John Ferraro (born November 28, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and strongman, best known by his ring name Gino Martino. He has wrestled for Chaotic Wrestling, the Millennium Wrestling Federation, New England Championship Wrestling, NWA New England, Ultimate Ring Wars and Paulie Gilmore's New World Wrestling. Although based in the Northeast, competing most often in the New England region, Ferraro has wrestled in other parts of the US as well as in Canada and Europe.
Ferraro has held championship titles in numerous promotions in his career. He is a former NWA New England Heavyweight Champion, NWA New England Colonial Heavyweight Champion, NWA New England Tag Team Champion (with Ali Mohammed), and winner of the 2004 Tony Rumble Memorial Rumble. He also feuded with "Big" Rick Fuller over the Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Championship during 2001, winning the belt twice. Nine years later, he was inducted into the promotion's hall of fame. He has been similarly honored by the New England Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame.
In addition to these championships Ferraro has won a number of brass knuckles and similar hardcore-themed titles, most notably, the AWA and NWA New England Brass Knuckles Championships; he is also only one of two men, along with Don Fargo, to hold brass knuckles titles recognized by both the American Wrestling Association and National Wrestling Alliance. He has been featured in New Wave Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Illustrated, WOW Magazine, and Wrestle America; one magazine ranked Ferraro #39 of the top 50 brawlers in pro wrestling history.
He has won numerous tag team titles as one-half of The Millenium Killaz with Ali Mohammed. He was also part of The Alliance of Violence with The Vachon Brothers in CWA Montreal, where he and Pierre Vachon became the promotion's first-ever tag team champions in 2006, and Demon Ortiz in Chaotic Wrestling several years later.
A legitimate strongman, Ferraro has performed feats of strength for numerous television and radio shows in New England, and at public events throughout the world. Often referred to as "Hammer Head" or "The Human Anvil", his specialty is breaking heavy objects such as concrete cinderblocks over his head. An assistant is generally used to drop bowling balls or operate a jackhammer or sledge."The PWI 500." Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: London Publishing Company. (November 2003): pg. 74. He has also encouraged 300 pound wrestlers to stand on his chest while lying on a bed of nails."The PWI 500." Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: London Publishing Company. (December 2001): pg. 74. In 2010, he was featured on Stan Lee's Superhumans. Less than a year later one of his demonstrations in Milan, Italy, aired on Lo show dei record, set the Guinness World Record for the most concrete blocks (45) broken on the head with a bowling ball.
Early life John Ferraro was born in Revere, Massachusetts. He was a fan of pro wrestling growing up and followed the World Wide Wrestling Federation during the late 1970s and early 80s. Superstar Billy Graham, The Samoans, and managers Freddie Blassie and The Grand Wizard were among his favorites. He started weightlifting during his teenage years and eventually became a collegiate Bench Press and olympic-style weightlifting champion. As a powerlifter he benched 565 lbs.and lift 350 lbs. in the behind the neck press. He also had a background in martial arts, namely judo, and was also a power breaking champion. Ferraro was later employed as director of sales and marketing at Patriot Plastics in Woburn, Massachusetts, and remained with the company throughout his pro wrestling career.
Ferraro eventually became interested in a pro wrestling career. He considered attending Killer Kowalski's wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts but decided against it due to the high tuition fees. He was instead trained by Jeff "Bruiser" Costa, Rip Morrison, Dan Petiglio, and Paul Zine among others. Zine specifically helped develop his in-ring persona and getting him bookings in his early career. He also received additional training from Tony Rumble, Ox Baker, and The Iron Sheik and adopted versions of their finishers as homages to the latter two.
Professional wrestling career
Early career in the New England independents (1996–1999) Ferraro made his professional debut in November 1996 and wrestled for the first six months of his career as "The Golden Gorilla". He started his career in Jeff Costa's World Independent Wrestling promotion in New Hampshire twice winning the promotion's heavyweight title from Sonny Goodspeed and Bart Hart respectively. On December 13, 1998, he took part in Power League Wrestling's "Power-House Brawl", a benefit show for United States Marine Corps "Toys for Tots" program, at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. Ferraro was the 17th entrant in the 23-man event and eliminated three wrestlers before he, the last participant, was eliminated by Derik Destiny. Four months later, he defeated Universal Soldier for the PLW Heavyweight Championship at St. Anthony's Parish Center in Pawtucket. Ferraro was subsequently stripped of the title after awarding it to his manager Scott Knight. That same year, he received an award for "Best Newcomer" (1998).
Over the next two years, he won titles in numerous promotions on the New England independent circuit. In 1999, he became the first wrestler to simultaneously hold the heavyweight titles of the top three independent promotions in Rhode Island at the time (Unified Championship Wrestling, Independent Wrestling Alliance, and Power League Wrestling). He also won multiple tag team titles with Ali Mohammed as The Millenium Killaz. In August 1999, the team won the UCW Tag Team Championship from Kyle Storm and Widowmaker in a Bed of Nails hardcore match. A year later, they also won the tag team titles in International Independent Wrestling and Primal Conflict Wrestling. Ferraro was also involved with Northeast Championship Wrestling in West Warwick, Rhode Island. Starting in 2000, he and Anthony "Troubleman" Rufo began training a select few of the NCW roster.
