Mark Rocco started amateur wrestling at age 16, competing as far away as southern France and Pakistan, was definitely wrestling professionally by July 1970, being then a regular at Northern venues such as Liverpool Stadium and Blackpool Tower.
21 Facts About Mark Rocco
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Mark Rocco lost the championship to Adams a few months later, and regained it towards the middle of 1979.
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In 1981, Mark Rocco had his first feud with Satoru Sayama, then wrestling in Britain as Sammy Lee.
4.
Mark Rocco was scheduled to wrestle Lee for the World Heavy-Middleweight title at Wembley Arena that year on the undercard of the famous Big Daddy versus Giant Haystacks grudge match, but this was cancelled after Lee returned to Japan due to a family bereavement.
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Mark Rocco was awarded Joint Promotions recognition as champion by default that night; later that year he defeated Joel de Fremery at a TV taping in Southport for the main European version of the World Heavy Middleweight title.
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The rivalry between the two Tigers continued throughout 1982, as the two feuded over the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship after Mark Rocco defeated Gran Hamada in a tournament final for the title in Fukuoka on 6 May before losing it back to Tiger Mask less than a month later in Tokyo, Japan on 26 May 1982.
7.
Mark Rocco made further visits to Japan in the late 1980s where he and Keiichi Yamada would recreate their UK feud.
8.
In 1989, as Black Tiger, Mark Rocco fought with Yamada's own superhero alter ego, Jushin Liger.
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Crucial to the defection was that Mark Rocco brought his World Heavy Middleweight championship with him.
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Mark Rocco agreed and made the jump, working for promoter Brian Dixon, whose Wrestling Enterprises promotion evolved into All Star Wrestling.
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Dixon would later comment that Mark Rocco was his best employee, both as a worker and as a loyal friend.
12.
In 1983, Mark Rocco appeared during All Star Wrestling's national tour of Great Britain and issued an open challenge for a non-title match to any wrestler in the promotion.
13.
Mark Rocco successfully defended the title after he had tied the Dynamite Kid's arms to the cord of the area curtains.
14.
In late 1985, Mark Rocco lost his title to Cullen but regained it a few days later.
15.
Nagasaki and Mark Rocco defeated Yamada and Myers in the main event of a TV taping at the Fairfield Hall Croydon.
16.
Mark Rocco attempted to pull the mask back down, but Taylor forearm-smashed Mark Rocco, causing the mask to come off in his hands.
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Mark Rocco wrestled in France for Roger Delaporte's Federation Francaise de Catch Professionnel going back to the late 1970s.
18.
In 1991, Mark Rocco collapsed in the dressing room following a match against Fit Finlay in Worthing.
19.
Mark Rocco vacated his World championship, which was after won by Robbie Brookside in a tournament.
20.
Rollerball Mark Rocco was the subject of the 2011 song "Inside the Restless Mind of Rollerball Mark Rocco" by English musician Luke Haines.
21.
In September 2012, Mark Rocco was named as one of the mentors on the Challenge reality television programme TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp.