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Paul Roma
Paul Centopani (born April 29, 1959) is an American retired professional wrestler and boxer, better known by his ring name Paul Roma. He is best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling between 1984 and 1995.
Centopani was trained to wrestle by Tony Altomare. He made his professional wrestling debut on December 17, 1984, with the World Wrestling Federation at a WWF All American Wrestling taping in Poughkeepsie, New York, teaming with Salvatore Bellomo in a loss to the Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch.
Roma primarily wrestled as a face during this time, and despite being successful over other preliminary wrestlers, he would still hold defeats to more-established superstars at the time such as Bret "Hitman" Hart, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and Ace Cowboy Bob Orton at both TV shows and untelevised events.[citation needed]
Roma was teamed with fellow preliminary wrestler Jim Powers in what at first likely seemed to be a one-time pairing on March 21, 1987, at a WWF Superstars taping in Las Vegas, Nevada. Losing to Demolition (Ax and Smash), Roma & Powers also lost televised matches to The New Dream Team (Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Dino Bravo) (March 22) and "The Natural" Butch Reed, The Iron Sheik, and Nikolai Volkoff (April 23). Finally, a bit of success came at a WWF Superstars taping on April 24 when the two teamed with Tito Santana in a winning effort against Bob Orton, Don Muraco and Tiger Chung Lee. Shortly after Roma and Powers began teaming on the house show circuit, losing to Demolition and defeating fellow preliminary team The Shadows (Randy Colley & Jose Luis Rivera). Meanwhile, on television, Roma & Powers again lost to Demolition in May on WWF Superstars, followed by a loss to the Dream Team on Wrestling Challenge. According to both Roma and Powers, they were put together because of their physiques and because were fairly similar in build and overall athleticism.[citation needed]
The team's first significant victory came in a huge upset victory over Bob Orton and Don Muraco at Madison Square Garden on May 18. The match aired on Prime Time Wrestling later that month. Roma & Powers followed this with televised victories over The Shadows in June. Their momentum was quickly squashed when the duo teamed with Mario Mancini and Don Driggers in a squash match loss on June 20 to the newly formed Heenan Family (King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, King Harley Race and a returning Paul Orndorff). For the next two months Roma and Powers would wrestle The Islanders (Haku and Tama) on house shows, where they were winless.[citation needed]
The team's first big break came on August 8, 1987, when they faced WWF Tag-Team Champions The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart) in a non-title match. Roma and Powers scored a tremendous upset victory in a reversed victory. Mr. T was reportedly planned to be their manager, but these plans never materialized.
The win was the beginning of a push for the team, which soon began winning multiple encounters with Muraco and Orton on the house show circuit as the summer closed. Another huge upset victory came on August 20 when they upended Kamala and Sika via countout on WWF Superstars. On August 30 they again defeated The Hart Foundation, this time via disqualification in a match on Prime Time. Meanwhile, on the house show circuit the team won several encounters with The New Dream Team.[citation needed]
That fall the Roma and Powers pairing finally received an official moniker, The Young Stallions. The team seemingly received their name by accident when play-by-play commentator (and WWF owner) Vince McMahon referred to them once as "a couple of young stallions", thus naming the team. The Stallions would soon acquire the music intended for the Hart Foundation, "Crank it Up", and entered a short feud with the WWF Tag-Team Champions. The Stallions had a Saturday Night's Main Event XII matchup, where they narrowly fell to The Hart Foundation in a great match that aired on October 3. This did little to stall the momentum that the team now had, and Roma and Powers scored the biggest victory of their careers when they became one of only two surviving teams alongside The Killer Bees ("Jumping" Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair) in the elimination tag team match at the first annual Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 26, 1987, eliminating the New Dream Team during the course of the match.
Paul Roma
Paul Centopani (born April 29, 1959) is an American retired professional wrestler and boxer, better known by his ring name Paul Roma. He is best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling between 1984 and 1995.
Centopani was trained to wrestle by Tony Altomare. He made his professional wrestling debut on December 17, 1984, with the World Wrestling Federation at a WWF All American Wrestling taping in Poughkeepsie, New York, teaming with Salvatore Bellomo in a loss to the Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch.
Roma primarily wrestled as a face during this time, and despite being successful over other preliminary wrestlers, he would still hold defeats to more-established superstars at the time such as Bret "Hitman" Hart, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and Ace Cowboy Bob Orton at both TV shows and untelevised events.[citation needed]
Roma was teamed with fellow preliminary wrestler Jim Powers in what at first likely seemed to be a one-time pairing on March 21, 1987, at a WWF Superstars taping in Las Vegas, Nevada. Losing to Demolition (Ax and Smash), Roma & Powers also lost televised matches to The New Dream Team (Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Dino Bravo) (March 22) and "The Natural" Butch Reed, The Iron Sheik, and Nikolai Volkoff (April 23). Finally, a bit of success came at a WWF Superstars taping on April 24 when the two teamed with Tito Santana in a winning effort against Bob Orton, Don Muraco and Tiger Chung Lee. Shortly after Roma and Powers began teaming on the house show circuit, losing to Demolition and defeating fellow preliminary team The Shadows (Randy Colley & Jose Luis Rivera). Meanwhile, on television, Roma & Powers again lost to Demolition in May on WWF Superstars, followed by a loss to the Dream Team on Wrestling Challenge. According to both Roma and Powers, they were put together because of their physiques and because were fairly similar in build and overall athleticism.[citation needed]
The team's first significant victory came in a huge upset victory over Bob Orton and Don Muraco at Madison Square Garden on May 18. The match aired on Prime Time Wrestling later that month. Roma & Powers followed this with televised victories over The Shadows in June. Their momentum was quickly squashed when the duo teamed with Mario Mancini and Don Driggers in a squash match loss on June 20 to the newly formed Heenan Family (King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, King Harley Race and a returning Paul Orndorff). For the next two months Roma and Powers would wrestle The Islanders (Haku and Tama) on house shows, where they were winless.[citation needed]
The team's first big break came on August 8, 1987, when they faced WWF Tag-Team Champions The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart) in a non-title match. Roma and Powers scored a tremendous upset victory in a reversed victory. Mr. T was reportedly planned to be their manager, but these plans never materialized.
The win was the beginning of a push for the team, which soon began winning multiple encounters with Muraco and Orton on the house show circuit as the summer closed. Another huge upset victory came on August 20 when they upended Kamala and Sika via countout on WWF Superstars. On August 30 they again defeated The Hart Foundation, this time via disqualification in a match on Prime Time. Meanwhile, on the house show circuit the team won several encounters with The New Dream Team.[citation needed]
That fall the Roma and Powers pairing finally received an official moniker, The Young Stallions. The team seemingly received their name by accident when play-by-play commentator (and WWF owner) Vince McMahon referred to them once as "a couple of young stallions", thus naming the team. The Stallions would soon acquire the music intended for the Hart Foundation, "Crank it Up", and entered a short feud with the WWF Tag-Team Champions. The Stallions had a Saturday Night's Main Event XII matchup, where they narrowly fell to The Hart Foundation in a great match that aired on October 3. This did little to stall the momentum that the team now had, and Roma and Powers scored the biggest victory of their careers when they became one of only two surviving teams alongside The Killer Bees ("Jumping" Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair) in the elimination tag team match at the first annual Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 26, 1987, eliminating the New Dream Team during the course of the match.
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