| Trent Beretta | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Beretta in 2022 | |
| Birth name | Gregory Marasciulo |
| Born | (1987-03-30)March 30, 1987 (age 38)[1] Mount Sinai, New York, U.S.[1][2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ace Vedder Beretta[3] The Girl from Mexico Greg Cardona Greg Jackson Greg Marasciulo plaZma Trent Trent?[4] Trent Barreta Trent Beretta Trent? Beretta[5] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[6][7] |
| Billed weight | 215 lb (98 kg)[6][3][7] |
| Billed from | Long Island, New York[3][7] |
| Trained by | Florida Championship Wrestling Mikey Whipwreck[1] New York Wrestling Connection[1] |
| Debut | July 10, 2004[1] |
Gregory Marasciulo (born March 30, 1987),[7] better known by thering nameTrent Beretta, is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is signed toAll Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of theDon Callis Family. He is also known for his time withWWE asTrent Barreta andNew Japan Pro-Wrestling andRing of Honor under the ring nameBeretta. As part ofRoppongi Vice alongsideRocky Romero, Beretta is a formerfour-timeIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. He is also known for his tenures withPro Wrestling Guerilla and various independent promotions.
Marasciulo began his professional wrestling career at New York Wrestling Connection in 2004 before signing toWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He worked in WWE'sdevelopmental territoryFlorida Championship Wrestling before debuting on WWE's main roster in 2009. Marasciulo wrestled as one half of the Dude Busters withCaylen Croft before he began wrestling as a lower-card singles competitor and was released from his WWE contract in 2013. After his release from WWE, Marasciulo started wrestling in promotions includingTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, and Ring of Honor.[1]
Marasciulo made his professional debut for New York Wrestling Connection on July 10, 2004, under thering name Plazma in a losing effort toDan Barry.[1] After wrestling primarily in singles andtag team matches, Plazma defeated Matt Maverick on January 28, 2006, to become the promotion's first ever Hi-Fi Champion, which was also the first championship of his career.[1] On February 25, Plazma retained the title against Maverick in his first title defense.[1] On March 18, Plazma lost the title to Mike Spinelli.[1] Plazma would defeat Spinelli in a rematch for the title on May 20.[1] After successfully retaining the title against the likes of Jamie Van Lemer, Spyder, Javi-Air, and Jerry Lynn throughout the next few months, Plazma lost the Hi-Fi Championship to Dickie Rodz on October 21.[1] After two unsuccessful attempts to regain the title in February and March 2007, respectively, Plazma teamed with Maverick to defeat The Angus Brothers (Danny and Billy) and Dan Dynasty and Jamie Van Lemer in athree-way match to win the Tag Team Championship.[1] The team would retain the title on several occasions before losing them to MEGA andPrince Nana on December 15.[1] That same night, Plazma defeated Quiet Storm to win the NYWC Heavyweight Championship, although the title was vacated shortly afterwards due to Marasciulo announcing his signing to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).[1]
On May 20, 2017, Marasciulo was inducted into the NYWC Hall of Fame as Trent Barreta and competed in an eight-man tag team match at Master of the Mat.
