Paul Roma

Early Years (1984 - 1987)

Roma made his professional wrestling debut on Dec 17, 1984 at an All American Wrestling taping in Poughkeepsie, NY, where he teamed with Salvatore Bellomo in a title match and in a losing effort to WWF Tag-Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch. He soon signed a contract, and his first victory would come at a house show on February 5, 1985 against Steve Lombardi in Brooklyn, NY. His first televised victory would be on May 25 at the Philadelphia Spectrum, where he defeated another preliminary wrestler, Johnny Rodz. For the next two years Roma would appear as a preliminary wrestler, but slowly began to accumulate victories while wrestling on the bottom rung of the promotion, defeating such talents as AJ Petrucci, Joe Mirto, Steve Lombardi, Tiger Chung Lee, Frenchy Martin and Pete Dougherty. In the summer of 1986 he formed a short-lived tag-team with S.D. "Special Delivery" Jones and won a series of house show encounters with The Moondogs. Despite continuing to lose in tag-team matches on television, Roma entered 1987 on an overall hot streak, defeating preliminary wrestlers Randy Culley, Steve Lombardi, and Frenchy Martin to go 10-0-1 on house show matches between January and March 1987.

Roma primarily wrestled as a face during this time, and despite being successful over other preliminary wrestlers, he would still hold defeats to more-established superstars at the time such as Bret Hart, Randy Savage, and Bob Orton Jr. at both TV shows and untelevised events.

The Young Stallions (1987 - 1989)

Roma was teamed with fellow preliminary wrestler Jim Powers in what at first likely seemed to be a one-time pairing on March 21, 1987 at a WWF Superstars taping in Las Vegas, NV. Falling to Demolition, Roma & Powers would then go on to lose televised matches to The New Dream Team (March 22), and Butch Reed & Iron Shiek & Nikolai Volkoff (Apr 23rd). Finally, a bit of success came at a WWF Superstars taping on April 24 when the two teamed with Tito Santana in a winning effort against Bob Orton, Don Muraco, and Tiger Chung Lee. Shortly after Roma & Powers began teaming on the house show circuit, losing to Demolition and defeating fellow preliminary team The Shadows. Meanwhile, on television, Roma & Powers would again lose to Demolition in May on WWF Superstars, followed by a loss to the Dream Team on Wrestling Challenge.

According to both Roma and Powers, they were put together because of their physiques and because were fairly similar in build and overall athleticism. Extremely successful star Mr. T would be their manager, but nothing ever materialized.

The team's first significant victory would come in a huge upset victory over Bob Orton & Don Muraco at Madison Square Garden on May 18,. The match would air on Prime Time Wrestling later that month. Roma & Powers would follow this with televised victories over The Shadows (Randy Colley & Jose Luis Rivera) in June. This momentum was quickly squashed when the duo teamed with Mario Mancini and Don Driggers in a squad match loss on June 20 to the newly formed Bobby Heenan family (King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, Harley Race, and a returning Paul Orndorff). For the next two months Roma & Powers would wrestle The Islanders on house shows, where they were winless.

The team's first big break came on August 8, 1987 when they faced WWF Tag-Team Champions The Hart Foundation. Roma & Powers scored a tremendous upset victory in a reversed victory in a non-title matchup;. The win was the beginning of a push for the team, which soon began winning multiple encounters with Muraco & Orton on the house show circuit as the summer closed. Another huge upset victory came on August 20 when they upended Kamala and Sika via countout on WWF Superstars. On August 30 they again defeated The Hart Foundation, this time via disqualification in a match on Prime Time Wrestling. Meanwhile, on the house show circuit the team won several encounters with The New Dream Team.

That fall the Roma & Powers pairing finally received an official moniker, The Young Stallions. The team seemingly received their name by accident when play-by-play commentator Vince McMahon referred to them once as "a couple of young stallions", thus naming the team. The Stallions would soon acquire the music intended for the Hart Foundation, "Crank it Up", and entered a short feud with the WWF Tag-Team Champions. The Stallions received their first ever Saturday Night's Main Event matchup, where they fell to The Hart Foundation in a match that aired on October 3. This did little to stall the momentum that the team now had, and Roma & Powers scored the biggest victory of their careers when they became one of only two surviving teams alongside The Killer Bees in the elimination tag team match at the first annual Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 26, 1987.

