Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Pitbull Gary Wolfe
Date: 05/15/2025
Your Host: James Walsh
Gary Wolfe is a bonified ECW Legend. As one-half of the Pitbulls, he was one of the top tag teams in the glory days of Extreme Championship Wrestling. Paired with Pitbull #2, the feud that saw the Pitbulls against “The Franchise” Shane Douglas took many real turns. First, the “Beastmaster” Francine became the “Head Cheerleader” when she was Franchised by Shane Douglas as she turned on her Pitbulls and became Shane’s long-time manager on the way to becoming the “Queen of Extreme.” If losing the tag team’s valet wasn’t bad enough, Gary Wolfe would suffer a legitimate broken neck from a move from Shane Douglas that would later see Shane Douglas shake an injured Gary Wolfe to the floor by his halo. It would result in Gary’s return to the ECW Arena, thanks to “Ravishing” Rick Rude, to “f” with the Franchise! It doesn’t get any more real than that, my friends!
Gary has gone on to train wrestlers, obtain singles success in 3PW where he was World Champion and traded that title with the recently deceased Sabu, and now he has re-formed the Pitbulls tag team 22 years after the passing of Pitbull #2. Pitbull #3 is Christopher Annino, a legit power-lifter who actually resembles the late great Pitbull #2 very much.
We discuss all of these things plus the NAWA/SAPW promotion, his WWE experience, and so much more in a great new interview.
All of this is to discuss the release of his brand new book “THe Pitbull Unleashed, the Gary Wolfe Story” which you can purchase now at the link below!
Get your copy of Pitbull Gary Wolfe’s memoir!
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Listen on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ov7LkW5Grbo
“PITBULL” GARY Wolfe:
On if he regrets taking NJPW’s offer to go to Japan instead of going to WWE:
“Yes. We should have gone to WWE and had a WrestleMania match, maybe two. Then, after getting a lot of TV exposure, gone to Japan. Listen, we knew a lot of the guys in the WWE locker room. It was full of 80’s guys. They didn’t even have a drug policy at that point. It was insanity.”
On his shots with WWE in the late 1980’s:
“It was cool. We were still going to school. And, they would come in the area and have us work. We were learning under Larry Sharpe. They had “Cowboy” Bob Orton come down and look at us. He suggested they get another look at us. We went to Niagra Falls and throughout the tri-state area. They liked us. They sent us on tour to Austria. We were getting to work with Jimmy Snuka and Brutus Beefcake. It was great. And, we were making great money and getting to know all the boys. Come 1990, we did our first tour of Japan. We were there with the Killer Bees, Tiger Jet Singh. Our first tour of Japan, it was great. You had to be super stiff, though! If you weren’t drilling the guys, they would yell at you.”
On Frank Dusek recently saying he thought the Pitbulls didn’t make it to WWE because of their height:
“Nah. With lifts, I was like 5’10 and a half. Anthony was about 6 foot. Height didn’t have anything to do with it. We were thick. We were big. That was our gimmick. We worked with the British Bulldogs in New Zealand. We had a great match with them. They had thought we had stolen their gimmick. But, they actually ended up liking us. When we got back, we had matches with the Wild Samoans. Afa and Sika liked us. We knew Kevin Sullivan He introduced us to King Curtis. Next thing you know, I’ve got Jimmy Snuka hanging out at my house. Rick Rude was at my house. Everyone who came through ECW was at my house. I lived only 6 or 7 blocks away (from the ECW arena.)”
On the ECW Arena being a unique building:
“The fans that went to the ECW arena were smart fans. They weren’t going to just take whatever you put in front fo them and buy it. They were going to let you know! You know what I’m saying? Everyone wants to wrestle there. I know that arena! I lived in that arena! My wrestling school was out of that arena. So, I tell them, “Good luck!” Because, if you mess up, they’re going to let you know that you f—ed up. That is exactly how they are going to tell you. “You f—ed up! You f—ed up!””
On how AEW will be received in the ECW Arena:
“They’ll do all right. They’ve got some hardcore in them. Jon Moxley, Cesaro… I helped train Cesaro. I yelled at him once about him having to grab the top rope when he was going over. I didn’t even remember it. Someone reminded me of this recently. He didn’t grab the top rope and I yelled at him that he needed something to help him down. It was him! Yuta! I think they’ll do OK in the ECW Arena.”
On if the arena has lost its charm since being cleaned up so much:
“No, it is still the same place. The only thing I wish they would do is add showers. They used to have showers in there and they were f—ing horrible. They’re not really there anymore. But, even cleaned up, it still has the same feel it did back in the day.”
On the night Shane Douglas threw him down by his halo:
“That was what you call white hot heat. That is the kind of heat where people are trying to jump the guardrail to attack you. A lot of people don’t realize, I had a shoot broken neck. I had to convince them to do the angle. They were scared shitless. I was literally walking around with a halo. They talked to my doctor and finally decided, “OK.” I was very lucky. I could’ve been paralyzed or dead.”
