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Professional wrestler Vinnie Massaro is relatively unknown to those who primarily devote their viewing experiences to what appears on their televisions and streaming services several times a week.
Massaro has been in the ring for nearly three decades, starting in Hayward, California, and working his way up to the top promotions Japan has to offer. He’s been a mainstay of the independents and is helping train and wrestle those up and coming in West Coast Pro, Pandemonium Pro Wrestling and elsewhere.
While he understands that the dream of making it to WWE or All Elite Wrestling (AEW) may be dashed, he told Pak Gazette Digital that he is in love with helping the younger generation grow as professional wrestlers.
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Professional wrestler Vinnie Massaro brings the pain to the ring. (Provided to Pak Gazette Digital)
“Honestly, the dream is not WWE, the dream is not AEW. Those dreams are gone. I realize I’m not young,” he said. “I’ve gotten to that stage and that age where no one is going to hire me as a professional wrestler. But there are other things like training. I love teaching young people how to wrestle. I love helping out in the back. I love being an agent and that kind of stuff. For me, that’s a better outcome for me.
“Ten years from now, people might say, ‘Oh, you know Vinnie Massaro, he used to be a wrestler.’ You’d say, ‘Oh, I saw him a little bit, but he’s a good trainer.’ He knows how to teach people, he’s a good agent and he knows how to do those things.’ So I think eventually that’s what will end up being my calling card. Even if it’s just being here at West Coast Pro, teaching West Coast Pro students and being a professional wrestler on the independent circuit, I’ll be happy.”
Massaro said the dream was never to make it to WWE or World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the first place. He wanted to be in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), as the hardcore promotion was becoming popular in the northeast. But that goal failed when WWE bought ECW.
When he began training, Massaro turned his attention to Japan and performed at the famous Korakuen Hall.
“But after I started training, the main thing I wanted to do was fight in Japan,” he said. “My favorite wrestler was (Mitsuharu) Misawa and I was like, I want to meet Misawa, hopefully one day, I want to wrestle Misawa and I’d like to wrestle for All Japan Pro Wrestling and then when he started (Pro Wrestling) Noah, when I was in Korakuen Hall, I wrestled for Noah. And I got to wrestle Misawa. I’ve wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling and I’ve wrestled for Pro Wrestling Noah in Korakuen Hall with his old teammate (Yoshinari). Ogawa).
Vinnie Massaro on the top turnbuckle. (Provided to Pak Gazette Digital)
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“So for me, yeah, ‘What about your WrestleMania moment?’ I don’t even care about the timing of WrestleMania. Being at Korakuen Hall, wrestling for Pro Wrestling Noah, being on my first Japanese tour, my first Japanese wrestling match and looking down at the mat and seeing ‘All Japan Pro Wrestling’, the logo I’ve seen so many times at Korakuen Hall, those are my highlights. Having the opportunity to fight in Arena México is the highlight. Having the opportunity to wrestle in the ECW Arena was very important to me because I grew up watching ECW.
“I loved ECW, it’s the reason I started wrestling. I stopped watching wrestling but I got back into it because I started watching ECW. Now, honestly, I think the fact that I have students that I’ve trained since day one, literally, they say, ‘I’ve never done anything. I’m here, please teach me how to wrestle,’ and the fact that those students, after I trained them and taught them everything from their first punch, they’re now wrestling.” for Korakuen Hall, as Miko Alana. She came with me, she came to school and said, ‘I’ve never done any of this before in my life,’ and I taught her how to roll, I taught her how to hit, I taught her how to do moves, and she was at the Monday Magic pay-per-view at Korakuen Hall that… People say, ‘Oh, Vinnie, you never made it,’ and I was like, that’s bullshit. That’s achieving it.”
Massaro admitted that his in-ring skills are limited to hitting hard and showing off his strength inside the ring. A Spanish Fly from the top rope would probably never happen.
He said he could have followed two paths. He said it could have been Ole Anderson, who was “used to his ways,” or it could have been Terry Funk, who adapted to different styles of wrestling and performed all over the world.
“For me, I’d rather be a Terry Funk,” he told Pak Gazette Digital. “I went to Japan and trained with them, with the Joshis I went to Marvelous Pro and I went to train with Takumi (Iroha), I went to Lucha Libre and I trained with Lady Apache. So, for me, you can do one thing and keep doing it and if you fail, it’s up to you, but I tried a lot of different things. It’s not luck if you keep going.”
Vinnie Massaro hopes to be tagged. (Vinnie Massaro)
Soon, Massaro will be able to join Japanese wrestling star Shigeo Okumura as they take on a team led by wrestling legend Blue Panther.
Massaro, Okumura and Andrew Cass will face Blue Panther, Jiah Jewel and Seabass Finn in a six-man tag team match at Pandemonium Pro’s end-of-summer event on September 5 in Phoenix, Arizona.
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“I’m very excited because I grew up watching a lot of AAA and Lucha Libre and CMLL and Blue Panther one of the few that you recognize and you always watched their match,” he told Pak Gazette Digital. “The first time I saw Lucha Libre was Worlds Collide, of course, he was there and played an important role… Having the opportunity to fight Blue Panther, I don’t have too many lists of wrestlers anymore.”
“I don’t have a list, but Blue Panther is definitely on that list. They have me tagging Okumura, someone who’s been doing this for so long. He’s basically like the guy who helped the guys from Japan get in CMLL… It’ll be great to tag Okumura and awesome on the other hand, Blue Panther. But also in a big way, I’d like to say that I’m very proud to be a big part of Pandemonium Pro Wrestling.”
