Promoter
Dennis Coralluzzo
The late Dennis Coralluzzo, was the promoter for the NWA in New Jersey
(as well as Championship Wrestling America, and a few other variations).
While Dennis was one of the more infamous members of the National Wrestling
Alliance, he didn’t really care.
As Bill Behrens stated after his passing, "Dennis was unique. I used to say he was honest about his dishonesty. Either you loved or hated him it seemed. Many in our Membership seemed to fall nto the second category. Most wrestlers who worked for him fell into the first category. Dennis was entertaining.
But….without Dennis Coralluzzo likely there would be no NWA today. It was Dennis with Bob Trobich, who fought for the right of NWA Members to book the World Champion when he was being controlled by WCW. It was Dennis Coralluzzo along with Howard Brody who put the NWA on WWE TV (Jim Cornette helped too). After the ECW incident with Shane Douglas and the NWA Title, it was Dennis Coralluzzo who promoted the tournament that crowned Chris Candito as NWA Champion (Chris defeated Tracy Smothers…BTW, brief Tracy fact…..he sometimes wrestles without shoes…the reason???…..he wrestles without shoes when he is feeling “heavy").
But let’s get back to Dennis Coralluzzo. Dennis kept the NWA alive, and new Members joined, including me. He and Howard Brody rebuilt our organization."
Dennis Coraluzzo ran THE promotion in New Jersey.
Larry Sharpe and Dennis Coralluzzo partnered up. Larry owned Excalibur Promotions and Dennis served as president. They were licensed to run fund-raisers for nonprofit organizations
This where Extreme Championship Wrestling begins... NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling became the most televised wrestling show still within the National Wrestling Alliance A tournament for the vacated World Title was held at the ECW Arena in 1994 and won by ECW Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas. Dennis Coralluzzo was on hand at the time the title was handed to Shane (and even cut a promo after the events that took place that night).
Shane Douglas looked as if he was proud to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion until he turned and threw the belt down and started slandering the NWA, then picked up the ECW Heavyweight title and proclaimed himself ECW World Heavyweight Champion. Douglas was still recognized as NWA Champion until ECW withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance, where he was officially stripped of the NWA title.
Despite this blow to the organization, the NWA held another tournament in late 1994; in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. This card was hosted by promoter Dennis Coralluzzo. This tournament was won by Chris Candido and the title soon was recognized and defended in such independent promotions as Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW). Holding the belt for a few months, he dropped the belt to Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) Dan "The Beast" Severn.
Right when it looked as if it was over for the NWA, Dennis was the man who helped keep it alive.
On January 5th, 1998, NWA President Howard Brody and NWA Executive Vice President Dennis Coralluzzo showed up on WWF TV in New Haven, Connecticut to award the NWA North American title to the winner of a match between Jeff Jarrett and Barry Windham. It marks the return of the NWA to international television for the first time after a nearly five year absence. Three months later, Dan "the Beast" Severn makes his television debut.
Dennis Coralluzzo held some of the most memorable shows in the Northeast, including the Eddie Gilbert Memorial shows (which were not only a great tribute to Eddie, but had a who's who of wrestling talent on them). Dennis used many amazing young talents on his shows, including this year's inductees, Reckless Youth and Simon Diamond (in addition to Billy Kidman, Ace Darling, Devon Storm, and a host of others). Dennis was the promoter who brought guys like Jim Cornette, Terry Funk, Dan Severn, Dory Funk Jr., and Ian Rotten to areas where they had hardly been seen live.
As it was said earlier, Dennis was either loved or hated. One example
of this was when Ahmed Johnson noshowed an NWA Championship Wrestling
America show promoted by Dennis. According to Dennis, Johnson was at a
local motel, but demanded more money and a limosine before he would come
to the show. Coralluzzo, not one to cave in, gave out the number to the
hotel several times during the show, and encouraged fans to call all night
to wake Johnson up. While Johnson couldn't have been all that thrilled,
the fans in attendance loved the fact that Dennis appeared to be honest
regarding the no show.
Dennis ran the first wrestling show that I ever attended outside of New York. It was a show that was advertising Abdullah the Butcher. Abdullah did not show up and Dennis got in the ring and reamed Abdullah. Instead, Dennis gave the crowd a match between Ian Rotten and Abbudah Singh (Balls Mahoney). The match was a bloodbath that the "Crew" still talks about to this day. (Mainly because after the bout, children were playing in pools of blood!).
I was fortunate to see Dennis two days before he passed away. He was in good spirits and still as full of BS as he ever was. Not only was his death a shock to all of us but a huge loss to independent wrestling in the Northeast. The legend of Dennis continues to live on with memories and stories that would seem unbelievable if they weren't about Dennis.
I am pleased to announce Dennis Coralluzzo as an inductee into this year's Independent Wrestling Hall of Fame.