The Stallions success took a small hit at the 1988 Royal Rumble, where Roma & Powers lost a best of three falls match to The Islanders in two straight falls. Despite this Roma & Powers continued to enjoy success that winter, winning house show encounters with The Bolsheviks, The Alaskans (Dave Wagner & Rick Renslow), and The Conquistadors. The latter had many matches taking place in the original Boston Garden. On March 3, 1988, nearly a year after their initial encounter Roma & Powers again faced Demolition on Prime Time Wrestling. This time the match was much closer, with Demolition winning. The teams would later face on a house show match in Lugano, Switzerland on April 1, with the Stallions scoring a huge upset victory.

However WWF owner Vince McMahon seemed to lose interest in the idea of pushing the team. This may have been due, in part, to the fact that Powers and Roma did not get along with each other behind the curtain. The Stallions lost house show matches to the Rougeau Brothers in May, then dropped multiple encounters to The Bolsheviks the following month. Roma & Powers even lost to The Conquistadors on a house show in Warwick, RI on July 3, and by the end of the summer had lost all momentum, falling in multiple encounters to The Killer Bees. The team that had shocked the world less than a year earlier was now devoid of a push, and was fodder for the Brain Busters in the fall. A year after winning the inaugural Survivor Series, The Young Stallions found themselves the second team eliminated in the 1988 PPV.

As the Stallions limped into 1989 at nearly the very bottom of the tag-team ranks, Paul Roma again began to compete in singles competition. He upset King Haku and Rick Rude by disqualification on house shows in January 1989 in successive nights, and also scored multiple pinfall victories over Boris Zukhov, Barry Horowitz, and Iron Mike Sharpe. His teamings with Powers became less frequent, and after several losses to The Twin Towers in January the Young Stallions would not be seen together until a Madison Square Garden victory on March 18 against The Conquistadors, followed by a Boston Gardens victory the next night. That would be the last pairing of the two until June 19, when the Stallions defeated Boris Zukhov & Barry Horowitz on Prime Time Wrestling. This would also be their final victory, as the duo remained dormant until they reunited one last time in a loss to The Powers of Pain on August 7 on Prime Time Wrestling. Without an official announcement or angle to end the partnership, Roma and Powers went their separate ways, competing in the singles division.

Singles Run (1989 - 1990)

Although highly successful against lower level competition in the first half of 1989 when not competing in tag-team action, Paul Roma's momentum stalled out following the dissolution of The Young Stallions. He found himself on the losing end of multiple encounters with The Genius and The Widowmaker at house shows. Now slotted as a top-level card opener, Roma continued to win numerous matches with Boris Zukhov, Barry Horowitz, and others, but was unable to move up the card. He defeated Zukhov in a dark match at the 1989 Survivor Series, and also pinned Steve Lombardi in dark matches at both 1990 Royal Rumble and WrestleMania VI. Televised victories over Buddy Rose and Zukhov followed in the spring of 1990, although he sustained defeats to Rick Martel, Bad News Brown and Ted Dibiase.

Power and Glory (1990 - 1991)

However it would be in tag-team action that Paul Roma would once again experience a career resurgence. In May 14, 1990 on Prime Time Wrestling Roma teamed with Hercules Hernandez for the first time, defeating Ken Johnson and Buddy Rose. At first this seemed like a one-time pairing, but played into a major storyline the following month. On June 18 on Prime Time, Hercules was defeated by Rick Martel. After the match Martel sprayed "Arrogance" into the face of Hercules, and Roma came out to make the save. On July 21 on WWF Superstars, Roma was defeated by Dino Bravo. Following the loss The Rockers came out to help Roma but ended up getting into a shoving match with him instead. Hercules came to ringside and then proceeded to attack Michaels and Jannetty. Roma & Hercules then became an official team, Power and Glory, managed by Slick.