Between August 2007 and January 2008, Marasciulo had several tryout matches for WWE, using the ring name Greg Cardona.[1] He was signed to a WWE contract and began wrestling inFlorida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the ring name Greg Jackson. His name was later changed to Trent Barreta, then tweaked to Trent Beretta. He also competed under amask as The Girl From Mexico in an attempt to become the firstQueen of FCW, but was eliminated in the second round byAngela Fong.[8] Beretta would soon form atag team withCaylen Croft called the "Dude Busters".[9] Together, they would defeatTyler Reks on May 30, 2009, to win theFCW Florida Tag Team Championship after Reks' tag team partner,Johnny Curtis,failed to appear. On July 23, Barreta and Croft lost the title toJustin Angel and Kris Logan. The Dude Busters reclaimed the title when Croft andCurt Hawkins, their new ally, defeated the Rotundos (Bo andDuke) on November 19. Barreta was officially recognized as a champion alongside Croft and Hawkins, and was allowed to defend the title alongside either Croft or Hawkins via theFreebird Rule. On January 14, 2010, at an FCW television taping, the Dude Busters lost the Florida Tag Team Championship to The Fortunate Sons (Brett DiBiase andJoe Hennig).[10]
On the December 1, 2009, episode ofECW on Syfy, Marasciulo, under the respelled name of Trent Barreta, and Caylen Croft debuted asvillains, squashing a tag team.[1][2] The duo would then feud withGoldust andYoshi Tatsu, which culminated in a loss to Goldust and Tatsu in a match to determine the number one contenders to theUnified WWE Tag Team Championship on the February 9, 2010, episode ofECW.[11] When theECW brand ended in February 2010, its roster became free agents. Barreta and Croft signed withSmackDown, making their debut for the brand on February 19 in a losing effort againstCryme Tyme.[12] Barreta and Croft would then feud withThe Hart Dynasty, but could never manage a win against them.[1] In April, they began using their Dude Busters name again, which they had seemingly dropped since debuting in ECW.[13] The Dude Busters then turned intofan favorites when they entered into a feud with the Gatecrashers (Curt Hawkins andVance Archer) in August. The Dude Busters then earned their first tag team victory since joining the SmackDown roster when they defeated the Gatecrashers on the August 26 episode ofSuperstars.[14]
On November 19, 2010, Caylen Croft was released from his contract, effectively ending the Dude Busters and turning Barreta into a singles competitor.[15] After becoming a singles competitor, Barreta would largely be involved in lower-card feuds. During this period, a majority of his matches would be onSuperstars, and when he appeared onSmackDown, he would almost always lose, only garnering a single win when appearing onSmackDown during his tenure in WWE.[1][16][17] Barreta would continue to feud with Hawkins, whose partner Archer had also been released together with Croft. Both wrestlers would exchange wins in various matches on Superstars.[18][19][20] Barreta would then feud withDrew McIntyre, even managing to earn an upset victory over McIntyre on the January 14, 2011, episode ofSmackDown, his first singles win on the SmackDown brand since the breakup of the Dude Busters.[21]
In 2011, Barreta would largely be used asenhancement talent, mostly competing onSuperstars and losing to various wrestlers such asCody Rhodes,Jack Swagger,Tyler Reks,Ted DiBiase,Wade Barrett,Heath Slater, andJinder Mahal.[16] From April, Barreta would enter into a long rivalry withTyson Kidd, but he found himself on the losing end in five singles matches against Kidd.[16] However, Barreta managed a win over Kidd when he teamed withThe Usos to beat Kidd,Justin Gabriel, and Heath Slater on the June 30, 2011, episode ofSuperstars.[16][22] Barreta finally defeated Kidd in a singles match on the August 23 episode ofNXT, his first match onNXT.[23]
In 2012, Barreta would exclusively wrestle onNXT, failing to wrestle onRaw orSmackDown.[17] OnNXT, Barreta formed an alliance withYoshi Tatsu from December 2011, they feuded withCurt Hawkins andTyler Reks; both teams managed to score one win apiece during the feud.[24][25] Both teams would play pranks on each other, with Tatsu being locked in a closet and Reks' hands beingsuperglued onto avideo game controller. During this feud, Barreta would score rare singles wins over both Hawkins and Reks on consecutive episodes ofNXT in January 2012.[26][27] The feud ended when Hawkins and Reks defeated Barreta and Tatsu on the January 18 episode ofNXT.[28] Barreta disappeared from television after February 2012 due to a torntriceps,[29][30] instead being confined to the "Where's Trent?" segments within theZ! True Long Island StoryYouTube show.[31] A video package on the September 12 episode ofNXT acknowledged Barreta's six-month absence and the "Where's Trent" segments, scheduling his return on the September 19 episode ofNXT, where he defeatedJohnny Curtis.[32] After trading wins withKassius Ohno,[33][34] Barreta was injured byLeo Kruger before the third match in the series.[35] On January 11, 2013, Marasciulo was released from his WWE contract;[36] with his last televised match for WWE being a disqualification win over Kruger due to Ohno's interference on the January 16, 2013, episode ofNXT, which wastaped before his release.[37]
