Anthony Durante

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"Pitbull 2" redirects here. For other uses, see pitbull (disambiguation).
Anthony Durante
Fentanyl overdose
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Pitbull #2
Pitbull Rex
Mad Bull Buster
Skullduggery[1]
Billed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Billed weight250 lb (110 kg; 18 st)
Trained byLarry Sharpe
Debut1988
Retired2002

Anthony Durante (July 26, 1967 – September 25, 2003) was an American professional wrestler best known under the ring name "Pitbull #2" as one half of the tag team The Pitbulls, with "Pitbull #1" Gary Wolfe. The team is best known for their time in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where the team was the promotion's World Tag Team Championship once. Apart from tag team competition, Durante also achieved success briefly as a singles competitor, challenging for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on a few occasions while holding the ECW World Television Championship once.

Early life

Durante grew up in Hammonton, New Jersey.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Durante got his start in the

The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart). Durante would face several WWF stars such as Rick Rude, The Honky Tonk Man and The Barbarian.[2] Wolfe and Durante formed a tag team, initially called American Bulldogs and would later be renamed The Pitbulls and Mad Bull Busters. The team competed in many promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), South Atlantic Pro Wrestling and Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA). Durante would compete under the ring name
Pitbull Rex.

Eastern Championship Wrestling (1992)

The Pitbulls debuted in

Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) at a live event on April 25, 1992, where Pitbull Rex participated in a battle royal with the winner earning an ECW Heavyweight Championship match. Later that night, Pitbulls defeated Jeff Royal and Johnny Hotbody in the main event of the show. The Pitbulls then engaged in a brief rivalry with The Super Destroyers before departing the company.[3]

Catch Wrestling Association (1992–1994)

Pitbulls would separate as Durante joined the Austrian promotion Catch Wrestling Association (CWA), where he debuted at the 1992 Euro Catch Festival in Graz under the ring name Mad Bull Buster. In his debut match, Durante teamed with Larry Cameron to defeat the team of Mile Zrno and Steve Regal in a two out of three falls match to win the promotion's World Tag Team Championship.[4] They successfully defended the titles against Zrno and Regal in a rematch on November 17.[5] Durante and Cameron defeated Zrno and Derrick Dukes in their second title defense at December's Euro Catch Festival in Bremen.[6] They retained the title against David Taylor and Mile Zrno in their third title defense at Clash of the Champions on July 3, 1993,[7] before losing the titles to Taylor and Zrno in their fourth title defense on July 18, thus ending their year-long title reign at 372 days.[8]

Cameron and Buster defeated Mile Zrno and David Taylor on October 24 to win their second CWA World Tag Team Championship.

heart attack. As a result, the titles were vacated. Durante wrestled his last match in CWA on February 19, 1994, competing against Ulf Herman in a street fight, which Durante lost via disqualification.[11]

Eastern / Extreme Championship Wrestling (1994–1997, 2000)

Main article: The Pitbulls

After quitting CWA, Durante returned to ECW, where he received the biggest exposure of his career. He made his televised debut in ECW as a

Holiday Hell.[17][18]

The Pitbulls defeated

Francine and Beulah McGillicutty.[22] This led to Pitbulls refusing to follow Raven and Richards' orders of superbombing Luna Vachon and attacked their leaders, thus turning fan favorites at Hardcore Heaven.[23] As a result, Pitbulls aligned with Raven's Nest rival Tommy Dreamer and began feuding with Raven and Stevie Richards, defeating them in a two out of three falls dog collar match to win the World Tag Team Championship, thanks to interference by Francine at Gangstas Paradise.[24] They lost the title back to Raven and Richards on October 7 at South Philly Jam.[25] Francine would become the manager of Pitbulls. Pitbulls began feuding with Jason's next tag team The Eliminators (John Kronus and Perry Saturn) after Jason confronted Francine.[26] The two teams traded wins with each other at November to Remember and December to Dismember.[27][28] At the 1996 CyberSlam event, Francine and the Pitbulls defeated Stevie Richards and Eliminators in a dog collar match. After the match, Eliminators attacked Pitbulls.[29] Pitbulls challenged Eliminators for the World Tag Team Championship at Big Ass Extreme Bash on March 8, but failed to win the titles, thus ending the feud.[30]

