AfroSquad Exclusive Interview:
Gino Galento, Professional Wrestler and Actor
Gino,
can you give us a quick bio on yourself?
Sure brother, I was born in Miami, Florida on July 1rst 1969 at Mercy
Hospital in Dade County. After my parents divorced in 1974, my Mom
took me to Santiago, Chile, South America where I was raised.
My life has had a lot of ups and downs.. In the
80s, I was a roadie and had a band that almost signed a contract with
BMG, but in 1992 I was burned out and willing to have a fresh start, so
I moved back to the States and gave up on Heavy Metal to start a new
life.
here was always the need to do something with the
entertainment industry. But where or what? I didn't know!
I had a lot of hints, but I never thought that in 2001 I would be
joining a wrestling school. Skull Crushers to be exact, which was a
school owned and operated by Exotic Adrian Street.
Due to his throat cancer he was gracious enough to let
me train at the Pensacola Wrestling Academy, which was owned and
operated by a former WWE wrestler Bobby Doll. When I found out
that Sika, The Wild Samoan was running a school in Pensacola I went
there and finished my training with his blessings at The Wild Samoan
training Center.
Who is Gino XL and how does he differ from Fabian
Graham? Let me start with a little history here, shall we? It all began with
my first gimmick which was called "Cajun Gator" which was a technical
wrestler with a bad temper, however Sika wanted me to become flamboyant
so I was given the moniker of Fabulous Fabio a few years later I changed
it to the short lived Fabulous Fabian
I added Graham to honor Superstar Billy Graham and
Doctor Jerry Graham among the rest of the Graham clan, I even had the
bleached blond hair back then.
Then I changed my name to Gino Galento (XL) to honor the
Galento wrestling family.
Why are you known as "XL?" XL stands for Xtra Large. The fans know that I'm bigger and
stronger than the common man!
What do you know about Sika and his crew? Sika is currently retired and spending quality time with his
immediate family and living large and in charge in a beautiful big house
in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Well, about his crew, they are busy bees
on a lot of good projects, including me, I was always a part of his
crew!
What do you think of Ultimate Wrestling? Ultimate Wrestling has a lot of potential! They are new to the
game and pack on a few good ideas plus they seem to have a good time at
it! I had a great time there.
Can you tell us about your acting career? My acting career is expanding, I now have an agent and she's getting
auditions for me to speaking roles and I have performed a few stunt
fights on Film!
I'm also being groomed in the movie biz as a character
actor the likes of Danny Trejo, who has always played tough guy and bad
guy in the movies. My agent and casting directors love big guys for
those roles and they see a lot potential in me.
What do you think about all the drama in indy
wrestling? Some things never seem to change around Indy Wrestling, it is the
nature of the beast.
I believe though, that we need to bring good
"Psychology" back in the Pro Wrestling Industry, and not just focus on
circus acts that don't make sense. We are supposed to be wrestlers
not acrobats.
What is Pea Ridge Wrestle Fest? Is a nice series of Pro Wrestling events performed at the Pea Ridge
Flea market. The Pea Ridge Flea Market has opened it's doors by
their owner thanks to my uncle Tex Galento and Danny Roland, so we can
bring high quality matches while helping our community through Fund
Raising Events.
Who is Tex Galento? Colonel Tex Galento is my "uncle," my personal hero, and my
wrestling manager!
What can you tell me about the Galento family? The Galento Family is a family of tradition and American as Pie.
We are innovators! Look at how many men molded themselves after Al
Spider Galento, he was one of a kind and tough as nails, a true champ
who never back down from a good fight. The great Mario Galento,
often imitated but never duplicated
What other projects are you working on? I can't disclose details right now, there are a few movie projects
on the works, but I can tell you that I'm working right now on a
character that involves stunt fights and a couple of lines and I have
been auditioning for potential speaking roles that involves stunt
fights!
Thanks for your time, Gino! Good luck in your
endeavors. My pleasure SnowMan, by the way I am not only your biggest fan, I'm
also a NINJA PIMP PLAYA!!!