Following the initial pairing, Roma had an opportunity to face his former partner, Jim Powers after one year and half of their separation as team. Powers at the time, was also occasionally teaming with "Jumpin' Jim Brunzell. Roma and Hernandez got the upper hand in the short-lived feud defeating Powers and Brunzell in a dark match, episode of Prime Time Wrestling after Roma and Hercules applied their finisher the Power-Plex to Brunzell, and ending with Roma pinning Brunzell thereafter. He also squared off against Powers in singles competition on several house shows in August 1990. The last time Roma and Powers would square against each other would be on a house show in late 1990, as Powers was teaming with Marty Jannetty as a replacement for Jannetty's original partner, Shawn Michaels, who was taking time off to heal an injury, there once again Power & Glory got the upper-hand while Powers and Jannetty were defeated. Power & Glory quickly moved into a high profile feud with The Rockers. Power and Glory clashed with the Rockers at SummerSlam 1990 with Marty Jannetty being forced to wrestle the match on his own after Power and Glory injured Shawn Michaels before the match (this was a storyline excuse to give Michaels some time off to heal a previously suffered injury). Once Michaels returned, the feud continued, with the two teams being on opposite sides at Survivor Series, with Power and Glory once again coming out as the victors.

Power & Glory challenged WWF Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation but never won the gold. They also challenged The Rockers during the latter's brief run as champions (which was erased from record books when the Rockers' title win was reversed) Power & Glory's misfortune continued at WrestleMania VII where they lost to The Legion of Doom in under a minute.

Roma was featured in numerous televised singles matches in the summer of 1991, including against Davey Boy Smith, Virgil, Bret Hart, and Ricky Steamboat. Power and Glory teamed up with Slick's other charge, the Warlord, for a series of 6 man tag-team matches.

Their last pay per view outing came when they teamed with The Warlord to face Ricky Steamboat, Kerry Von Erich and Davey Boy Smith at SummerSlam 1991 in a losing effort. In one of their last recorded matches together as a team, they lost to the Legion of Doom at the Royal Albert Hall in England. Roma's final WWF match came later on that tour, when Power & Glory were defeated by The Rockers in Paris, France on October 9. Roma then left the Federation, while Hercules would remain with the company for a few months before departing as well.

Four Horsemen (1993)

In 1993, Paul Roma signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling and became part of the Four Horsemen alongside Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. Ric Flair had returned from WWF in early 1993 to rejoin Arn and they promised a Horsemen reunion at Slamboree.. Paul Roma and Arn Anderson teamed up and won the WCW World Tag Team Championship from "Stunning" Steve Austin and "Lord" Steven Regal (who was substituting for an injured Brian Pillman). Paul Roma and Arn Anderson held on to the gold for a little over a month before losing it to The Nasty Boys.

After the 1993 WCW PPV Battlebowl the Horsemen Paul Roma and Arn Anderson faced the semi-regular team of Paul Orndorff and "Stunning" Steve Austin on WCW Saturday Night. During the match Roma acted very indifferent to his tag-team partner sowing the seeds for his heel turn. Next Roma teamed with Erik Watts to take on the team of Orndorff and Austin once again, this time Roma took it a step further and attacked Erik Watts before announcing that he was now teaming with Paul Orndorff.

Pretty Wonderful (1993 - 1995)

Under the tutelage of manager Masked Assassin the team quickly began to work well together in a feud with Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio. After a few months as a team they targeted the then WCW World Tag Team Champions Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan. Going into Bash at the Beach 1994 Pretty Wonderful had the advantage as both champions were suffering from injuries inflicted by the challengers on previous occasions (or so the storyline went). Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan were unable to hold off Roma and Orndorff as Pretty Wonderful left the ring with the gold. After winning the titles Pretty Wonderful was immediately challenged by the Nasty Boys but the Nasty Boys were never able to take the gold from the champions. Next Pretty Wonderful were challenged by the duo of Stars and Stripes (Marcus Alexander Bagwell & The Patriot) at Fall Brawl. The champions retained but a week later the championship changed hands when Stars and Stripes got the 1-2-3. Pretty Wonderful was granted a rematch against the new champions with a match booked for Halloween Havoc, Pretty Wonderful regained the titles when Roma dropped an elbow from the top rope on Bagwell, who had Orndorff trapped in a fisherman's suplex, but the referee's back was turned.

