Nunzio Recalls People Telling Him He Was Too Small To Make It To WWE

Nunzio says he defied the expecation of people around him when he made it to WWE despite his smaller stature. The FBI member debuted with WWE in December of 2002, almost two years after ECW closed, and had several years at the company that included two WWE Cruiserweight Championship reigns.

Nunzio appeared on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, during which he was asked about people telling him he wouldn’t make it because WWE was a place dominated by big men at the time. You can see the highlights from his comments below:

On People Telling Him WWE Was Impossible Due to His Size:

“Not one positive thing ever. ‘Crazy!’ ‘You’re crazy.’ ‘That’s not going to happen.’ I got that too, but it was just like it’s something I had to try. So yes, and that’s the truth. I did the same thing every other wrestler used to, rip the shirt off and tell my parents I’m going to be a wrestler when I was 10-11 years old. They’re like no, no, no, no, and it is that and the other things. So, I think typically of every parent when their son says, ‘I want to be a pro wrestler.’ They look at you like you were crazy, especially at my size.”

On Why He Kept Going:

“Just because I was a fan. I think if you’re a wrestling fan, those are the best professional wrestlers. I’m not saying guys that were never wrestling fans like a Kurt Angle; he never cared about wrestling, but he became a great professional wrestler. Sometimes people can’t adapt in that world. I did, and I just always loved it. When the opportunity came, you know what’s funny? Actually, I always wanted to be a wrestler, and when I was in high school, it kind of faded off a little bit, and then when I went to that wrestling camp and met Fazio, now I had a connection. Because it’s not like it is today. Today you hit a button and 82 schools pop up. But 36 years ago, you had to know somebody, and I knew nobody. But because I went to that camp that one year, somebody cued me in, I went talk to Jerry, and that’s how it all came about.”