For pro-wrestling fans of a certain age,
Captain Lou Albano was a larger-than-life figure who helped turn what was once a
low-rent, cable-access sport into a pop-culture phenomenon. The World Wrestling
Entertainment Hall of Famer died on Wednesday morning (October 14) at the age of
76, according to the WWE and Wrestler's Rescue, an organization that helps raise
money for retired wrestlers' health care.
Wrestler's Rescue reported that Albano had been in hospice care
earlier this week, but no cause of death has been revealed.
Born Louis Vincent Albano on July 29, 1933, in Mount Vernon, New
York, the former football player and bouncer entered the wrestling game in the
late 1950s. His four-decade wrestling career kicked off when he created the tag
team known as the Sicilians, playing a stereotypical Italian gangster alongside
partner Tony Altimore. The pair won a few regional tag-team championships and
briefly held the United States Tag Team title before losing it in 1967 to Bruno
Sammartino and Spiros Arion.
Albano eventually moved on to managing wrestlers, compiling a stable
of some of the toughest, meanest heels in the business, including Crusher Verdu,
"Classy" Fred Blassie and "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, often sent into battle
against nemesis Sammartino in an effort to strip him of his crown. Albano's
biggest success was in the tag-team area, where he led pairs such as the Wild
Samoans, Valiant Brothers and British Bulldogs to titles.
Along the way, the hefty Albano developed a unique persona — a
ranting, hoarse-voiced blowhard who favored Hawaiian shirts and wore a goatee
held in place by a rubber band, oddly accented by more rubber bands dangling
from his cheek. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996 and during the
1980s managed some of wrestling's most beloved stars, including Hulk Hogan,
"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, the Iron Sheik, Andre the Giant and Greg Valentine.
But it was his legendary decision to mix music and wrestling,
launching the so-called "Rock n' Wrestling" era, that helped to bring him
worldwide fame while dragging wrestling into the mainstream. Teaming up with
then-hot girl singer Cyndi Lauper, Albano appeared in a string of her music
videos for such hit songs as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "She Bop," "Time
After Time" and "The Goonies R' Good Enough." He even lured Lauper into the
wrestling world by once claiming to be her manager and making derisive sexist
comments about her that came to a head at a televised joint MTV/ World Wrestling
Federation 1985 Madison Square Garden smack-down called "The War to Settle the
Score," in which the two buried the hatchet on their manufactured beef.
Albano parlayed his MTV exposure into Hollywood fame, appearing on TV
shows ranging from "Miami Vice," "227" and "Hey Dude" to the movies "Wiseguys"
and "Body Slam," as well as starring in the "Super Mario Bros. Super Show" as
Mario. He also briefly managed the long-running jam-rock precursor band NRBQ,
who penned a song in his honor, "Captain Lou."