On what happened when he broke his neck:
“I broke my neck on Saturday. I didn’t know it was broken until Monday. I knew something wasn’t right. But, myself, Sandman, Raven, Anthony (Pitbull #2) got into the car and went to the chiropractor in Cherry Hill. Every Monday we would do that… Get lined up after bumping all weekend. So, we walked in, the doctor knew something was wrong. I said, “I jammed my neck.” I took the bump wrong. It was not Shane Douglas’ fault. I admit that. Anyway, the doctor said, “Did you shit your pants? Piss your pants?” I said, “No!” (laughs) He told me his x-ray machine was down, he was moving offices. But, he wrote me a script and told me to go to Jefferson Hospital, that was a spianl hospital, and get a CAT scan right now. So, that’s what I did. They (the ECW boys) dropped me off at my house, I drove myself to Jefferson Hospital. And, I walked into that ER and gave them my script and they freaked out. They took me back and I was in a lot of pain, man. I’ve never felt that amount of pain before. They strapped me down and I said, “I’ve gotta get up. I’ve gotta go take a piss.” They said, “You’re not moving!” I said, “Why?” They said, “Because you have a broken neck. Your C1 is broken in half.” I thought if you broke your neck, you died. I said, “Why are you all surrounding me?” They said, “Because we don’t understand how you’re alive. You should be dead.” They then asked how I got there and I said, “I drove.” They didn’t believe me. I showed them my valet ticket. They put that Miami collar on me. That was f—ing horrible. That is when I was really feeling the pain. The head of the spinal department came in to see me, thank God Tod Gordon knew him, and he looked at my X_rays. He said, “I’ll be back in the morning.” I wasn’t going to sleep anyway. I was in such pain. That morning, 7:15 in the morning, 15 doctors come in. They said they didn’t know how the f— I was still alive. He said, “Best I can tell, your back and your traps protected you. That’s why you are so tight.” I was like, “What?” He said, “Yeah, your muscle protected you. When you broke your neck, everything got super tight.” I said, “That’s why I’m in so much pain?” He said, “Yeah, that saved your life. Technically, that turns your head. It is connected to your spine. If you break that, you die. That stops your breathing. We’re over here scratching our heads. We’ve never seen this before.” Plus, he said that I had double the amount of spinal fluid of other people..”
On not getting surgery:
“I knew if I had surgery, I was f—ed. He said, “Your disc is sitting right there. It is broken in half. I don’t have to do any surgery on you. I’ll put a halo on you and in 6 weeks, you’ll be healed. I was like, “What?” He said, “Yeah, it is a bone. It didn’t move. It it had moved, I would have had to cut you and then your wrestling career would be over.” He said I would need to take at least 6 months off. I took 8. And, Rick Rude brought me back to get even with Shane. It was an honor. It was a true honor having Rick Rude do it and bring me back.”
On his return to ECW brought back by Rick Rude to take down Shane Douglas:
“It was the biggest pop ever in that building. THe roof came off! It felt good. The fans were great. They were like, “This guy broke his neck and he’s still getting back. That’s f—ing ECW!” They didn’t put us on the pay-per-view which I felt that they should have. But, I worked all around beating Shane’s ass. Then they worked the “I Quit” match with us later on. That was all Paul Heyman’s idea.”
On recent podcasters saying Paul Heyman couldn’t book finishes though he had great starts to stories:
“I think the finishes were f—ing fantastic.”
On ECW bringing a level of realism to wrestling unlike we had ever seen before:
“That was the thing about ECW. You had Raven steal the Sandman’s wife and kids and turn them into junkies. You had Raven blinding the Sandman. You know what I mean? Kurt Angle ran out of that building! He was like “I’m an Olympic Gold Medaist! I can’t be a part of any of this!” (laughs) He ran out of there the night Sandman was crucified by Raven. He was like, “I’ve got to get the f— out of here!” (laughs)”
On Sabu’s passing:
“I’m very sad. I was there (at the ECW Arena) with him last weekend. So, we got to hang out one last time. That was cool. Sabu used to call me once about every 2 weeks… I’d call him too. We’d check in on each other. A lot of the ECW guys will do that now that we’ve lost so many. Even New Jack used to call me. I was with him as well the week before he passed away.”
On the WWE using the Pitbulls name for Kid Kash and Jamie Noble:
“They did it in Philadelphia… And, they got booed out of the building. Triple H then decided they were going to put the belts on them and make it worse. What Paul Heyman probably didn’t realize is I own the trademark to The Pitbulls. I’ve owned it since 1988! So, my lawyer and I sent a letter to WWE advising them. They sent a letter back with some things that were less than nice to us in response. So, we replied likewise and they were almost immediately puled off TV even though they were the champions.”
On him reforming the Pitbulls in 2025 with Christopher Annino who is now Pitbull #3:
“It took me a while to find someone who could fill that role. Annino fills it with no problem. He’s a natural power lifter. He’s in the Guinness Book of World’s Records. He pulled a car for like 3 miles or something. He’s a beast! He kind of looks like Ant (Pitbull #2) but Anthony was 280, Annino is 300 pounds! He’s a little bit bigger. But, it was time. I’m tired of looking at these tag teams now. I’m still in good shape. So, I felt now was the right time to say, “Hey, mother f—ers! I am a tag team specialist. And, the Pitbulls are back!””
On what the ceiling is for the Pitbulls in 2025:
“I’d love to work the NWA. I think we would fit in there. I would also love to work AEW. I think we could shake things up there.”
Listen on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ov7LkW5Grbo.
