Gary Wolfe (born March 11, 1967) is an American professional wrestler best known for his time in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) under the ring name Pitbull #1 as one half of the tag team called The Pitbulls, with Anthony Durante as Pitbull #2. He was a one-time Television Champion and a one-time World Tag Team Champion in ECW. He is also a former two-time 3PW World Heavyweight Champion.
Professional wrestling career
Early career
Wolfe made his professional wrestling debut on January 2, 1988 by teaming with Johnny Hotbody to form a tag team called The Gladiators, who lost their first match to Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner. Wolfe formed a tag team with Anthony Durante, who competed in World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as enhancement talents in 1989. Wolfe and Durante formed a tag team called American Bulldogs, which would later be renamed The Pitbulls and Mad Bull Busters. The team competed in many promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), South Atlantic Pro Wrestling and Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA). Wolfe would compete under the ring name Pitbull Spike.
Eastern / Extreme Championship Wrestling
The Pitbulls and Television Champion (1992–1994) The Pitbulls debuted in Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) at a live event on April 25, 1992, where Pitbull Spike participated in a battle royal with the winner earning an ECW Heavyweight Championship match. Later that night, Pitbulls defeated Jeff Royal and Johnny Hotbody in the main event of the show. The Pitbulls then engaged in a brief rivalry with The Super Destroyers before departing the company.
Gary Wolf returned to ECW, making his debut as a singles competitor at Holiday Hell on December 26, 1993 under the ring name The Pitbull, where he lost to Chad Austin in his debut match. However, Pitbull attacked Austin and The Sandman, with the assistance of Jason, thus forming an alliance with Jason and established himself as a villain in the process. He aligned himself with Rockin' Rebel and the two faced Sandman and Tommy Cairo in a dog collar match in a losing effort at The Night the Line Was Crossed on February 5, 1994. On the April 19 episode of Hardcore TV, Pitbull defeated J.T. Smith to capture the ECW Television Championship when Smith was attacked by The Public Enemy before the match. Pitbull began a rivalry with The Tazmaniac after Tazmaniac was named the number one contender to his newly won Television Championship. On the May 17 episode of Hardcore TV, Pitbull lost the title to Mikey Whipwreck after a distraction by Tazmaniac. This led to a lengthy rivalry between Pitbull and Tazmaniac, beginning at When Worlds Collide, where Pitbull defeated Tazmaniac in their first match.
The Pitbulls reunion (1994–1997)
On the June 7 episode of Hardcore TV, it was announced that Pitbull would face Tazmaniac in a dog collar match at Hostile City Showdown, which Tazmaniac won. After the match, Pitbull #2 made his ECW debut and joined Pitbull in attacking Tazmaniac and thus formed The Pitbulls for the first time on ECW television. Pitbulls competed as a team for the first time in ECW at Heat Wave, where they lost to Tazmaniac and Sabu. On the July 26 episode of Hardcore TV, Pitbulls attacked their tag team partner Jimmy Snuka after they lost a match to Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk and Dory Funk, Jr. This led to Tazmaniac making the save, leading to a match between Pitbulls and the team of Snuka and Tazmaniac at Hardcore Heaven, which Pitbulls lost, thus ending the feud. Pitbulls defeated The Bad Breed (Axl Rotten and Ian Rotten) in a match at November to Remember and lost a handicap match to 911 at Holiday Hell.