On May 11, Durante received his first opportunity for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship at A Matter of Respect, where he faced Raven and The Sandman in a three-way dance, but failed to win the title.[31] At Fight the Power, Durante challenged Shane Douglas to a match for the ECW World Television Championship after Douglas provoked Durante into a match by insulting him and Francine, leading to Durante defeating Douglas for the title.[32] At Hardcore Heaven, Durante lost the title to Chris Jericho after a distraction by Shane Douglas.[33] At Heat Wave, Durante faced Jericho, Douglas and 2 Cold Scorpio in a four-way dance for the title, which Douglas won after Francine turned on Pitbulls.[34] Douglas broke Wolfe's neck resulting in Wolfe being sidelined and Pitbull #2 feuded with Douglas throughout the rest of the year attempting to regain the World Television Championship and avenging his tag team partner's injury. Pitbull #2 unsuccessfully challenged Douglas for the title at The Doctor Is In.[35] At Natural Born Killaz, Durante and The Sandman defeated Douglas and Raven in a double dog collar match when Durante pinned Raven.[36] As a result of pinning Raven, Durante earned a title shot against Raven for the World Heavyweight Championship at When Worlds Collide, which he failed to win.[37] In early 1997, Pitbull #1 recovered from injury and the two resumed their tag team to feud with The Triple Threat (Shane Douglas, Chris Candido and Brian Lee). On April 13, Durante wrestled Shane Douglas for the World Television Championship at ECW's first pay-per-view event, Barely Legal, where he failed to win the title.[38] Pitbulls would lose the feud against The Triple Threat at Chapter 2 and then took a hiatus in July.

Pitbulls returned to ECW at

As Good as it Gets, where they turned villains by aligning themselves with Lance Wright and confronting Taz, who attacked Pitbulls.[39] As a result, Pitbull #2 began feuding with Taz and faced for the World Television Championship in a losing effort at November to Remember.[40] Pitbulls made their last televised appearance in ECW on the December 20 episode of Hardcore TV, after which they left ECW.[41]

On March 4, 2000, they would return to ECW as they lost to

Amish Roadkill and Danny Doring
.

Independent circuit (1997–2002)

After leaving ECW, Pitbulls competed in various promotions on the independent circuit. At Jersey All Pro Wrestling's (JAPW) Halloween Hell event on October 31, 1997, Durante participated in a battle royal for the inaugural JAPW Heavyweight Championship. He was eliminated by Joe Rules. Immediately after the match, Durante defeated Rules to win the title.[42] His reign would last until December 5, 1997, when he would be stripped due to injury.[43] Pitbulls' next notable stint was with National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territory NWA New Jersey, where they captured the NWA United States Tag Team Championship by defeating Lance Diamond and Steve Corino on August 22, 1998. During this time, they also made an appearance in World Wrestling Federation on the August 29 episode of Shotgun Saturday Night, losing to The Headbangers.[44] They appeared at the NWA 50th Anniversary Show, where they teamed with defending champion Stevie Richards and Dead Man Walking against Steve Corino, Lance Diamond, Doug Gilbert and Rik Ratchett in a steel cage match for the NWA National Heavyweight Championship, in which Richards lost the title to Gilbert.[45] Pitbulls lost the United States Tag Team Championship to The Misfits (Derek Domino and Harley Lewis) on November 13. They toured many promotions including Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and World Wrestling Council (WWC). They disbanded for a brief period of time in 2000, and reunited for only one night on May 12, 2002, at International Wrestling Association event in Puerto Rico defeating Bryan Madness and Maniac. This would be the last time the Pitbulls would be together. It was also the last match for Durante.

Death

Durante died on September 25, 2003, along with his girlfriend, 29-year-old Dianna Hulsey, both from a

overdose. He and his girlfriend were found after lying in their home dead for days, with needle marks on their bodies, all while their two small children, a 21-month-old boy and 8-month-old girl, were apparently alone in the house among the bodies for 24 to 48 hours.[46][47] The 21-month-old boy left a trail of food from room to room, with a spilled quart of milk, chicken nuggets and bits of bread he had pulled from the refrigerator, and the eight-month-old girl was found in her crib. Both children were unharmed and custody was granted to their grandparents.[48]

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
2 matches 0 wins 2 losses
By knockout 0 0
By submission 0 2
By decision 0 0
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Loss 0–2 Todd Broadway Submission (armbar) IFC: Battleground 2000 January 22, 2000 1 1:15
Kahnawake, Quebec
, Canada
Loss 0–1 Kristof Midoux Submission (armbar) IFC: Montreal Cage Combat October 9, 1999 1 0:40 Montreal, Quebec, Canada

