Louie Spicolli

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of Louie Spicolli’s death. His passing was ignored by the WWF and virtually mocked by WCW (particularly by Larry Zbyszko). Spicolli never became a huge star and most wrestling fans will never celebrate him the way they do Owen Hart, Brian Pillman, Rick Rude, or Curt Hennig, but let’s spend some time today remembering Louie Spicolli.

Louie Spicolli was born Louis Mucciolo on 2/10/71 in Los Angelos, CA. As a child, he idolized Roddy Piper for his mic work and Bret Hart for his in-ring ability. While attending a card at the L.A. Sports Arena, he met wrestler Bill Anderson, who had trained the Ultimate Warrior and Sting, and convinced Anderson to train him as well. He took the name Louie Spicolli (after Sean Penn’s character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Within 3 months of beginning his training, Anderson got him booked as a jobber in the WWF when he was only 18. In his first match ever, Spicolli lost to Ron Bass at a WWF TV taping in Duluth, MN. Spicolli would reamin in the WWF as a jobber from 1988-1993.

Anderson took him to Tijuana with him in 1989 and they formed Los Mercenarios Americanos with Tim Patterson (the original Leatherface). On 4/29/89, they captured the WWA Trios titles by beating Zandokan, Sicodelico, and Khaos I. They dropped the straps to Chavo, Mando, and Eddy Guerrero before quickly winning them back a second time.

Spicolli wrestled 2 matches for the AWA in 1990. He then joined Herb Abrams’ UWF using the nickname “Cutie Pie” and he got his first opportunity to cut promos. Spicolli began to wrestle in the Arizona indies and won his first singles on 3/8/91 by beating Steve Gatorwolf for the AWF Heavyweight belt. He lost the title back to Gatorwolf only 4 days later. Spicolli, Anderson, and Patterson finally lost the WWA Trios titles to Ultraman 2000 (Damian 666), Kiss, and Aguila de Americano on 12/20/91, ending their 2 and a half year reign.

In ‘92, Spicolli wrestled Eiji Ezaki (Hayabusa) on a joint AAA-FMW card. FMW head Atsushi Onita was impressed and hired him. Spicolli was brought to Japan and wrestled Onita in several barbed wire matches. That FMW stint didn’t last long as several months later he was fired after Sabu told Onita that Spicolli had urinated in a bottle on a bus after the driver refused to stop for him.

Spicolli returned to the Arizona indies and was awarded the IWF Heavyweight title on 12/15/92, losing it 3 months later to Steve O. On 2/8/93, he made his only Monday Night Raw appearance under that name when he teamed with 2 other jobbers in a loss to Yokozuna in a handicap match. Spicolli made a few SMW appearances, feuding with Chris Candido.

He lost to the 1-2-3 Kid during the Kid’s WWF tryout match. The Kid was hired as a result but Spicolli wasn’t offered a full-time job. Konnan, who Spicolli had befriended while he was wrestling in Tijuana, offered him a spot in AAA and Spicolli, upset that the WWF hadn’t signed him to a contract after 6 years of jobbing for them, left the WWF entirely. He wrestled as both Spicolli and Killer Blonde in Mexico. On 3/12/94, he teamed with Tim Patterson and Super Rabbit to upset the Chavo, Hector, and Mando Guerrero at AAA in L.A., one of AAA’s big shows in America.

Spicolli changed his name to Madonna’s Boyfriend and got his first serious push. He and Vandal Drummond defeated Super Boy and Captain Oro at La Lucha del Honor. He also occasionally teamed with “Diamond” Dallas Page. He got the biggest break of his career when he joined Los Gringos Locos, a pro-America/anti-Mexico group, headed by Eddy Guerrero, Art Barr, and Konnan. He made his pay-per-view debut on AAA’s only PPV, When Worlds Collide, on 11/6/94, teameing with Fuerza Guerrera and Psicosis to defeat Rey Misterio, Jr., Heavy Metal, and Latin Lover. He was involved in 3 of the 5 matches on the card, wrestling in one, being a second in another, and interfering in a third. This was by far the greatest night in Spicolli’s career and ironically enough the card was held at the L.A. Sports Arena.

