Little Guido - ECW's mini-mite
By ALEX RISTIC -- SLAM! Wrestling
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Little Guide Maritato.
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Guido Maritato is probably not known to many fans outside of ECW. As a
matter of fact, even to ECW fans, the road the Italian-American traveled
to get into professional wrestling might be a foreign one. After all, he
did have a life before breaking into the business in the mid-'90s.
"I don't know if you knew this, but before entering pro wrestling I
wrestled in high school," states the amiable grappler down the line from
his New York state home. "I wrestled ever since sixth grade; sixth,
seventh and eighth in middle school, and ninth, tenth, eleventh and
twelfth. And from there I got involved with pro wrestling."
A lucky break got him hooked up with UWFI in Japan, and he trained
with Billy Robinson, Lou Thesz and
Danny Hodge. "Billy Robinson was my
regular trainer for two and a half years, and once I was going to
Japan he introduced me to Lou Thesz, and I worked out a little bit Lou
Thesz and Danny Hodge, but mostly it was Billy Robinson. And I think
that had a lot with me learning my style, and I just go out give it my
best."
Maritato's style is that of a ground wrestler, with some high-spots
thrown in, but it's his incredible work rate that has made him a
respected wrestler. According to him, it was only a matter of time, and
it paid off, with the birth of the Full Blooded Italians, the current
ECW tag-team champs, and a popular group in ECW for the past
three years.
"That was all Paul E. I used wrestle a lot with Tommy Dreamer and Taz,
and all them, in the ICW years ago . . . ECW got in contact with me, Tommy
Dreamer and stuff, and I went to a meeting with them and that's where I
met Paul E. I worked a little bit as Damien Stone, and JT Smith was
doing the FBI gimmick already. He was the original, he was the first
Full Blooded Italian. He's a black guy, and he was doing the gimmick
alone. They didn't bring me in to do the FBI gimmick. He was doing a
gimmick where he got hit in the head, and he's black, but he thought he
was Italian, and he was a full blooded Italian. I started working as
Damien Stone for a month, or two months, and Paul E. came up with idea
of making me a Joe Pesci type of character, Little Guido, and my brother
was going to be JT Smith. And that was the original Full Blooded
Italians: Little Guido and JT Smith."
Over the years, the FBI would include the like of Tommy Rich and Tracey
Smothers, before eventually settling down with its current line-up of
Maritato, Tony Mamaluke and Big Sal Graziano. The ECW tag-team champion
states that in the beginning the FBI was formed more for comic relief,
but has since changed into a more serious group of individuals, and
group Heyman could push into the top of the tag-team division in ECW.
Maritato says he welcomed the change.
"Before we would do matches, like when it was me and Tracy versus the
Blue Meanie and Super Nova, we used to do dance-offs, and then cut each
other off. Now, I try to put the persona on the people that I'm more of
a technical wrestler. I just wanted to become more serious because I
wanted people to believe in me, because in their mind it was like 'He's
a good wrestler, but ... He's a good wrestler, but ...' And I want to get that
'but' out of their minds. And Paul wanted us to become more serious too."
The more serious attitude has paid off, in what Maritato says is one
of his ECW highlights -- winning of the tag team straps.
"Winning the tag-team titles on August 25 (2000), that was a nice
highlight. Another highlight when I was tag team champions with Tracey
Smothers back in 1997, we beat New Jack and Kronus, with a little help
from the Dudley Boyz. I've had so many matches, but a couple of
highlights are a couple versus Tajiri, and up in Poughkeepsie, I think
it was Hardcore Heaven, that was good highlight. And I had a couple of
good ones with Super Crazzy."
All those good times may be in the past, however. Not that Maritato
won't be making memories for himself, and the fans, but without a
current TV deal, many will be left in the dark concerning ECW, at least
until something else can be ironed out. This interview was conducted
right before TNN pulled the plug on ECW, but at the time Maritato said
he wasn't worried.
"I believe Paul Heyman will never let ECW die, as many times everyone
thinks we're going down, he comes up with something else. Everyone
thought that was our last show on TNN, and all of sudden, next thing you
know, we're still on TNN. Paul's a very smart business man, he knows
what's going on. I liked TNN. As far as advertising us and pushing us, I
feel they used us a little bit, for the WWF. I believe, and this is not
a fact and I don't know, but I think they were using us as more of a
test, and they always wanted the WWF. But that's okay because I believe
that Paul Heyman will come up with another TV deal, whether it's FOX,
USA, whether it's anyone, Paul Heyman will come up with something to keep
this company going. I have faith in him, and he's proven it time and
time again since 1995."
One way for ECW to stay alive in the minds of many will be a spate of
monthly pay-per-views, which shocked many when they were announced in
the summer. While those plans were launched before the TV deal was
cancelled, a lot of critics didn't think the company could pull it off
even when they had a deal. Maritato disagrees, and thinks it can only benefit ECW.
"I think that's great. I think that's good for our company, and I think
it's a credit to all the wrestlers that Paul believes that we can go
out there and put on a live PPV on every month. It's very hard to go out
there and do it like the WWF does it, but they've been around a lot
longer. To do taped shows, and to do live shows, are two totally
different things. And Paul has trust in us that we can pull off a PPV
every month. Maybe two years ago we couldn't do that. But our locker
room is a hard-working locker room, and I think we can do it, and I
think Paul has faith in us and that makes us want to drive more to show
him that we can do it. As far as exposure it's a lot better, and
financially it's a lot better."
