Overlooked: Louie Spicolli

During the 1990s, professional wrestling would reach a zenith that had not been seen since the mid to late 1980s, eventually surpassing that level and has not been reached since. For many fans, it was arguably the greatest time the sport had ever seen, with characters and stars that were seemingly on another level. From Bret Hart to Shawn Michaels, The Rock to Stone Cold Steve Austin, it was a great time to be a professional wrestler and an even better time to be a fan. Of course, not everyone could reach the aforementioned level of success, leaving many potential huge stars to fall by the wayside and now reside in the dustbin of being overlooked. And one star who had the potential to go a long way in the business over the years was young Louie Spicolli, but as is too often in the wrestling business, personal demons would swallow him whole.

Born in 1971, Louis Mucciolo began training at the age of 17 in the Los Angeles area under the tutelage of ‘Big’ Bill Anderson. He almost immediately got in with the then-World Wrestling Federation as an enhancement talent under his ring name of Louie Spicolli, something he would continue doing for the next seven years whenever the Federation came calling. In between jobber spots, Spicolli kept himself very active on the independent scene, hitting nearly every company of note during the time. Mexico would be a frequent spot for Spicolli, working with different companies. His most notable Mexican stop would be in 1994 joining AAA under the name of Madonna’s Boyfriend. The reason this was so notable was he was a member of the fabled Los Gringos Locos stable, alongside Eddie Guerrero, Art Barr, and Konnan. 

Spicolli also had many other stops in the territories with stops in Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), Atsushi Onita’s Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), and even the doomed Herb Abrams-led Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). According to Spicolli himself in a shoot interview shortly before his death, he even wrestled a few matches for Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association (AWA) towards the tail end of that company’s run as a viable promotion. It was the aforementioned run in AAA that helped get Spicolli his big break after competing at When Worlds Collide, finally landing with the World Wrestling Federation but was in line to being packaged in a new gimmick since it was the mid-90s.

Rad Radford would debut in 1995 with a grunge gimmick and quickly became entwined with The Bodydonnas, the team of Skip (Chris Candido) and Sunny. Unfortunately, this run would peter out rather quickly due to the drug a la choice of pro wrestlers at the time, Somas. In a horrific glance of the future, Spicolli would overdose on Somas and find himself in Intensive Care for several days. Given the proximity to the big steroid scandal, the WWF cut Spicolli loose to avoid any further controversy. Jim Ross would confirm decades later on his Grilling JR podcast that his substance abuse issues were the reason he was cut loose, but he felt Spicolli had tremendous upside and with a better gimmick could have been a star.

Following his dismissal from the WWF, Spicolli briefly worked with Paul Heyman in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) but due to his continued drug abuse and Heyman finding out that he was also in negotiations with both WWF and WCW, he was again cut loose. Sabu would reflect on his late friend years later, revealing that because he felt responsible for Louie being fired from FMW, he helped get him the job in ECW, but Spicolli was a “heatseeker” often arriving late to shows, but still happy to be working.

In the interim, he would work with his former trainer’s independent company Empire Wrestling Federation before signing with WCW in 1997. It is often reported that around this time, Spicolli had taken a really hard look inside of himself and gotten himself clean from his frequent drug and alcohol usage, arguably in the best position in years. This would all lead to perhaps his best-known run, where he would be paired with the dominant New World Order, acting as a subordinate to Scott Hall. 

At this point, it seemed Spicolli had finally reached the big-time and was due for his big push. He would even joust back and forth with Bobby Heenan during his commentary guest spots until an ill-timed joke about the Oklahoma Bombing put an end to those appearances. As Spicolli continued to endear himself to the world as himself, many were comparing him with one of his biggest inspirations from the world of entertainment, the legendary Chris Farley. Unfortunately, nearly two months after Farley’s own death, Spicolli would suffer a similar fate, passing away only days before what was set to be the biggest match of his career, a PPV bout at SuperBrawl against Larry Zbyszko.

While Spicolli had professed to be clean as he had entered WCW, upon learning of the news that his mother was terminally ill with cancer, Louie, like so many before him, had relapsed. Spicolli had taken a dangerous amount of Somas and topped it off with wine while eating, leading him to enter the tragically infamous “27 club” when he choked on his own vomit in his sleep, again mirroring Farley. While wrestling deaths have been far too common, Spicolli passing only days after turning 27 was a big blow as he was still so young with much to give.

Louie’s mass took place at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in San Pedro with his burial at Green Hills Memorial Park in Racho Palos Verdes. The family asked for donations to be made to the American Cancer Society.

Louie was originally scheduled to face Larry Zbyszko at SuperBrawl VIII from the Cow Palace in San Francisco, but his death altered these plans. There very little was mentioned and the business quickly moved on from Louie’s untimely demise.

What could have been with Spicolli is obviously yet another in a long line of ‘what if’ scenarios in the wrestling business, but there was something different and special about Spicolli. He wasn’t built like many of the other guys, with a frame much more similar to that of a Samoa Joe than a Randy Orton, but his love of the business, willingness to do whatever was asked of him and try to make it the best he could, and a constant desire to be better, one can only imagine what could have been with Spicolli had he come along ten years later and been dropped in a different era. His loud, boisterous and infectious energy drew people to him like flies, with him frequently being the highlight of any segment he would be in, a nominal feat when he was being featured alongside members of the New World Order. A man that could have fit into any number of roles on screen, as Jim Ross once said “he was a mark for the business and that’s not a bad thing.” 

Unfortunately, we will never know, but we can always go back and watch what footage there is of Spicolli from his many ventures, but I highly recommend trying to catch some of his WCW work and commentary spots before his tragic demise, and just try to not be enraptured by his energy.