On January 18, 2013, Marasciulo made his first independent appearance since his WWE release, when he worked for theHart Legacy Wrestling promotion inCalgary,Alberta,Canada. In the opening four-way elimination tag team match, Marasciulo, still working as Trent Barreta, teamed withBrian Cage, with the two being eliminated byEl Generico andSamuray del Sol. Later in the main event of the evening, Barreta teamed withDavey Boy Smith Jr., El Generico,Jack Evans and Samuray del Sol in a ten-man tag team match, where they were defeated byTeddy Hart, Brian Cage, Cam!kaze, Flip Kendrick and Pete Wilson.[29][38] On March 22, 2013, On April 6, Trent? made his debut forDragon Gate USA, defeatingJon Davis via disqualification.[39] On April 26, Barreta made his debut forFull Impact Pro, defeatingA. R. Fox.[40] On July 5, 2013, Barreta made his return for Full Impact Pro (FIP) at Declaration of Independence, where he defeated theFIP World Heavyweight ChampionJon Davis by disqualification.[41] On August 9, Barreta defeated Davis in a rematch to become the new FIP World Heavyweight Champion.[42]
On October 12, 2013, Trent made his debut inFamily Wrestling Entertainment (FWE) with Bandido Jr. in a match for the FWE Tag Team Championship. However, the champions retained.[43] On December 6, Barreta successfully defended the FIP World Heavyweight Championship againstLince Dorado.[44]
On February 22, Barreta unsuccessfully challengedJohnny Gargano for theOpen the Freedom Gate Championship.[45] In March 2014, Trent? took part inGerman promotionWestside Xtreme Wrestling's 16 Carat Gold weekend. During the second day on March 15, he andMatt Striker defeated Hot & Spicy (Axel Dieter Jr. and Da Mack) to win thewXw World Tag Team Championship.[46] They, however, lost the title back to Hot & Spicy the next day.[47]
On November 14, 2014, duringWWNLive's tour of China, Barreta lost the FIP World Heavyweight Championship to Rich Swann.[48]
On May 13, 2015,Global Force Wrestling (GFW) announced Barreta as part of their roster.[49] He made his debut for the promotion at GFW's first-ever event on June 12, where he and Chuck Taylor were defeated by the Tate twins (Brandon and Brent).[50]
On June 24, 2017; with Rocky Romero as Roppongi Vice defeatedGuerrillas of Destiny atWrestleCircus'Dive Hard with a Vengeance to become the WrestleCircus Big Top Tag-Team Champions.
On May 3, 2013,New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) announced Marasciulo, working simply as Beretta, as a participant in the2013 Best of the Super Juniors tournament.[51] Beretta made his debut for the promotion on May 22, teaming withTitán in a tag team match, where they defeatedBushi andHiromu Takahashi.[52] In the round-robin portion of the tournament itself, which ran from May 24 to June 6, Beretta won three of his eight matches, finishing seventh out of the nine wrestlers in his block.[53]
On October 15, NJPW announced that Beretta, now representing theChaos stable, would return to the promotion on October 25, teaming withBrian Kendrick in the2013 Super Jr. Tag Tournament.[54] Beretta and Kendrick were eliminated from the tournament in the first round by The Young Bucks, following a pre-match assault byBullet Club.[55] Beretta teamed with various Chaos stablemates in midcard six-man and eight-man tag team matches for the rest of the tour, which lasted until November 6.[56][57]
Marasciulo, working under the ring name Trent? made his PWG debut at All Star Weekend 9, losing toRoderick Strong. He then made his return to PWG in the2013 Battle of Los Angeles, losing in the first round toKyle O'Reilly. On the second night of BOLA, he picked up his first win withChuck Taylor andJoey Ryan as the "Best Friends", defeatingWillie Mack,B-Boy andTommaso Ciampa in a six-man tag team match.[58] On January 31, Trent? and Taylor defeated three other teams, including the Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann andRicochet) in the finals, to win PWG's2014 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament (DDT4).[59] As a result of winning the 2014 DDT4, Trent? and Chuck Taylor received a shot at thePWG World Tag Team Championship on March 28, but were defeated by the defending champions,The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson).[60] In March 2016 during PWG's All Star Weekend 12, Trent? picked up his first singles win againstDrew Galloway, then he defeatedAdam Cole the following night. At PWG Thirteen, Barreta was defeated by his tag team partner Chuck Taylor. On Mystery Vortex IV, Barreta defeatedCandice LeRae. In 2016 at Only Kings Understand Each Other, Barreta defeatedFenix. At Nice Boys (Don't Play Rock N Roll), Best Friends defeated Leaders Of The New School(Marty Scurll andZack Sabre Jr.) when Barreta pinned PWG World Champion Sabre Jr., who along with Scurll attacked them after the match. This led to a championship match at Head Like A Cole where Barreta was unsuccessful.[61] At Man On The Silver Mountain, Barreta was defeated byJeff Cobb.At Mystery Vortex V, Barreta defeated Marty Scurll. At Neon Knights, Barreta challenge his tag team partner Chuck Taylor for thePWG World Championship, during the match Taylor hit Barreta with the championship and low blowed him while the referee had not seen him to win the match.
