Vito Finding Life Outside The Ring
The former WWE Superstar appears in new horror flick “The Church.”
There have been countless colorful characters over the past 1,000 episodes of SmackDown, but only one is instantly recognizable when you say “dress.”
I’m not talking about any of the Divas – I’m talking about Vito.
The former WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA grappler appears in a new movie – The Church, a horror flick written and directed by first-time filmmaker Dom Frank.
“In this thriller, the minister of a once vibrant Baptist church is the sole hold-out in a decaying Philadelphia neighborhood earmarked for gentrification. However, the preacher’s steely resolve to preserve his family’s evangelical legacy in the community and dwindling congregation dissolves under relentless pressure from his status-seeking wife and greedy church leaders, lured by cash bribes and promises from unscrupulous developers to establish a flashy “mega-ministry” elsewhere.
The spirits of congregational members deeply wronged of centuries past – stirred from the disquiet of their graves by the remorseless trespasses of another generation – begin to make their displeasure known. As the sinners, abruptly and inexplicably bound within the confines of the sanctuary, begin to fall prey to unseen and ominous forces, they must all re-examine their choices and bow to the will of the covenant …only to reveal the righteous among them.”
Vito joins a cast of Clint Howard (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Arrested Development, Apollo 13), Bill Mosely (The Devil’s Rejects, House of 1000 Corpses, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Ashley C. Williams (Julia, The Human Centipede), Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street film series) and Keith Stallworth (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen).
With a regional roll out beginning Oct. 5, initial markets where The Church will enjoy a minimum of a one-week theatrical run include Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, Los Angeles/Orange County/San Bernardino, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, New York/Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, Raleigh and San Francisco.
To get tickets and more information, visit thechurchmovie.com.
Follow Vito on Twitter at @TheBigVitoBrand.
Vito spoke with The Wrestling Estate ahead of the film’s release. The following conversation has been edited and condensed.
Why did you want to be a part of The Church?
Vito: “I’ve done movies before and been in the entertainment business for years. I’ve done commercials, game shows, reality shows, you name it. I enjoyed doing The Church and had a lot of fun. I worked with great people and picked their brain about the movie industry. A lot of them were wrestling fans so they were intrigued to be working with me as well.”
When people come up to you to talk about your career, what are some of the things they ask you about?
Vito: “Oh, they remember Da Baldies in ECW. They definitely remember the great vignettes from the Mamalukes in WCW, and then they remember my hardcore run, especially me and Terry Funk. They followed me through TNA and the Impact Zone and then the WWE with the FBI and the dress. They were very intrigued that I could change characters on the spot. They were very complimentary about me being able to adapt to different situations.”
When you broke into the business some 25 years ago, the media covered pro wrestling very differently than they do today. When you’re working with these fellow entertainers, are you surprised that they regard you as one of them?
Vito: “They look at me as an entertainer because I’m old-school. Just like a lot of these actors today, they came up through the old regime. They learned from guys like Pesci, DeNiro, Stallone and Schwarzenegger. In wrestling, you talk about Bruno, Macho Man, Flair, Bret Hart. Guys who made wrestling what it is. They honed their craft in the territories.
I think the industry has lost that. They play around too much with character development with a lot of different guys and then they let them only get so far. Bray Wyatt is one of the best in the business and they won’t let him evolve. Elias has the whole package and they won’t let him get ahead. It’s mind-boggling. Everybody is in that A- class – they won’t let anybody get to that Cena, Rock, Austin level. The only guy that really interests me today is Brock Lesnar. He’s a legit badass and draws people. People give him a hard time for wrestling only once in a while when he’s the champion. You’re champion isn’t supposed to wrestle all the time on TV. I’m old-school – Bruno didn’t wrestle on TV every week. He made an appearance, did an interview or you didn’t see him. That’s what made him special. That’s what made Brock Lesnar special. There’s a method to the madness, you know what I mean?”