[52]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hunter, Jay (August 30, 2019). "Exposed! Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets – OSW Review 82" (Podcast). OSW Review. Event occurs at 13:02. Hunter: Skulduggery! Dull buggery. A masked ghoul. A Halloween thrift store affair...Pitbull Anto!
    Steve (V1): Ahhhhhh.
  2. ^ "WWF Ring Results 1989". The History of WWE. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  3. ^ "ECW Ring Results 1992–1993". The History of WWE. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  4. ^ "CWA Euro Catch Festival results" (in German). Cagematch. July 11, 1992. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  5. ^ "CWA Internationaler Catch Cup 1992 – Day 6 results" (in German). Cagematch. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  6. ^ "CWA Euro Catch Festival results" (in German). Cagematch. December 19, 1992. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  7. ^ "CWA Clash Of The Champions 1993 results" (in German). Cagematch. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  8. ^ "CWA Catch Cup 1993 – Day 11 results" (in German). Cagematch. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  9. ^ "CWA World Cup 1993 – Day 53 results" (in German). Cagematch. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  10. ^ "CWA International Catch Cup '93 – Day 9 results" (in German). Cagematch. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  11. ^ "CWA results – February 19, 1994" (in German). Cagematch. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  12. ^ Bob Colling (5 July 2010). "ECW Hostile City Showdown 6/24/1994". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  13. ^ "ECW Hardcore TV 7/5/1994". Wrestling Recaps. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  14. ^ Bob Colling (5 July 2010). "ECW Heatwave 7/16/1994". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  15. ^ "ECW Hardcore TV 7/26/1994". Wrestling Recaps. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  16. ^ Bob Colling (5 July 2010). "ECW Hardcore Heaven 8/13/1994". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  17. ^ "November to Remember 1994 results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  18. ^ "ECW Holiday Hell '94 12/17/1994". Wrestling Recaps. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  19. ^ Bob Colling (9 July 2010). "ECW Three Way Dance 4/8/1995". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  20. ^ Matt Peddycord (9 August 2011). "ECW Hostile City Showdown 1995 4/15/1995". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  21. ^ Matt Peddycord (13 October 2012). "ECW Enter Sandman 5/13/1995". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  22. ^ Matt Peddycord (13 October 2012). "ECW Barbed Wire, Hoodies, & Chokeslams". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  23. ^ Matt Peddycord (14 October 2014). "ECW Hardcore Heaven 1995 7/1/1995". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  24. ^ Matt Peddycord (14 October 2014). "ECW Gangsta's Paradise 9/16/1995". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  25. ^ Bob Colling (19 July 2016). "ECW Hardcore TV 10/17/1995". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  26. ^ Bob Colling (19 July 2016). "ECW Hardcore TV 10/31/1995". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  27. ^ Dylan Diot (March 18, 2015). "From The Network – ECW November to Remember 1995". 411Mania. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  28. ^ "December to Dismember 1995 results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  29. ^ Kyle (5 September 2015). "ECW Cyberslam 1996 2/16/1996". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  30. ^ "Big Ass Extreme Bash results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  31. ^ Arnold Furious (23 June 2011). "ECW A Matter Of Respect 1996 5/11/1996". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  32. ^ "The "OH MY GOD!" Review: ECW TV 6/11/96, "Fight the Power"". Crazy Max. May 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  33. ^ Arnold Furious (20 October 2015). "ECW Hardcore Heaven 1996 6/22/1996". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  34. ^ Arnold Furious (23 June 2011). "ECW Heatwave 1996 7/13/1996". Wrestling Recaps. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  35. ^ "ECW The Doctor is in 1996 8/3/1996". Wrestling Recaps. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  36. ^ "ECW Natural Born Killaz 1996 8/24/1996". Wrestling Recaps. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  37. ^ "When Worlds Collide II results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  38. ^ Michael Benjamin (March 5, 2002). "411 Video Review: ECW Barely Legal". 411Mania. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  39. ^ "ECW As Good As It Gets 1997 9/20/1997". Wrestling Recaps. 27 July 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  40. ^ TJ Hawke (July 29, 2014). "Views from the Hawke's Nest: ECW November to Remember 1997". 411Mania. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  41. ^ "ECW Ring Results 1997". The History of WWE. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  42. ^ "Halloween Hell '97 (10/31/97 Bayonne, NJ)". Jersey All Pro Wrestling. October 31, 1997. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  43. ^ "JAPW Heavyweight Championship official title history". Jersey All Pro Wrestling. October 31, 1997. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  44. ^ "Shotgun Saturday Night – August 29, 1998". PWWEW.net. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  45. ^ "NWA 50th Anniversary Show results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  46. ^ Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW By Scott E Williams, George Tahinos, Shane Douglas p. 211
  47. ^ Poole, Robert Jr. (2003-11-07). "Wrestling Deaths Becoming Serious Concern: What can the sport do to save itself from tragedy ?". AllSports.com. Archived from the original on 2006-04-26. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
  48. ^ "As I See It – 10/05/2003: Another chapter to a never-ending story..." pwbts.com. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  49. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Pitbull #2 Title Reigns". CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on February 24, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  50. ^ Saalbach, Axel. "Tag Team "The Pitbulls"". Wrestlingdata.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  51. ^ Johnson, Vaughn (June 12, 2014). "Shane Douglas, The Blue Meanie among newest inductees into ECW Arena Hall of Fame". www.philly.com. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  52. ^ "Anthony "Pitbull" Durante MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos". Sherdog.com. Retrieved February 29, 2020.

External links

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