 Sincere in 2009 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Brandi (1966-07-09)July 9, 1966 (age 59) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Johnny Gunn Salvatore Sincere Tom Brandi The Patriot |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 270 lb (120 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Italy By way ofThe Bronx |
| Trained by | King Kaluha |
| Debut | 1985[1] |
Thomas Brandi (born July 9, 1966) is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in theWorld Wrestling Federation from 1996 to 1998 under thering nameSalvatore Sincere andTom Brandi. Brandi is also known for his appearances with theAmerican Wrestling Federation,World Championship Wrestling andExtreme Championship Wrestling asJohnny Gunn.
Brandi debuted in 1985 after being trained byindy wrestlerKing Kaluha. His first notoriety came inInternational World Class Championship Wrestling where he won theIWCCW Television Championship as "Chippendale" Tom Brandi agimmick similar to the one used byThe Fantastics andThe Fabulous Ones in the 1980s. In 1988, he worked in Italy.
InWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW), Brandi went by Johnny Gunn. He achieved some of the most notable moments in his career while teaming withTom Zenk. AtHalloween Havoc 1992, Brandi partnered withShane Douglas and Tom Zenk to defeatBobby Eaton,Arn Anderson, andMichael Hayes.
Brandi later joinedExtreme Championship Wrestling and teamed withTommy Dreamer to capture theECW Tag Team Championships. They captured the titles fromJohnny Hotbody andTony Stetson in only nine seconds. Less than a month later, the pair would lose the titles toThe Tazmaniac (laterTaz) andKevin Sullivan. Having suffered an injury, Gunn was replaced with Shane Douglas for a night, who turned on Dreamer to cost them the tag belts.[2]
In 1994, Brandi as Johnny Gunn worked forAll Japan Pro Wrestling where he occasionally teamed withDory Funk Jr.
In 1995, he competed for the short livedAmerican Wrestling Federation (AWF) on the TV seriesWarriors of Wrestling where he used the name "Johnny Gunn" and renewed hisChippendales gimmick where he was a fan favorite. Brandi also teamed withJim Powers while in the AWF.
In 1995, Brandi won the USWF Championship under the name Johnny Gunn. After losing the championship to his former trainer, King Kaluha, Brandi won the USWF Tag Team Championship from Damage Inc.
He then went to theWorld Wrestling Federation. He was one of a series of "jobbers with gimmicks" brought into the WWF in 1996 to help elevate the company's stars, alongsideAlex "The Pug" Pourteau,Freddie Joe Floyd,the Goon, andT. L. Hopper. He debuted in July 1996 as "Salvatore Sincere," avillainous stereotypical Italian Street thug, aBrother Love inspired character clad in pink and white who falsely claimed to be sincere and to "love" everyone. He appeared at the1996 Survivor Series andIn Your House: It's Time, where he wrestled indark matches. He also worked matches with some of the WWF's top names at the time, includingShawn Michaels,The Undertaker, andDwayne Johnson (billed as "Rocky Maivia" during his debut match in the WWF with Salvatore).
He briefly feuded withMarc Mero over valetSable in 1997. During this storyline, Brandi began wrestling under his given name after Mero called him ajobber and said that he was "Tom Brandi", not Salvatore Sincere. Sincere later would go on to win a match against Mero by countout. After going by his real name, he participated in the1998 Royal Rumble match, lasting a matter of seconds before being eliminated byCactus Jack andTerry Funk. He lost toJeff Jarrett in his last televised match on the March 16th, 1998 episode ofMonday Night Raw. Brandi left the WWF that April.
Since leaving the WWF, Brandi has wrestled on theindependent circuit under both the Brandi and Sincere names, and sometimes wrestles or does autograph signings under a mask asThe Patriot,[3] although without the permission of the original Patriot, Del Wilkes.[4] He mainly worked for NWA New Jersey.
In 2025, he was using the Johnny Gunn gimmick he had in ECW.
On January 11, 2025, Brandi worked forNew Japan Pro Wrestling teaming with Uce Leory as they lost to Horus and Cian Dlevin in Auckland, New Zealand.
