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Arrivaderci, Rocco!

Posted: May 23rd 2007 By: CMBurnham

In independent professional wrestling, many people become labeled as veterans if they reach their 3rd or 4th year and are still around on the same circuit. Rocco Valentino passed that mark several years ago. And somewhere around his 7th year, he acquired another title: The Oklahoma Legend. It joins several other titles he's gained; promoter, champion, booker. Now, at the point of his 11th year as an in-ring competitor, Rocco achieved his last title--retiree. On May 19th, Rocco Valentino stepped into the ring for the last time, bringing the end to a career that was truly legendary.

The man who brought about the end of Rocco's career was his cousin, Brent Albright. Since Albright's return to Oklahoma after a stint in the WWE, he had been targeted by Rocco and the other members of Hate, Inc. They tried to get Brent to join their group, but Brent stood on his own, not wanting to once again be Rocco's lackey. Brent believed he could take away the NWA-U Universal Title from Rocco and, in the process, make Rocco tap out. He forced Rocco to tap in the middle of the ring on 2 seperate occassions, but neither of those were sanctioned matches. He also forced NWA-U owner & Hate, Inc. leader Christopher Fox to tap out as well. These actions humiliated Rocco, who took it upon himself to begin using the Fujiwara armbar as well to make opponents tap out, like Mark Sterling, all the while calling his opponents "Brent". Some people suspected that Brent had gotten in his cousin's head. Others thought that maybe Rocco was using reverse psychology to try and shake "The Shooter" from his game.

About a week prior to their match-up in Wagoner, posts from Rocco began appearing on the NWA-U message board. Stipulations were added to their match. Initially, if Brent lost the match, he would have to become the personal servant to Rocco Valentino and Hate, Inc. for an unspecified amount of time. However, if Rocco lost, he would turn in his wrestling license and never compete in the state of Oklahoma again. Whichever man came out the champion would also be entered into the tournament for the NWA World Title that begins this summer. With no response from these stipulations, Rocco sweetened the pot by saying that if he lost, not only would he not compete in Oklahoma again, but Chris Fox would retire as well. This would essentially bring an end to Hate, Inc. which is something that Albright wanted anyway. Again, no commentary from Brent appeared. He was satisfied to let his actions in the ring speak for him.

On Saturday, May 19, Valentino & Fox came out to the ring to address the crowd. After their usual antics & insults were performed, Fox revealed some of the tools that they had for Brent to perform the chores he would have to do in their service. A bottle of window cleaner and a pooper-scooper were just a couple of the items that they believed would be used by Albright at his new job. Fox then sent Rocco back to prepare for the match and also announced that he was firing NWA Oklahoma Champion Slam Shady from Hate, Inc.due to the controversy over the unofficial title change in Texas. All this was typical bravado from the hated pair. And again, Brent waited his time.

When the time for the match came, NWA-U ring announcer Mike Iles revealed one more surprise: a special referee in the form of AACW Mid-American Light Heavyweight & SWCW Sooner Xtreme Champion Dexter Hardaway. Hardaway had issues with every man in the event. He had a long standing feud with Rocco Valentino which began last year in TPW. When he was NWA-U X Division Champion, he no-showed an event and Fox forced Mike Iles (who was then the commissioner) to strip him of that title. He'd even expressed some jealous sounding comments about Brent, stating that he was tired of hearing so much about "WWAlbright". But even though he's controversial by nature, Dexter is also a fair man and he called the match right down the middle. Approximately 5 minutes into the match, Dexter witnessed Chris Fox attempting to interfere. He stopped the match, ejected Fox from ringside, then restarted it. A couple of minutes later, Valentino pulled an illegal tactic right in front of Hardaway, intentionally attempting to get himself disqualified. Again, Hardaway stopped the match, then announced to the fans that he was not going to allow things to end that way and restarted the match as a No-DQ match. While this may have been an attempt to even the sides, it also tied Hardaway's hands to an extent, as now anything was legal and all he could do was make a 3-count or call a submission.

The match continued for 20 more minutes. Each competitor brought out every trick they knew. Valentino used cunning, treachery and even tried to use Mr. Spikey, his favourite foreign object. Albright countered with techincal know-how, heart and determination. At one point, Albright had Valentino locked in the armbar, but Rocco's knowledge of the ring allowed him to hook a rope and escape. That worked once, but it wouldn't work twice and around the 27-minute mark, Albright once more took Rocco down and bent his arm backwards. Valentino tried to fight, but in the end, he was forced to tap out, submitting both the NWA-Universal Title and his career.

As the crowd cheered and acknowledged their new champion, a beaten Rocco rose to his feet and stood firm in the ring. When Albright turned around, Rocco extended his hand and one last time, the VIP Crew joined together before Rocco exited to allow Brent the opportunity to soak in the adulation.

And thus, one of the most accomplished performers in the state ends his career. His accomplishments are easily viewable on his bio. But it's no stretch to say he's done everything he wanted to do. When contacted for a comment about the culmination of his career as a professional wrestler, Rocco had the following to say: "I have been a main event guy in five different states, but my main goal was to be the best in Oklahoma. Many would debate my status as the Oklahoma Legend, but I will let the statistics speak for themselves. I have accomplished more in the last year than most wrestlers will accomplish in their entire career. Brent asked me yesterday if having such a good match made me want to come back and have more. I said, NO! I was #1 in the Oklafan top 50, I dropped the titles I had when I wanted to drop them, and I proved that I could still go with the best of them. In short, I went out on top."

And, like everything else he's done in his career, he did it his way.