Pro wrestler Vinnie Massaro is a relative unknown to those who primarily dedicate their viewing experiences to what comes on their televisions and streaming services a few times a week.
Massaro has been in the ring for nearly three decades starting in Hayward, California, and making it to the top promotions Japan has to offer. Hes been a mainstay on the independents and is helping to train and wrestle those on the come up in West Coast Pro, Pandemonium Pro Wrestling and elsewhere.
While he understands that the dream of reaching WWE or All Elite Wrestling (AEW) may be dashed, he told Fox News Digital hes fallen in love with helping the younger generation grow as professional wrestlers.
“Honestly, the dream is not WWE, the dream is not AEW. Those dreams have kind of gone. I realize that Im not young,” he said. “Ive reached that stage and that age where nobody 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 doing agenting and that kind of stuff. To me, thats a better outcome for me.
“Ten years from now, people may be like, Oh you know Vinnie Massaro, he used to be a wrestler. Youd be like, Oh I kinda saw him but hes a good trainer. He knows how to teach people, hes a good agent and he knows how to do that stuff. So, I think, eventually, thats whats going to end up being my calling card. Even if its just being here at West Coast Pro, teaching the students at West Coast Pro and being a professional wrestler in the independent circuit, Ill be happy.”
Massaro said the dream, in the first place, was never to get to WWE or World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He wanted to be on Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as the hardcore promotion was becoming popular in the Northeast. But that goal went sideways when WWE bought out ECW.
As he started training, Massaro turned his attention to Japan and performing at the famed Korakuen Hall.
“But after I started training, the main thing I wanted to do was wrestle 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 Id like to wrestle for All Japan Pro Wrestling and then when he started (Pro Wrestling) Noah, when it was at Korakuen Hall, I wrestled for Noah. And I got to wrestle Misawa. Ive wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Ive wrestled for Pro Wrestling Noah at Korakuen Hall. I tagged with his former tag team partner â (Yoshinari Ogawa).
“So to me, yeah, What about your WrestleMania moment? I dont even care about the WrestleMania moment. 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 its All Japan Pro Wrestling, the logo that Ive seen so many times at Korakuen Hall, those are my highlights. Getting a chance to wrestle at Arena Mexico, thats my highlight. Getting a chance to wrestle at the ECW Arena, that was a big one for me because I grew up watching ECW.
“I loved ECW, its the reason why 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 have trained from day one, literally, theyre like, Ive never done anything. Im here, please teach me how to wrestle, and the fact