On July 18, Marasciulo, working under his real name, made his debut forTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), when he took part in theDestination X episode ofImpact Wrestling. Entering a tournament to determine the newX Division Champion, he defeatedRockstar Spud andRubix in his first round three-way match to advance to the tournament finals.[62] On the July 25 episode ofImpact Wrestling, he was defeated byManik in anUltimate X match that also includedSonjay Dutt for theX Division Championship.[63] On April 12, 2014, Marasciulo returned to TNA under the ring name Ace Vedder atTNA One Night Only's event X-Travaganza 2 defeating Manik in a singles match to qualify for the Ultimate X match later that night. In the main eventLow Ki defeated Rashad Cameron,Kenny King, Ace Vedder, Sonjay Dutt andTigre Uno in the Ultimate X match for a future shot at theTNA X Division Championship.
On March 16, 2015, NJPW announced that Beretta would be returning to the promotion later that month as part of theRoppongi Vice tag team withRocky Romero.[64] His return match took place on March 22, when he teamed with Romero and Chaos stablemateGedo to defeat Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) in a six-man tag team match.[65] On April 5 atInvasion Attack 2015, Roppongi Vice defeated The Young Bucks to win theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.[66][67] They lost the title back to The Young Bucks on May 3 atWrestling Dontaku 2015.[68] Later that month, Beretta entered the2015 Best of the Super Juniors,[69] where he finished with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament.[70] Following the tournament, Roppongi Vice received a rematch for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving reDRagon, but were again defeated by The Young Bucks on July 5 atDominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall.[71]
On April 10, 2016, atInvasion Attack 2016, Roppongi Vice defeatedMatt Sydal and Ricochet to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time.[72] They lost the title back to Sydal and Ricochet on May 3 atWrestling Dontaku 2016.[73] On November 5 atPower Struggle, Roppongi Vice defeatedA. C. H. andTaiji Ishimori in the finals to win the2016 Super Jr. Tag Tournament.[74] On January 4, 2017, atWrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, Roppongi Vice defeated The Young Bucks to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the third time.[75] They lost the title toSuzuki-gun (Taichi andYoshinobu Kanemaru) at NJPW's 45th anniversary show on March 6,[76] before regaining it on April 27.[77] They lost the title to The Young Bucks on June 11 atDominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall.[78] On July 2 atG1 Special in USA, Roppongi Vice unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the title in a rematch. Afterwards, Romero brought up a five-year plan he and Beretta had made three years earlier, which included them winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and the Super Jr. Tag Tournament, both of which they had already done, as well as Beretta's eventual transition into the heavyweight division. Having failed to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, Romero gave Beretta his blessing to move to the heavyweight division, effectively disbanding Roppongi Vice.[79] Roppongi Vice's farewell match took place on September 16 atDestruction in Hiroshima, where they defeated Bullet Club'sChase Owens andYujiro Takahashi.[80]
Following the dissolution of Roppongi Vice, Beretta wrestled his first singles match as a heavyweight on September 24 atDestruction in Kobe, where he defeated Takahashi.[81] On November 5 atPower Struggle, Beretta unsuccessfully challenged Kenny Omega for theIWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.[82] At the end of the year, Beretta teamed with the debuting Chuckie T. in the2017 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals.[83] On January 4, 2018, Beretta,Tomohiro Ishii andToru Yano won a five-teamgauntlet match atWrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome to become the newNEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions.[84] They dropped the title the following day to Bullet Club (in the form of Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa), who were the previous champions. Beretta left NJPW in February 2019.[85]
On March 1, 2015, atRing of Honor's13th Anniversary Show, Rocky Romero announced he was forming a new tag team named Roppongi Vice with Beretta.[86] The following day, Beretta was pulled from his scheduled Evolve events and announced for Ring of Honor (ROH) events.[87] Roppongi Vice made its ROH debut on March 13, 2015, defeatingThe Decade (B. J. Whitmer andJimmy Jacobs). On March 14, 2016, at ROH TV tapings, they won a seven tag team gauntlet match to determine #1 contender for ROH World Tag Team Championships by defeatingThe Young Bucks after entering the match as the seventh team.[88][unreliable source]
On March 10 at the15th Anniversary Show, Roppongi Vice was unsuccessful in capturing theROH World Tag Team Championship in a three-way Las Vegas Street Fight againstThe Hardys andThe Young Bucks.
