WWE: Revisiting The Mysterious Death of Dino Bravo

Dino Bravo is a name that only a real wrestling fan would know, because he did not have the same popularity in the United States during the 1980’s as Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair.  So when Bravo was murdered in his home in Montreal, it did not receive as much publicity as other unfortunate deaths in the wrestling industry over the years.  Despite the sad nature of Bravo’s death and the connection to the illegal cigarette trade, Bravo’s murder has never been solved.

Bravo whose birth name was Adolfo Bresciano, made his name in the Montreal territory working as a babyface in the 1970’s.  During this time Bravo also had a brief stint with WWE (then WWWF) before the company took a national approach, and Bravo actually had a three month reign with the tag team championships.

Bravo bounced around with promotions at this time, but found his way back to WWE (renamed from WWWF to WWF in 1980) in 1985, but this time with bleached blonde hair.  Another interesting fact is that a scheduled headline match between Bravo and the face of the company Hulk Hogan at the Montreal Forum had to be rescheduled due to a fear that Hogan would be booed out of the building, and Bravo would receive a hero’s welcoming.

In the 70’s and early 80’s Bravo was working mainly as a babyface, but during his return to WWE it became clear that he was going to be utilized as a heel.  At the 1988 Royal Rumble, Dino Bravo benched 655 lbs. to get heat and claim that he set a new record.

WWE was the promotion built to bring in families, and with that more athletic superstars along with cartoonish characters were now on TV, and the bigger superstars with plain trunks were on their way out.  The last events Bravo worked with WWE were part of the European Tour in April of 1992, he would be release shortly thereafter.

Rick Martel revealed on Rick Martel’s Highspots Shoot that he tried to convince Pat Patterson to let him and Bravo team together.  (Transcript from the DVD can be found on the Squared Circle section of Reddit)

"“Dino tried to stay in the [WWF] but he just couldn’t…Vince didn’t wanna have him back. I remember I called Pat Patterson and I suggested that I team up with Dino – because I liked Dino. I said, ‘I’ll take the bumps and [do] all the moving around and he can do the strong stuff…I’m sure we can make it work, you know?’ He said, ‘No, no…we just think that Dino doesn’t fit anymore in our plans…”"

Newly unemployed and with a family to support, Bravo had to make a decision what was next for him.  At this time former WWE guys were going to WCW, but Bravo did not want to relocate his family from Montreal, so he decided to retire from professional wrestling.

At this point Bravo transitioned into the illegal cigarette trade, which became extremely popular in the early 90’s in Canada.  According to Reconnassance.net illicit tobacco in Canada still makes up a big portion of the current tobacco market.

"“According to the report, today the overall share of illicit tobacco in Canada is estimated at 17.9% by GfK, with main concentrations in Quebec and Ontario, where illicit tobacco makes up almost a third of the market.”"

If the illegal tobacco market is that big today, imagine how big it was before the federal government was aware of the extent of this criminal activity in the early 90’s.  Due to Bravo’s celebrity status (especially in Montreal), he was able to obtain a monopoly in his local market on illegally smuggled cigarettes.

Rick Martel when recalling Bravo’s post-wrestling work mentioned the loyalty he had from Native American groups, and how they were such an asset to his business.

"“[He] went to see the Indians. The Indians had the river so they could pass cigarettes [across] like crazy – or arms – whatever. And the Indians were big wrestling fans, you know? So when they saw Dino they were like, ‘Oh man..!’ They started dealing strictly with him. So Dino had the monopoly with the Indians. He started doing really well.”"

Bravo’s success would not go unnoticed, according to Martel that is when one of the biggest cocaine dealers in the area reached out to partner with Bravo.  The deal was that both men would profit from each other’s transactions and become a stronger entity.

Unfortunately the newly minted business relationship would not last as Martel would continue to recall that a deal gone wrong had both partners at each other’s throats.

"“So what apparently happened is they did some kind of agreement…Dino had a $400,000 shipment in some warehouse somewhere and it stayed there for like, three days…and on the third day when the cocaine guy went to pick it up, the police were there.So they were blaming each other. Dino was saying, ‘You should have picked it up [on] the first day and it never would have happened – you shouldn’t have let it sit there…’There was a lot of heat on Dino. This was a week before he died.”"

$400,000 is a lot of money, could this have led to a “hit” being called on Bravo?  Nobody has a definitive answer, but the evidence and timing points to this incident being a precursor to Bravo’s death.

On March 10, 1993, according to the Montreal Gazette Bravo’s wife returned home to find her husband unresponsive as a result of 7 shots to the head and 10 shots to the torso in an execution style killing.  Due to the fact that there was no sign of a break in and the fact that Bravo was seated in a chair with the remote in his hand made investigators believe that Bravo knew his killer.

The Montreal Gazette also reported that the murder weapons were .380 caliber and .22 caliber weapons.  Which does make it possible that there was more than one killer, and most likely a silencer was used because there were not any reported 911 calls from neighbors after 17 shots were fired at Bravo’s house.

Silencers, shooting the victim from behind, “overkill” to send a message, and the motive from the deal a week prior all point to the Canadian Mob’s M.O.  Here is a list of famous hits carried out from the Canadian Mob over the past few decades to compare.

Nonetheless, at the young age of 44, a loving husband and father of a young girl was gone.  Still almost 25 years at the night has left fans with more questions than answers.

Next: WWE 5 Burning Questions: Strowman Eyeing Gold

What if Bravo decided to go to WCW?  Did his ties to the Canadian Mob lead to his death?  What actually happened on that night?  It is questions like these that we may never get the answer to.