Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
It can be argued, that the heel faction of the Full Blooded Italians (F.B.I for short) is one of the most successful groups in the history of Extreme Championship Wrestling. Sure, they won big matches, won titles and consisted of some of the most memorable members. Aside from all of that, there have been several incarnations of the faction that have stretched way beyond ECW and into other promotions like WWE, WCW, TNA and elsewhere. To think, this group might have never been formed, if not for a near tragic accident.
It all started innocently enough, on August 5, 1995 at the ECW Arena in a singles match between Hack Meyers and JT Smith for ECW’s show called Wrestlepalooza ’95. During that match, JT Smith attempted a suicide dive from the ring to Hack Meyers on the outside. Unfortunately, Smith got his knees tangled on the ring ropes and fell face first on to the concrete floor. The botched move caused the rabid ECW fans to utter the first chants of “You Fucked Up!” Smith was legitimately hurt, suffering a concussion.
According to JT Smith, he didn’t remember anything else about the match. He did get up and continue, ultimately pinning Meyers in the ring for the victory. After the match, Smith and a couple of wrestlers went out for cheesesteaks at nearby Gino’s…Smith said he was so messed up from the concussion, that a 5-10 minute trip took over 30 minutes…as he just circled around aimlessly in his car. Word got back to promoter Paul Heyman, who decided to turn a negative into a positive creatively.
It was said that the fall, led to Smith suffering some brain damage and suddenly Smith started coming out to the ring believing he was Italian. Smith used terms like goomba and fuhgettaboutit, also using hand gestures during interviews. The gimmick worked, as JT Smith’s new character was getting over with fans. Heyman decided to expand on Smith’s Italian gimmick by giving him a “cousin” from the old country.
That person was James ‘Little Guido’ Maritato who previously worked in ECW under the name Damien Stone. Maritato just left Japan, where he was working for the UWFi promotion and got in contact with old friends Taz and Tommy Dreamer. They reached out to Heyman, who had the idea to pair Maritato up with JT Smith. The nearly 500 pound wrestler known as ‘Big’ Val Puccio was also with the team for a brief period of time in their early days. They would be collectively known as the Full Blooded Italians…or F.B.I. for short. While used as a comedic team, the gimmick got over and more non Italian members were soon added.
JT Smith the man who the group was initially built around, was ousted from the team by Guido after losing a match to 2 Cold Scorpio…turning him babyface. Smith briefly feuded with Little Guido, before leaving ECW altogether. ‘Wildfire’ Tommy Rich aligned with Guido and took the name of ‘The Big Don’ becoming the pseudo leader of the group. Soon, Tracy Smothers who was still under a WWF contract where he wrestled as ‘Freddie Joe Floyd’ turned heel in a tag match where his partner was Chris Chetti against Guido and Tommy Rich. Smothers would later claim to hail from Nashville, Italy.
The F.B.I. would use an updated version of the song Stayin’ Alive by N-Trance which added to the group’s personality. It also led Tracy Smothers to dance to the theme music, which became extremely popular with ECW fans.
The FBI added other members seemingly on a rotating basis like the One Man Gang, Mabel and a German wrestler named Ulf Herman. Usually, they were just one shot appearances as a running gag.
Little Guido and Tracy Smothers went on to win the ECW tag team titles and with that, started to adopt a more serious attitude. Little Guido had a series of excellent matches with Super Crazy and Tajiri, in which James Maritato said were the best matches of his career.
The team lost a lot of steam when both Tommy Rich and Tracy Smothers left ECW. Sal E Graziano and Tony Mamaluke were added, but the faction didn’t have the same appeal. Despite that, the FBI were popular enough that various promotions tried to recapture that magic. WWE, TNA, WCW (The Mamalukes) and various independent promotions all had variations of the FBI concept. Little Guido was a member of all of those versions with the exception of WCW’s. A great faction that was created after an unfortunate accident.