- Mark Rocco
-
Mark Hussey 
Ring name(s) Mark "Rollerball" Rocco
Black TigerBilled height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Billed weight 195 lb (88 kg) Born May 11, 1951
Manchester, England, United KingdomResides Tenerife, Canary Islands Trained by Colin Joynson Debut 1972 Retired 1991 Mark Hussey is a retired English professional wrestler who competed for All-Star Wrestling as Mark "Rollerball" Rocco and as the original masked Black Tiger in New Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1970s and 80s. A fourth-generation wrestler, he is the son of British wrestler "Jumping" Jim Hussey and the father of boxer Johnathan "Rocco" Hussey.
Regularly appearing on ITV's World of Sport, he feuded with many of the top light heavyweight wrestlers of the era including Marty Jones, the Dynamite Kid, "Iron Fist" Clive Myers in England and masked Japanese wrestler Tiger Mask in Japan.
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Early career
Born in Manchester, Rocco grew up in his father's gym where other local wrestlers trained. Although his father was opposed to his being a professional wrestler, going so far as to have his son banned from his gym, Rocco would receive lessons from some of the veterans while his father was out on tour.[1]
Rocco was definitely wrestling professionally by late 1972, being then a regular at Northern venues such as Liverpool Stadium and Blackpool Tower.[citation needed] Making his debut in Dale Martin's London territory under the 'Joint Promotions' banner, he became a rising star in the organization, defeating Bert Royal for the British Heavy Middleweight Championship on June 11, 1977, and was involved in televised high-profile matches with Marty Jones before losing the title to him on September 13, 1978.
After Jones vacated the title, Rocco regained the title after defeating then-rookie Chris Adams in a tournament final on December 6, 1978. Rocco lost the championship to Adams a few months later, and regained it towards the middle of 1979.
Touring North America the following year, he teamed with Greg Gagne and briefly competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation, one of his opponents being Terry Bollea.
New Japan Pro Wrestling
Main article: Black Tiger (professional wrestling)After a series of similarly highly regarded matches with Tiger Mask (wrestling under the name Sammy Lee) during the early 1980s, he was contacted by New Japan Pro Wrestling to wrestle a series of matches against Lee in Japan. Wrestling under the name Black Tiger, Rocco and Tiger Mask's matches were some of the highest rated in Japanese television history. The success of the original series of matches between Black Tiger and Tiger Mask would be followed with later incarnations of wrestlers to have competed under the Black Tiger and Tiger Mask names in later years.
This rivalry would continue throughout 1982, as the two feuded over the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship after Rocco defeated Gran Hamada in a tournament final for the title in Fukuoka, Japan on May 6 before losing it back to Tiger Mask less than a month later in Tokyo, Japan on May 26, 1982.
In 1989, as Black Tiger, Rocco fought with another superhero-turned-wrestler in Jushin Liger.
All Star Wrestling
In 1983, Rocco appeared during All Star Wrestling's national tour of Great Britain and issued an open challenge for a non-title match to any wrestler in the promotion. Accepted by Frank "Chic" Cullen, he was defeated by Rocco although they shook hands following the match.
During the second week of the tour, after defeating Mike Jordan in a singles match, Rocco challenged the Dynamite Kid who had also recently returned from NJPW to a match later that night. Agreeing to a tag team match, he and Fit Finlay would later lose to Dynamite Kid and Marty Jones at the end of the night after Dynamite Kid pinned Finlay. The following week he again challenged the Dynamite Kid challenging him to a 30-minute "iron man" match which resulted in a time limit draw with one pinfall each. This led to a brutal feud between the two, which would lead to many aggressive, bloody encounters with the culmination being Dynamite Kid challenged Rocco to a ladder match for his British Heavy Middleweight title. Rocco successfully defended the title after he had tied the Dynamite Kid's arms to the cord of the area curtains.
He would later defend the title in a rematch against Cullen, Robbie Brookside and his former tag team partner The Cobra during the last weeks of the tour.
Return to England
After six years in Japan, Rocco returned to England in 1988 to compete for Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling promotion, becoming a regular tag team partner Wayne Bridges. In June 1988, he would also team with Dave Finlay losing to Miles Zrno & Tony St. Clair in a match to crown the first CWA World Tag Team Champions in Linz, Austria.[2]
In 1991, Rocco collapsed in the dressing room following a match against Fit Finlay in Worthing. Rocco, who had been suffering from pain in his back and kidneys since a match against Dave Taylor the previous night,[3] was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors found his heart was working at only 30% and diagnosed him with a heart condition which forced him to retire from professional wrestling.[4]
Recent years
In February 2003, he was scheduled to attended a "Legends Reunion" event held of All Star Wrestling in Croydon, England which included former alumni such as Mick McManus, Johnny Kincaide, Dave Bond, John Elijah and Wayne Bridges however he was unable to attend.
In August 2006, he and his father received a lifetime achievement award at the 15th Southern Wrestlers’ Reunion at South Darenth, Kent. During the event, Rocco also presented a lifetime achievement award to promoter Brian Dixon as well.[5]
In wrestling
- As Mark Rocco
- Finishing moves
- Signature moves
- As Black Tiger
- Finishing moves
- Black Tiger Bomb (Sitout crucifix powerbomb)
- Finishing moves
Championships and accomplishments
- All Star Promotions
- British Commonwealth
- British Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[8]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #298 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1991
References
- ^ Nagasaki, Kendo. The Grapple Manual: Heroes & Villains from the Golden Age of World Wrestling. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-29784-419-9
- ^ "C.W.A. World Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003. http://www.wrestling-titles.com/europe/austria/cwa/eu-cwa-t.html.
- ^ The Lilsboys (May 2006). "Wrestling: Roccing all over the world". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2003560001-2006250068,00.html.
- ^ Symkus, Ed and Vinnie Carolan. Wrestle Radio U.S.A.: Grapplers Speak. Toronto: ECW Press, 2004. ISBN 1550226460
- ^ Plummer, Russell (2006-09-02). "Rollerball Rocco Steps Forward As Wrestling Honours Leading Personalities Past and Present". BigTimeWrestlingUK.com. http://www.bigtimewrestlinguk.com/index.php?id=pages/news/news21.
- ^ "World Heavy-Middleweight Title (U.K.)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003. http://www.wrestling-titles.com/world/world-hm.html.
- ^ "British Heavy Middleweight Titleyear=2003". Puroresu Dojo. http://www.wrestling-titles.com/europe/uk/bri-hm.html.
- ^ "British Light Heavyweight Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003. http://www.wrestling-titles.com/europe/uk/bri-lh.html.
- ^ "W.W.F. Junior Heavyweight Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003. http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/newjapan/wwf-j.html.
External links
- The Forgotten Legend of Rollerball Rocco by Jonathan Cruickshank
- SWF Wiki: Mark Rocco interview
- Mark "Rollerball" Rocco Gordy List by Kenny McBride
- Inactive Superstars: Mark Rocco
- Profile at Online World of Wrestling
Categories:- 1951 births
- Living people
- English professional wrestlers
- People from Manchester
- As Mark Rocco
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