Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Grappling with Tragedy is a series of articles that deal with unfortunate, tragic incidents that have occurred throughout the history of professional wrestling. It is unlike the ‘Wrestling with Sin’ series that deals more with the seedier side of wrestling like arrests, murders and suicides. Grappling looks more at particular tragic incidents that have in some instances altered pro wrestling in some way.
Ilio Di Paolo
Ilio Di Paolo was born in Italy in 1926 and relocated to Venezuela when he was 23 years old. It was there where he met wrestler/promoter Toots Mondt and convinced DiPaolo to become a professional wrestler. Mondt trained DiPaolo and soon he was competing in places like the Dominican Republic and Canada.
DiPaolo eventually moved to the United States, where he settled in Buffalo, New York. He teamed with Whipper Bill Watson to capture the NWA Canadian tag team titles. DiPaolo also found success as a singles wrestler. He would challenge Pat O’Connor for the NWA world title and went to a one hour time limit draw. He also unsuccessfully challenged Lou Thesz for the NWA title. While enjoying a a successful wrestling career, Ilio was looking to his future away from the ring. He always enjoyed cooking and decided to open up his own pizzeria.
Sadly, the pizzeria burned down, but that didn’t stop Ilio who eventually opened up a more upscale restaurant called Ilio DiPaolo’s Restaurant and Ringside Lounge in upstate New York. In 1965, DiPaolo retired from pro wrestling to focus on his family and being a restaurateur.
On May 10th, 1995, Ilio was opening up his restaurant during a torrential rain storm. A car struck DiPaolo as he was crossing the street. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. This was second tragedy to strike the DiPaolo family as Ilio’s daughter and 5 year old grand daughter were also killed in a car accident 6 years earlier. Ilio DiPaolo was 68 years old at the time of his death. His restaurant is still in existence to this day. There is also an award named after Ilio that is given to high school athletes and a foundation that helps give to childhood charities.