The WWF decided they made a mistake by letting him go, so 9 days later he was offered a full-time WWF job. Spicolli took it because he didn’t like living in Mexico. He became Rad Radford, adopted a grunge rocker gimmick, and claimed that he was Courtney Love’s boyfriend, a take-off on the Madonna’s Boyfriend gimmick. On Raw on 9/11/95, teamed with the Brooklyn Brawler in a loss to the Smokin’ Gunns. He became a member of the Bodydonnas with Skip (Chris Candido), Zip (Tom Prichard), and manager Sunny (Tammy Sytch). In his only WWF PPV appearance at the ‘95 Survivor Series, he teamed with Skip, Zip, and the 1-2-3 Kid to beat Hakushi, Marty Jannetty, Bob Holly, and Barry Horowitz. Soon after, he was kicked out of The Bodydonnas for not being in good enough shape. He lost to Chris Benoit (who was in WCW at the time) on a special card in Canada honoring Stu Hart’s 60th anniversary in wrestling. Radford had many matches with Ahmed Johnson at house shows around the country, plus one on the 11/27/95 Raw, which turned out to be his last Raw appearance. He had a seizure and collapsed on the street as a result of bleeding in the brain, believed to be caused by Johnson dropping him on his head too many times. The WWF let him go because they felt he was a health risk.

Spicolli woked indy shows in California and Canada and tried to get an acting career off the ground, appearing as an extra in Beverly Hills 90210, Jerry Maguire, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also appeared on MTV’s Singled Out.

He got an opportunity with ECW, making his debut with the company at Heatwave on 7/13/96 and beating El Puerto Ricano. Sabu then ran in and defeated Spicolli in an impromptu match, but Spicolli proved that he could wrestle a hardcore style during the match and even had his arm split open after Sabu sent him through a table. He resumed his feud with Candido, who had also moved on to ECW. Spicolli lost to ECW TV champ Shane Douglas on 9/14/96. At November to Remember, 2 Cold Scorpio, who was leaving for the WWF, said that he wanted to take other ECW wrestlers out with him. He challenged anyone to a loser-leaves-town match. Devon Storm, J.T. Smith, and Hack Myers all accepted the challenge and were defeated. Spicolli then answered the challenge and beat Scorpio in only 2 minutes. He lost to Candido at House Party, but upset future ECW World champion Mike Awesome at Crossing the Line Again.

He began making the NWO sign with his fingers as a way of communicating with his real-life friend Scott Hall. This infuriated Tommy Dreamer, who broke Spicolli’s fingers. Spicolli later used the Death Valley Driver on Dreamer’s valet, Beulah McGillicutty. He sided with WWF in ECW-WWF feud and helped Jerry Lawler, Sabu, and Rob Van Dam attack ECW wrestlers. Spicolli lost to Dreamer several times over the next few months. He lost to Chris Candido in a 2/3 falls match at Hostile City Showdown. He beat Balls Mahoney in a dark match on ECW’s first PPV, Barely Legal. However, Spicolli was very unhappy that he was left off the actual PPV. He began jobbing more often and lost to Mahoney and Mikey Whipwreck several times. When he was also left off of ECW’s second PPV, Hardcore Heaven, Spicolli quit ECW.

He signed with WCW and immediately appeared on a WCW PPV as one of the 60 men involved in the World War III 2-ring battle royal. He wrestled mainly on WCW Saturday Night and wore a T-shirt proclaiming himself “The Real Innovator” as a shot at “The Innovator of Violence” Tommy Dreamer. Spicolli became an NWO prospect, frequently accompanying Scott Hall to ringside. He helped Hall attack Larry Zbyszko after Zbyszko tried to convince him not to associate with the NWO. He also helped Hall and Dusty Rhodes attack Zbyszko at Souled Out. In his first Monday Nitro match on 1/26/98, he beat Juventud Guerrera.

Spicolli began getting tons of mic time and was even used as a color commentator for several matches and was hilarious. In what turned out to be his his last match ever, he lost to Chris Adams by DQ on Nitro on 2/9/98 when he hit Adams with a suitcase he had stolen from Zbyszko. He was chased back to the dressing room by Zbyszko after the match. Spicolli was almost fired 3 days later when, on Thursday Thunder from Oklahoma City, play-by-play man Tony Schiavone said he had a bombshell announcement and Spicolli, as color commentator, responded by saying that he shouldn’t say “bombshell” in this city (refering to the Oklahoma City bombing). WCW received several complaints and WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff was furious.

Only 3 days later, on 2/15/98, Spicolli was found dead in his L.A. home just one week before he was supposed to wrestle Zbyszko at Superbrawl VIII (in what would have been his first singles match on PPV) and in the middle of his biggest push ever in a major promotion. He reportedly died by overdosing on the prescription muscle relaxant soma and mixing it with alcohol. He was only 27. ECW renamed the Death Valley Driver the Spicolli Driver in his honor.

R.I.P. Louis Mucciolo 2/10/71 – 2/15/98