johnny Parisi and the Slaughter Boys later that month, they also wrestled Team Elite to a 30-minute time limit draw on September 30. Facing Team Elite and The Regulators in several matches during October, Salantri also faced Mike Knox in a singles match losing to him on October 27. Defeating Nunzio
James Maritato
James Maritato is an American professional wrestler, of Italian origin, currently working on the independent circuit. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment and Extreme Championship Wrestling under the ring names Little Guido Maritato and Nunzio.-Starting out:While...
and Big Vito on November 3 due to outside interference by The Regulators, he would also defeat Palmer Cannon
Brian Mailhot
Brian Mailhot is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter, better known for his short stint in World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown! brand under the ring name of Palmer Canon.-Early career:...
during the opening rounds of the DSW Heavyweight Championship Tournament before being eliminated in the semi-finals by Mike Knox on December 1, 2005.
After defeating Team Elite on December 15, Salantri began wrestling singles matches defeating Eric Perez
Eric Perez
Eric Alexander Pérez is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler who currently performs under the ring name Eric Escobar. He is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment , where he spent most of his career in developmental territories...
, Johnny Parisi and The Freakin' Deacon
Drew Hankinson
Andrew "Drew" Hankinson is an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment , where he appeared under the ring names Festus and Luke Gallows...
during the next few weeks before losing to Mike Know in a match to decide the number one contender to the DSW Heavyweight Championship on January 26, 2006. He and Taylor eventually appeared in a dark match on Monday Night Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
defeating Team Elite (Mike Knox
Mike Knox
Michael Shawn Hettinga is a American professional wrestler. He is best known for wrestling for World Wrestling Entertainment as Mike Knox. He is also an avid fisherman, and fishes in his spare time.-Independent circuit :...
& Derrick Neikirk) on February 6.
Within months of their debut, High Impact won the DSW Tag Team titles in a championship tournament defeating Cocki Siaki
Sonny Siaki
Sonny Siaki is a retired American professional wrestler. Unlike many Samoans in professional wrestling, he is not part of the large Anoa'i or Fatu family.-Early life:...
& Bradley Jay
Brad Bradley
Brad Bradley is an American professional wrestler, best known for working for World Wrestling Entertainment under the ring name Ryan Braddock.-Early career:...
, Team Elite and the Gymini in the tournament finals on May 18 to become the first DSW Tag Team champions. During the next several months, he and Taylor would successfully defend the titles against The Bulldogs (Kid Kash & Jamie Noble
Jamie Noble
James Howard Gibson better known by his WWE ring name Jamie Noble, is an American former professional wrestler currently working for WWE as a trainer. He is best known for his work from 2002 to 2009 when a severe back injury forced him to retire from competition...
) and Urban Assault. He, along with Mike and Tracy Taylor, appeared at Six Flags
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...
in a commercial for the supercard Park Slam on June 9.
In September, Salantri lost to Bradley Jay in a DSW title match. On October 5, 2006, lost the titles to the Untouchables. On October 19, 2006, he lost a singles title match to Bradley Jay. In their last appearance with the promotion, he and Taylor lost to DSW Tag Team Champions Gymini when Salantri was pinned by Jesse Gymini in January 2007; Tony, ended up tearing his quad and knee at a television taping and was unable to continue wrestling at the time.
Independents
Continuing to team with Taylor on the independent circuit in early 2007, they would eventually return to the NWA wrestling in Georgia Championship WrestlingGeorgia Championship Wrestling
Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia Georgia...
winning the GCW Tag Team Championship on April 18 before losing the titles on May 30. Several months later, he resurfaced in NWA Anarchy
NWA Anarchy
NWA Anarchy Wrestling is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cornelia, Georgia and promoting events throughout North Georgia...
feuding with his former tag team partner Todd Sexton and eventually teamed with Andrew Pendelton III
Andrew Pendelton III
Andrew Robert Horsefield better known by his ring name Andrew Pendelton III, is an American professional wrestler. His gimmick is somewhat based on "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase from the WWE. Pendelton has worked with multiple promotions across the United States including NWA Anarchy and...
against Sexton and Wesley Grissom, losing to them in a televised match during mid-August.
He later formed an alliance with Melissa Coates
Melissa Coates
-Training and debut :After training at both Killer Kowalski's training school and Ultimate Pro Wrestling's Ultimate University, Coates moved down to Louisville, Kentucky to begin training in World Wrestling Entertainment's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling...
and continued to taunt Sexton on Anarchy TV during the next several weeks although, at one point, he was later escorted from the NWA Arena after a storyline confrontation with promoter Jerry Palmer during an Anarchy TV taping on September 10. During an in ring interview with Coates on September 15, he was finally confronted by Grissom who was attacked by Salantri and Coates before Sexton ran them off.
Television and Film Career
After professional wrestling, Tony moved back to Los Angeles to continue in entertainment, this time in film and television. Salantri filmed guest star roles for All My Children, Deadliest Warrior, and a documentary for Michael Jackson. Salantri also filmed smalled projects for film festivals including Bocce, Breaking Out, and Mother World. Tony enlisted the help of acting coach Howard Fine. In August 2010, Tony teamed up with Director David Marquez to help produce television shows for KDOC television.Championships and accomplishments
- Deep South Wrestling
- DSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mike Taylor
- NWA WildsideNWA WildsideNWA Wildside was an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cornelia, Georgia, with an office in Atlanta, Georgia, operating between September 1999 and April 2005....
- NWA Wildside Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Georgia Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship was the top tag team championship in Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1968 to 1980, when it was replaced with the NWA National Tag Team Championship....
(2 timesNWA Georgia Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship was the top tag team championship in Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1968 to 1980, when it was replaced with the NWA National Tag Team Championship....
) - with Todd Sexton
- Pro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
- PWI ranked him #320 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2006
- Ultimate Pro Wrestling
- UPW Mat Wars Winner (2003)