NWA New England (1999–2000) It was during this period that Ferraro got his first big break wrestling for Tony Rumble and the NWA New England promotion in Boston, Massachusetts. He appeared on its inaugural event held at the Good Times Emporium in Somerville, Massachusetts where he teamed with Joel Davis and Trooper Gilmore in a 6-man tag team match against The NY Posse (Ron Zombie, Curtis Slamdawg, and Jay Kobain). He began competing regularly for the promotion the following year scoring victories over "Brutal" Bob Evans and Alex Arion in the fall of 1999.
On July 20, 2000, he and Ali Mohammed won the NWA New England Tag Team Championship from (Luis Ortiz, Slyk Wagner Brown, and Jason Rumble). They dropped the belts to Luis Ortiz and Jason Rumble a month later in Somerville; earlier in the show, Martino defeated Trooper Gilmore, Nemesis, Jaime Paine and Zach Mason in a five-way match to win the NWA New England Brass Knuckles Championship. Prior to losing the tag team belts, he was the first wrestler to hold both the NWA New England Tag Team and Brass Knuckles titles at the same time. At one point, he was managed The Pink Assassin and was walked to the ring with a dog collar.
Also that summer, a cage match between Ferraro and John Kronus ended in a no-contest. The two met again in September three months later for a UCW show at Johnson and Wales College. Their hardcore match went to a 20-min. draw before referees stopped the match. The infamous "Blood Bath Street Fight" became the "Most Requested Match of the Year" on Joe Bruins' Hardcore Wrestling show aired on Cox Cable in Rhode Island. The Millennium Killaz also defended the PCW Tag Team Championship against one-time ECW World Tag Team Champions The Pitbulls (Pitbull #1 and Pitbull #2), a bout which ended in a double-disqualification. At the end of the month, Martino faced his tag team partner in a three-way thumbtack match with Jamie Paine for the NWA New England Brass Knuckles title on September 28, 2000. That same year he was one of several wrestlers featured in the 2000 pro wrestling documentary "Ringmasters: Pro Wrestling in New England", a special presentation by New England Sports Network which later aired on Spike TV.
Chaotic Wrestling (2000–2001) Ferraro began wrestling for Chaotic Wrestling in late 2000. On October 20, 2000, he defeated Jay Jaillette for the Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Championship in Worcester, Massachusetts. In his seven-month championship reign, Ferraro successfully defended the title against some of the top wrestlers in the Northeast. On January 12, 2001, he defeated John Kronus in a "Revere Street Fight" involving a bed of nails. He also faced El Mascarado (February 9), "Mr. USA" Tony Atlas (February 23), and Ronnie D. Lishus (April 6), the latter match being officiated by special guest referee Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Another notable opponent was his tag team partner, Ali Mohammed, who he defeated in a Razor Chain match. Ferraro finally lost the belt to Rick Fuller at the Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere on May 18. A few weeks later, he entered the 2001 King of Chaos tournament and made it to the finals where Ferraro lost to Ali Mohammed in a four-way match with Jamie Paine and Nemesis. This was the first-ever "hardcore" match held in New England to use a no-rope barbed wire ring, light tubes, fire, a bed of nails, thumbtacks, and foreign objects. On June 23, he also teamed with Short Sleeve Sampson in a losing effort against The One Night Stand at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Methuen, Massachusetts.
Ferraro regained the heavyweight title from Fuller in a Lights Out match on the July 13th edition of Friday Night Chaos. In August, the then reigning Chaotic Wrestling champion was interviewed by Boston Magazine in which he discussed the difficulties of being an independent wrestler. His second reign lasted for a little over two months before he was dethroned by The One Night Stand's Ronnie D. Lishus in Lawrence, Massachusetts on September 7, 2001; he had defeated Aaron Stevens in a match lasting 47 seconds earlier that same night. Two weeks later, Ferraro defeated Jimmy Cash in a Tables match. His last match was against Scarecrow on December 14, 2001, which ended in a disqualification. Suffering a serious neck injury in his bout with Ronnie D. Lishus, he took three months off to recuperate and lost 30 pounds by the time he returned to action early the next year."The PWI 500." Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: London Publishing Company. (December 2002): pg. 74.
Independent circuit (2002–2003) Prior to the end of his first run with Chaotic Wrestling, Ferraro returned to Rhode Island where he and Ali Mohammed regained the PCW Tag Team Championship from The Mutilators on October 4, 2002. On January 18, 2003, in Ultimate Championship Wrestling, he also defeated Travis Funk in a Strap match to win the UCW Heavyweight Championship. A year later, The Millenium Killaz won the UCW Tag Team Championship as well. Ferraro also wrestled for Jaime Pain and Nemesis' Crimson Mask Wrestling, PWF Northeast, and Rocky Raymond's Empire Professional Wrestling, the latter running events at Whalom Park and Thompson Speedway. Although primarily based in the Northeast and New England region, Ferraro eventually wrestled in other parts the country, such as for Bill Behrens in Georgia and Bert Prentice in Tennessee, as well as in Canada and Europe.
Millennium Wrestling Federation (2003–2004)