Giovanni Vinci Recalls First Getting On WWE’s Radar, Making Weight For Cruiserweight Classic

Giovanni Vinci was one of the competitors in the original Cruiserweight Classic, and he recalled having to make weight to participate. WWE has always been willing to fudge weights when it suits their purposes, but the Cruiserweight Classic required talent to come in legitimately under 205 points. Vinci competed in the tournament and lost to Jack Gallagher in the first round, but that performance ultimately helped get him his job with WWE.

Vince recalled being brought in for the tournament and how he got on company’s attention in his appearance on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, as well as William Regal being a fan of his. You can see the highlights below:

On Getting On WWE’s Radar:

“So I actually started out, like I said, I always watch wrestling and whatever, and I was always really into it. So I read up on backstage news the whole time. There was a page, a German website called wrestling infos, where I always read up on the results and whatever. One day I went on it and there was a picture of a guy pointing at the screen, and it said, Do you have what it takes? So I clicked on it, and it was Alex Wright, and it said Nuremberg, Germany, which was like a four-hour drive for me every time I wanted to get in the ring. But I knew he was the guy that was where I wanted to go. He was in the States. He worked for WCW for nine years, and I texted him asking if he trains people from Italy. He said, Yeah, sure, come by. I just did the four-hour drives like, 200 times, there and back, worked all week. I’m very grateful because he allowed me to be in the ring as much as I wanted. He had like, 14-hour days on Saturday and 14-hour days on Sunday, and I hung around all day. End up wrestling with him after that, and then driving home. I remember one time that a 4-hour drive turned into an 11-hour drive because I just couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. And yeah, I did that for a little bit, got on his shows eventually, because he has his own promotion there. I think my big break was when I went from wrestling once or twice a month in Germany to England, where I worked for All-Star Wrestling. Sheamus has worked for them, I think Drew, Stu Bennett/Wade Barrett. So a lot of guys work for them. You go from wrestling twice a month in Germany, maybe, if you’re lucky, to wrestling 50 matches in seven weeks, like all summer, you work once or twice a day.

“The promoter there, Brian Dixon, actually had some good contacts to WWE, and he was like, You got to check this guy out. I did actually have a tryout a year after I started in Munich, where WWE did a tour in Germany; they had me do a tryout, and they actually flew me into Orlando to train a week in the PC. But at the time, they weren’t really looking for [what I had]. They said they were looking for a seven-foot, 300-pound monster. So I was like, it’s all good because I’ve only been wrestling for a year, and I knew it wouldn’t hurt me to get some more experience, which is exactly what I did in England. Then I just got a message from one of the talent guys back in the day. He asked me, How much do you weigh? I tried to get big. I went from 205 to 230. He said, Can you get yourself to 205 or less? Sure, no problem. He said, Yeah, we have this tournament coming up in June. Just be ready for it. Okay, sounds good. So I did my last show in England, and the last day of the tour, I break my shin. Yes, it was three months before that tournament. I was like, man, what am I going to do now? Everything was up in the open. I had never broken my leg before. I didn’t know how long is this going to take? All the guys kept saying, Dude, I feel so sorry. I was like I think I’ll be all right, just making it. So I spent like eight weeks on a couch in England just sitting there watching wrestling matches because I didn’t want to be home, sitting in my room doing nothing. At least I had the guys that were coming back from the road, had a couple of good days there, and then just slowly started walking in England, eventually flew home, and I think six days before the Cruiserweight Classic was the first time where I started jogging a little bit. My leg kept swelling up and everything. Then, yeah, did the Cruiserweight Classic, which originally wasn’t really supposed to happen, because they thought I was German, just because I speak German naturally and Italian. I said, Well, I’m Italian, but I mean, could be cool if you have an Italian guy in the tournament too. They agreed to it, thankfully. There was actually one spot in the match where I did that double Springboard moonsault. I remember when I landed, I was like, Is my leg whole? I think we’re good. Covered the guy, finished the match, thank God.”

On His Leg Being Close to Broken At That Point:

“Yeah. I mean, it’s very fragile. Well, it was strange. Yeah, I lost a lot of weight because my leg got so small. I was like, Oh, well, I’m 210. 205 is gonna be a piece of cake. But then I put the muscle back on and I was 230 so I had to lose like, almost 30 pounds in three weeks.”

On Having To Make Wight For the Cruiserweight ClassicL

“I actually asked Brian Kendrick, because he was here before. I said, ‘Do you really think they’re going to do a shoot weigh-in?’ He said, ‘Man, I don’t know. I don’t want to tell you they’re not.’ But he’s never experienced it, but I just didn’t want to risk it. The day before, I still had to do two hours of cardio with a hoodie on and whatever, brought my own scale. I think I was, [205] would have been 93 kilos. I was 92.8 when I stepped on the scale, right on the dot. So yeah, that was actually the thing that I think really got me noticed, because Triple H saw me for the first time actually wrestling on WWE platform. William Regal was a big fan at the time. He said, ‘You need to be here as a heavyweight.’

“It was weird, because the tournament happened in June, and then I think they did 205 Live right after, and I didn’t hear anything for a while. So like everyone told me I did good, but we’ll see. So I kept wrestling that schedule in England again, and then I had a show in Germany that year in December, and we went out after the show, just partying a little bit. When I got back to the hotel room, I set my alarm for the next day, and an email popped up from Canyon Seman at the time, why is he texting me now? I’m getting goose bumps already. He said, William Regal and Triple H told me to put you in the hiring process. Best Christmas present ever. I couldn’t wait to tell my coach the next day. And, yeah, that’s, that’s that’s how it all started. I got my visa six months after, moved here, and got started in NXT.”