NEWS: The Real Story Behind Dino Bravo's Tragic Death

March 15, 2017

NEWS: The Real Story Behind Dino Bravo's Tragic Death

NEWS: This past March 10th marked the 24th anniversary of Dino Bravo's tragic and untimely death. Bravo was a staple in the WWE during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Managed by Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart, Bravo was often a top heel, teaming with the likes of Earthquake and a real thorn in the side of WWE's top faces like Hulk Hogan. After Bravo retired in April of 1992, he retreated to his home in Montreal, Canada to train wrestlers so that he could give them the opportunity of having a successful wrestling career akin to his own. On March 10th, 1993, Dino Bravo was found dead at the age of 44. His body was riddled by seventeen bullets including seven to his torso and ten to his head. His death was due to his dealings with illegal cigarette smuggling. Legendary WWE Superstar, Rick "the Model" Martel pulls no punches in assessing his friend's passing:

“Dino tried to stay in the [WWF] but he just couldn’t…Vince didn’t wanna have him back. I remember I called Pat Patterson and I suggested that I team up with Dino – because I liked Dino. I said, ‘I’ll take the bumps and [do] all the moving around and he can do the strong stuff…I’m sure we can make it work, you know?’ He said, ‘No, no…we just think that Dino doesn’t fit anymore in our plans.

Dino had kind of painted himself in a corner. Dino liked the high lifestyle…he had a sports Mercedes, he had a big home, you know…and [suddenly] wrestling was over. Dino couldn’t be a 9 to 5 guy…he didn’t have any business experience of any kind. Wrestling was his whole life. And back then, WWF was the only game in town. So if he couldn’t do it for the WWF, what could he do? His uncle [by marriage] was the head of the mafia in Montreal. And he was always saying, ‘Dino, come work for me…’

I remember we were in Europe and he confided in me. ‘Rick…I know I could go into crime and do really good money…but I don’t wanna go that route…I know myself and I know what kind of guy I am…’ Dino was the kind of guy who [always wanted] more and more [but not when to stop]. He knew himself and he knew his demons. But then his [debts] and lifestyle got too much…and all of a sudden the revenue [wasn’t] coming in. I remember the breaking point for him was when he had to go and borrow from his mom. He told me, ‘Man…I can’t…that is too much for [my pride]…’ And back then in the early 90s the [illegal] cigarette trafficking* in Canada started. A lot of people were doing it. So Dino got into that…

[He] went to see the Indians. The Indians had the river so they could pass cigarettes [across] like crazy – or arms – whatever. And the Indians were big wrestling fans, you know? So when they saw Dino they were like, ‘Oh man..!’ They started dealing strictly with him. So Dino had the monopoly with the Indians. He started doing really well.

[After awhile] the cigarette business was doing so great that the cocaine people started saying, ‘Hey, maybe there’s some money in there for us too…’ So the big cocaine guy apparently went to see Dino and said, ‘Look, let me in on your cigarette deals and I’ll let you in on some cocaine deals…’

So what apparently happened is they did some kind of agreement…Dino had a $400,000 shipment in some warehouse somewhere and it stayed there for like, three days…and on the third day when the cocaine guy went to pick it up, the police were there.

So they were blaming each other. Dino was saying, ‘You should have picked it up [on] the first day and it never would have happened – you shouldn’t have let it sit there…’
There was a lot of heat on Dino. This was a week before he died.

It was a Wednesday. His wife and his daughter went to Ballet lessons. He was watching Hockey [on TV].

His wife found him that night.

She had his daughter in her arms – luckily, thank god, his daughter was sleeping so she didn’t see her dad. There was blood [everywhere]…on the ceiling. It was horrible.
They’d pumped ten bullets in his head.

There was no force of entry in his house…and it was the winter, so you could see there would [have been] footprints [in the snow outside]- but there were none.

They had somebody…an inside person. It was probably someone who was watching hockey with him and said, ‘Hey look, Dino, I’m gonna go to the bathroom…’ They shot him from behind. The detective told us that the remote control was loose in his hand…they say that if they shoot you from the front you [see it coming and] tense your muscles and [he would have gripped] that remote control [tightly at the point of death].

So they shot him from behind…he didn’t see anything…”

In a day where heels and babyfaces seldom differ from one another, Dino Bravo's remarkable career as a true heel stands out. Twenty four years later, we remember his life and his passing.