At Clash of the Champions XXIX Stars and Stripes were granted a final shot at the tag-team titles, but the challengers also had to put up he Patriot's mask on the line, if they lost he would unmask. After a controversial double pin finish Stars and Stripes were declared the winners and thus the champions putting the end to Pretty Wonderful's second and final run with the gold. After the loss Roma and Orndorff went their separate ways, wresting in singles matches. Paul Roma was asked to help make WCW newcomer "Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright look good at SuperBrawl V, a WCW Pay-Per-View event. Roma dominated Wright for most of the match, yet Wright was able to score the upset win via pinfall at the end of the match. Roma would find himself in WCW management's doghouse for complaining about having to job to Alex Wright, per Pro Wrestling Torch. Roma continued appearing in WCW, teaming with Paul Orndorff two nights later in a losing effort against Dustin Rhodes & Johnny B Badd at a WCW Pro taping. He would lose multiple house show encounters with Alex Wright to close the month. His final match came in loss to Brian Pillman on WCW Saturday Night on March 8, 1995. He was released as part of a WCW effort to lower their talent budget in March 1995, along with Dustin Rhodes and Barry Darsow.

Post WCW-career

In late 1995, after leaving WCW he joined the Catch Wrestling Association, winning the championship of that promotion, defeating Franz Schumann, and losing it to Fit Finlay the following month. He attempted to make a WWF comeback in December 1997 alongside a student of Mr. Fuji called Alex Roma. They wrestled only one dark match, at a Raw is War taping. Roma also won a singles match at the same taping, defeating Nick Barberry. No contract was ever offered to them, and Roma retired in 1998 to focus on bodybuilding and wrestling-related business ventures.

In 2006, Roma resurfaced on the wrestling scene as he was named the commissioner of the independent promotion, Connecticut Championship Wrestling, a federation which is currently closed down. He also had a "Pretty Wonderful" reunion with Paul Orndorff in Connecticut Championship Wrestling. Roma has since been competing in the IAW (Independent Association of Wrestling) wrestling promotion. Roma won the IAW Heavyweight Championship, after beating Brian Costello (aka The Crippler), on July 8, 2006 at IAW Clash at the Cove VIII, in South Bend, IN. He eventually lost the title to The Crippler on March 24, 2007 at IAW Clash at the CAVE II (held in the gym of Mishawaka High School in Mishawaka, IN) after receiving a piledriver onto a chair, behind the back of special referee Brandon Trtan, who was attacked and knocked out of the ring by Roma.

Boxing career

After leaving the World Wrestling Federation in 1991, Roma turned to pro boxing, competing under Paul Roma since it was the name that he thought had the most recognition factor. He had a sum total of three professional boxing matches. In his debut match on March 6, 1992 Roma lost via TKO in the fourth round to a fighter named Jerry Arentzen, when his trainer threw in the towel. The victory was one of Arentzen's two wins in 22 matches. On April 1, 1992 he defeated Norman Fortini and then on May 5, 1992 he fought and defeated Norman Shrink, this was both Fortini's and Shrink's only professional boxing match ever. After the third fight Roma stopped boxing and returned to professional wrestling on the independent circuit at first, and then eventually WCW.

Personal life

Roma runs a wrestling training school in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In the late 1980s, Roma appeared on the Australian television game show Perfect Match, a show based on the format of The Dating Game.

Roma said in a 2013 'shoot' interview' he regularly visits and speaks to children in St. Jude's Hospital.

Roma said he has behind-the-scenes problems with former partner Jim Powers and also said they didn't get along well during their time together in the WWF.

Currently Roma (alongside fellow wrestlers Mario Mancini and Dave Paradise) run a wrestling school based on East Haven, Connecticut.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments