Steve Corino
Steven Eugene Corino is a Canadian-American professional wrestling trainer and former professional wrestler., he works for the American professional wrestling promotion WWE as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center and as a producer for its developmental brand, NXT.
Corino is best known for his tenure with Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1998 to 2001 and Ring of Honor from 2002 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2016. Over the course of his career, he held titles including the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, MLW World Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Heavyweight Championship, and ROH World Tag Team Championship.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1994–1998)
Corino began wrestling in 1994 and spent four years working on the independent circuit. During this time, he was a part of the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts, a promotion run by Matt and Jeff Hardy. Corino began an anti-hardcore gimmick on the independent circuit, because he felt he would have more chance of getting work if he did not work hardcore matches. He gained experience, working in Puerto Rico for the WWC, working under the ring name Lightning Kid and also made some appearances for the WWF as a jobber from 1996 to 1998.Extreme Championship Wrestling (1998–2001)
In 1998, Corino debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling as a heel manager. He stood out in ECW as a result of his "King of Old School" gimmick, where he would deride hardcore wrestlers, at one point invading a Limp Bizkit concert and protesting the immoral conduct.In late 1999, Corino took Jack Victory on as a manager, and became an advisor for Tajiri and Rhino. He then began feuding with Dusty Rhodes, who defeated him in a gory Bullrope match at Living Dangerously. At Heat Wave 2000, he lost to Jerry Lynn. Corino went on to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on November 5, 2000, at November to Remember by defeating Justin Credible, Sandman and Champion Jerry Lynn in a Double Jeopardy match; then to successfully defend it in December at Massacre on 34th Street and at Holiday Hell 2000.
Due to repeated failures of ECW paying Corino his salary, he left the company on January 7, 2001, the night he lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to The Sandman at Guilty as Charged 2001. His friend Dustin Rhodes got him a contract in World Championship Wrestling, but he never got to make an appearance despite being due to debut at the company's third to last PPV Sin. When World Wrestling Entertainment took over WCW in March 2001, they released Corino from his contract. He went on to wrestle for many of the National Wrestling Alliance regional promotions. On April 24, he won the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship.
Independent circuit (2001–2006)
Corino continued his feud with Rhodes in his Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling promotion as well as Southern Championship Wrestling and was part of the Extreme Horsemen with C. W. Anderson and Barry Windham. He was also part of the Extreme Horsemen in Major League Wrestling with C. W. Anderson, Justin Credible and Simon Diamond. They were briefly managed by the legendary J. J. Dillon before MLW folded. Also, Corino went on to win the MLW World Heavyweight Championship before the promotion was folded.In 2004 Corino made a number of appearances for Frontier Wrestling Alliance in the United Kingdom, where he entered a short rivalry with Alex Shane. The feud culminated in the main event match of Hotwired, where Corino defeated Shane with the assistance of then FWA Heavyweight Champion, Doug Williams.
As Steve Corino was a major part of ECW towards the end of its run, rumors swirled surrounding Corino possibly signing with World Wrestling Entertainment and returning to his ECW roots as a part of the new version of ECW, but he squashed those rumors in a posting on his LiveJournal. Corino worked in various independent promotions, including Zero-One, Hustle in Japan, Ring of Honor in the United States and both One Pro Wrestling and Celtic Wrestling in the United Kingdom. He was also president of World-1 Fighting Arts, which runs shows in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
NWA Total Nonstop Action (2002, 2003)
Corino worked for NWA Total Nonstop Action during its early days. Corino had matches with Low Ki and many other stars before leaving the promotion some time later.Ring of Honor (2002–2006)
On February 23, 2002, Steve Corino appeared at Ring of Honor's inaugural event, “The Era of Honor Begins”, acting as the color commentator. Corino made his in-ring debut at the first annual Glory by Honor in October, accepting Homicide's open invitation for a tag team partner to answer a challenge from The Backseat Boyz. In the course of the match, Corino turned on Homicide after Homicide accidentally hit him, Old School Kicking his partner and leaving the ring, enabling the Backseat Boyz to easily defeat Homicide.Homicide and Corino would then begin a four-year rivalry, with Corino criticizing Homicide's lifestyle and somewhat checkered past. The feud culminated in a match at the One Year Anniversary Show on February 8, 2003, in Queens, New York, New York. Homicide was the hometown favorite, but lost to Corino following interference from The Group, Corino's entourage. After the match, Corino applied a cobra clutch to Homicide, while the rest of The Group mocked New York City, instigating a worked riot.
Corino and Homicide had a rematch August 16, 2003, at Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies which saw Corino defeated. After twenty minutes of fighting which saw both men bleeding and carrying injuries, Homicide trapped Corino in a modified STF, prompting Corino's corner man, Guillotine LeGrande, to throw in the towel, awarding the match to Homicide. In the course of the match, Corino suffered a legitimate ruptured eardrum, and permanently lost most of the hearing in his left ear following a stiff slap to the side of the head from Homicide. Homicide has since stated in a shoot interview that he is not sorry for costing Corino his hearing, claiming Corino had been stiff with him the whole match.
Homicide faced Corino for a third time on November 29, 2003, at War of the Wire in a barbed wire match. This time however, Julius Smokes threw in the towel for Homicide after Corino throttled him with a length of barbed wire. Corino offered Homicide a handshake after the match, indicating that he finally respected Homicide, but Homicide refused to shake his hand. On October 14, 2005, at Enter the Dragon, Corino returned to ROH in a tag team match that saw him team with Colt Cabana to defeat Low Ki and Homicide.