Absolutely. It’s cool that you still keep up with wrestling. You’ve got a podcast on Vince Russo’s REALM network and you’re developing the Big Vito Brand. What exactly is that?
Vito: “Well, it’s a project that started because my wife had a stroke. Now she’s better, but she lost her memory and stuff. I was doing the podcast with Vince. He helped me and guided me with launching my own brand. It was a way to help her regain focus and help with her rehabilitation and get her out and involved.
I actually had to change my philosophy. Now that I’m doing a podcast, I had to become an analyst and a journalist. I had to give my honest opinion. We’re not here to bury anybody or crap on people. If I think something is good, hell yeah, I’ll be for it. If I think something is bad, I’m going to explain why. WWE has been doing one formula for a long time because there is one man running things. You have to respect that. Sometimes, he hits a home run. A lot of times, he hits duds. They hotshot a lot of things, they don’t give guys a full push. Look at a guy like Jinder Mahal. They rode that guy for six months and when he finally started to be a champion and give a promo, they beat him and killed him. Same thing with Kevin Owens. He was doing great after the Jericho thing, and then they beat him and destroyed him. Randy Orton has been dead for years. They made him a heel, they made him a face. I thought he and Bray Wyatt made a great team.
There is nothing new coming along. Nobody that excites you. If NXT became its own brand and keeps the same cult following that ECW had and landed on a different network, I think it could survive and be somewhere that wrestlers would like to go. You could recycle the talent between Raw, SmackDown and NXT so people wouldn’t get stale and everyone would have more credibility.”
Was there ever a point in your life where you didn’t want to follow the business anymore?
Vito: “It’s not that I didn’t want to follow wrestling. I wish I had opportunity to be in the back and work in creative. I’m able to be a teacher and give my knowledge. I’ve done everything you can possibly imagine in the wrestling business. If I was given an opportunity to do this, I would do it. I can use my knowledge and skills to bring wrestling back to where it was. There’s one formula, fellas. It’s been done for years. It takes hard work, dedication and following the secret recipe: psychology 101.
A lot of guys don’t do it. A lot of guys don’t follow kayfabe. You know what? When Skull Von Krush was a German, I made you believe I was a German because I didn’t speak English anywhere I went. I was on TV fighting Bret Hart, Bossman, Virgil. Then I went to ECW and they said why don’t you be Vito “The Skull” LoGrasso from Staten Island, New York. That was the beginning of the Big Vito persona. When I went to WCW, I was just being myself. Everybody knew I was a Staten Island tough guy and hung around with the underground and had friends in high places. It all blended together. I wasn’t lying about anything. I was being myself.”
Stolen from @THEVinceRusso We go back THIS far! 26 years and counting pic.twitter.com/5tCwBNmz6R
— Big Vito (@TheBigVitoBrand) September 19, 2018
That must have really helped you when you transitioned to acting.
Vito: “I think so. In both wrestling and in movies, there is a producer who has a vision that he wants portrayed through you. You take your experience and use it with their vision and put together the best character you can to make their product shine. My dream is to be a New York City detective in a movie. I would shine as either a dirty cop or even a good guy cop.”
I could see that. What did you think of your role in The Church?
Vito: “I was fine with it because I’ve been playing a heavy my whole life. That’s the great thing about it – I was being myself. When you saw me adapt to being a tough man wearing a dress, you saw me smile, my personality and the love that I have. It’s the diversity of being a good entertainer. In The Church, I ate it up. Did I read the script line from line? I tried. Did I improvise a lot? Yeah, it came out better in my words than they had on paper. It was a good part, people liked it and they’re looking to do a sequel.”
How was filming in Philly? Did you grab a cheesesteak while you were here?
Vito: “Of course. If I didn’t, they would have lynched me. When I wrestled in ECW, they took me to Tony Luke’s. Philly is a great place. The people there are awesome. You know, Rocky Balboa is from Philadelphia, so us Italians got to stick together.”
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