Salvatore Sincere
| Tom Brandi | |
|---|---|
| File:TomBrandi.jpg | |
| Born | July 9, 1966 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Johnny Gunn, Salvatore Sincere, Tom Brandi, The Patriot |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Billed weight | 231 lb (105 kg) |
| Trained by | King Kaluha |
| Debut | September 1985 |
Tom Brandi (born July 9, 1966 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a professional wrestler best known for his work in World Wrestling Federation as Salvatore Sincere.
Career
Tom Brandi debuted in 1985 after being trained by indy wrestler King Kaluha. His first notoriety came in International World Class Championship Wrestling where he won the IWCCW Television Championship as "Chippendale" Tom Brandi, a gimmick similar to the one used by The Fantastics and The Fabulous Ones in the 1980's. He also teamed with Tommy Dreamer in Eastern Championship Wrestling (later Extreme Championship Wrestling) to capture the ECW Tag Team titles. They captured the titles from Johnny Hot Body and Tony Stetson in only nine seconds. Later in the card, Brandi was defeated by Curtis "Mr." Hughes. Less than a month later, the pair would lose the titles to Tasmaniac (later Tazz) and Kevin Sullivan.
In WCW, he went by Johnny Gunn. In WCW, he achieved some of his most notable moments teaming with Tom Zenk.
He then went to the WWF and became Salvatore Sincere, a stereotypical Italian/Mafioso character. He briefly feuded with Marc Mero over valet Sable. During this storyline, Brandi began wrestling under his given name.
Since leaving WWF, Brandi has wrestled on the independent circuit under both the Brandi name and the Sincere name. Since 2002, he has also wrestled as The Patriot, after acquiring the gimmick from Del Wilkes.
Tom Brandi has been ranked in the "PWI 500" 12 times, every year from 1991 to 2002. When PWI released the "Top 500 wrestlers of the PWI Years" (1979-1999), Brandi came in at number 478.
Brandi won his only tag team pay per view match, teaming with Shane Douglas and Tom Zenk to defeat Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, and Michael Hayes. His only other PPV appearances was the 1998 Royal Rumble, where he was quickly eliminated within 10 seconds, and the 1996 Survivor Series when he wrestled in a dark match.
As of April 2006, Brandi has been competing for National Wrestling Superstars, feuding with Kamala under his gimmick Salvatore Sincere.