On December 3 in New York City at Steel Cage Warfare, Homicide lost to Corino in a rematch from their feud of 2003 after Colt Cabana, under a mask, interfered in the match. During the match, Homicide separated his shoulder, but opted not to have surgery. As a result of his injury, Homicide was unable to compete at the following show, Final Battle 2005. He did show up, however, but with the intent on killing Steve Corino. Following Corino's match, Homicide ran down to the ring and attacked him. Colt Cabana ran down to the ring to save Corino, only to have Homicide pour Drano down his throat.
He returned to ROH in August 2006 after a long absence, reigniting his feud with Homicide. The feud culminated on November 4 in Philadelphia, at The Bitter End when Homicide beat Corino in a Fight Without Honor. Although the two still hated each other, they shook hands after the match and Corino allowed Homicide to shave his head.
Retirement tour (2007)
After announcing that he would retire at the end of 2007, Corino began a retirement tour and travelled to various federations as a part of the tour. On October 6, 2007, Corino won the B4W North American Championship in Morganville, New Jersey, United States from Tommy Thunda.On November 3, 2007, Corino won an eight-man tournament in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to become the Union of Independent Professional Wrestlers Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Eddie Osbourne in the first round by pinfall, Pepper Parks in the second round by referee stoppage and John McChesney in the finals. On November 10, 2007, Corino successfully defended the B4W North American Championship against Jihad. On November 24 he beat Absolute Andy for the GSW Heavyweight Championship in Oberhausen, Germany.
On December 8, 2007, Corino made his final Northeast appearance for B4W. He lost the North American Championship to Jihad in a submission match after his protege Ricky Landell threw in the towel. Corino won the Platinum Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship on December 14, 2007, after defeating Erico in Michigan City, Indiana, United States.
Corino's retirement tour came to an end December 28, 2007, when he wrestled his final match for the Showcase Wrestling Revolution in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. On that night he faced Jeremy Barnoff, Brick Crawford, and Kevin Steen for the SWR International Championship in a fatal four way elimination match.
Corino wrestled a few try-out matches for WWE over a span of two days. Dusty Rhodes, Corino's former rival, was hopeful that WWE would sign him, but he was not offered a contract. Corino stated on MySpace that while he enjoyed his time with WWE, he felt he was too "old school" for the company.
Return to the independent circuit (2008–2016)
On the January 4, 2008, Corino won his third Zero1-Max United States Openweight Championship as Mr. Wrestling 3 by beating Ricky Landell in Valdosta, Georgia. He then lost the U.S. Title to SJK on March 8, 2008, at the Devil Bhudakahn Memorial Show in Munhall, Pennsylvania. He began wrestling as "Mr. Wrestling 3" Steve Corino without the mask, and sometimes as just "Mr. Wrestling 3" with the mask.On July 24, 2008, Corino announced he would begin wrestling full-time again in his online blog. Corino plans to return to Japan where he has been the most successful.
On July 19, 2008, Corino participated in the event WWC Anniversary but only to lose to Eugene. Later on September 20, 2008, he participated in the event Septiembre Negro where he defeated Sabu. Recently he is one of the members of a group called "La Familia", and is in a feud with BJ for the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship. In this feud thanks to the beatings that lead disqualification by the members of "La Familia", Ray Gonzalez saved BJ and after that Steve Corino attacked Ray Gonzalez in the locker rooms and this began a feud for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship. On February 7, Steve Corino beat Ray Gonzalez to become WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion. On July 11 at Aniversario 2009 he lost the title to BJ.
On June 26, 2010, Corino was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling "Hall of Fame" by Jack Blaze in Wheeling, West Virginia at their annual "LPW Rumble in the Valley" event.
Since August 2010, Corino has made appearances in Germany for German Stampede Wrestling.
On April 23, 2011, Corino returned to WWC and defeated Carlito, Gilbert and Shane the Glamour Boy in a gauntlet match to win the vacant WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He would lose the title to Carlito on June 4, 2011.
On January 28, 2012, Steve Corino, billed as the "King of Old School", defeated Vordell Walker with assistance by Jillian Hall and the "Tokyo Monster" Kahagas in Orlando, Florida to become the PWX Heavyweight Champion. Corino, although bloodied, successfully defended his title against Tommy "Wildfire" Rich on April 28, 2012, in Orlando, Florida.
On December 28, 2012, Steve Corino made his appearance for an ECW "revival" company as he appeared for Extreme Rising as the "mystery challenger" for Stevie Richards' Extreme Rising World Championship, where he was defeated by submission.
In September 2014, Steve Corino defeated Doug Williams for the WAW World Heavyweight Championship in England which he would then defend in the USA in 2014 and 2015 against Curt Robinson and Joe Black.
On May 9, 2015, Steve Corino made an appearance at TWE in Red Bank, Chattanooga against Ray Fury, where he was defeated.
On May 22, 2015, Steve Corino became the PWF World-1 Heavyweight Champion defeating Jagger, Emmanuel Ortega and former teammate CW Anderson in a Fatal Four-Way.
On March 6, 2016, Corino, along with CW Anderson, returned to Zero1 to take part in the promotion's 15th anniversary event.