In June, Barreta start to team with his former tag team partner Chuck Taylor as "Best Friends". They were unsuccessful in capturing the ROH World Tag Team Championship in two occasions, first atBest in the World in a tornado three-way match against War Machine and The Young Bucks, and the second atFinal Battle againstThe Motor City Machine Guns.
On February 7, 2019, Beretta along withChuck Taylor appeared atAll Elite Wrestling's Las Vegas rally and announced that they were going to be joining the promotion.[89] They would debut at All Elite Wrestling's debut show,AEW Double or Nothing where they would wrestleAngélico andJack Evans. They would go on to win the match but were attacked byThe Dark Order'sStu GraysonandEvil Uno after a post-match hug between the two teams. He has since ceased his last name, going byTrent. On the October 30, 2019, episode ofDynamite, Trent, Taylor, and newfound allyOrange Cassidy dressed up asRick and Morty before they won in a 6-man tag-team match againstAlex Reynolds, John Silver, andQ. T. Marshall. AtBash at the Beach on January 15, 2020, Best Friends competed in a four-way tag team match to determine the number one contenders for theAEW World Tag Team Championship, which was won by"Hangman" Adam Page andKenny Omega.[90] On the May 1 edition ofDynamite, Trent teamed up with Chuck Taylor againstKip Sabian andJimmy Havoc scoring a victory in a no disqualifications tag team match. At theDouble or Nothing Buy-In, Best Friends defeatedPrivate Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) in a number one contender's match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship after delivering theStrong Zero on Quen.[91] On the June 10 edition ofDynamite, Best Friends and Orange Cassidy defeatedThe Inner Circle'sJake Hager andSantana and Ortiz in a 6-man tag team match, after which they suffered a beatdown from the rest of The Inner Circle, with Orange Cassidy suffering the worst beating afterChris Jericho hit him with a bag ofblood oranges.[92] Best Friends would seek revenge against Chris Jericho andSammy Guevara (Le Sex Gods) while putting their tag team title #1 contendership on the line on the June 17 edition ofDynamite. They emerged victorious after Guevara tripped over the cameraman's hand which enabled Trent to pick up the victory for the team. The cameraman who was at ringside turned out to be Orange Cassidy who then proceeded to beat down Jericho.[93] Trent and Taylor would receive their tag team title shot against Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page atFyter Fest night 1, which they lost.[94]
In late August, Trent and Chuck Taylor started a feud with The Inner Circle's Santana and Ortiz after Sue, Trent's mom's van was destroyed by the latter. This would culminate in a highly praised Parking Lot Brawl on the September 16 episode of Dynamite, where the Best Friends won. That match was rated 5/7 by wrestling journalistDave Meltzer.
On November 9, 2020, Trent became the inaugural BTE World Champion by defeating Matt Jackson and John Silver in a three-way Gator Golf match.[95] He would lose the championship to John Silver on November 16, 2020, in a water bottle flip contest.[96]
On the March 31, 2021, episode ofDynamite, Trent made his return arriving from Sue's minivan, where he went on to neutralizeMiro.[97] On the December 8, 2021, episode ofDynamite, Trent, once again with his last name and now sporting abuzz cut, made his return to the promotion via a dropoff from his mother Sue's minivan, making the save for Chuck Taylor, Rocky Romero and Orange Cassidy against Adam Cole and the Young Bucks. Trent had previously been absent from the program for a prolonged amount of time due to neck fusion surgery.[98]
On the April 3, 2024 episode ofDynamite, Trent attacked Orange Cassidy using the knee strike, thus turning himheel after the duo lost a match to the Young Bucks. On the April 27 episode ofAEW Rampage, Trent defeated Chuck Taylor in a Parking Lot Brawl. On the May 8 episode ofDynamite, Trent lost to Orange Cassidy.[99] A rematch was scheduled forDouble or Nothing, where Trent lost to Cassidy again.[100] On the following episode ofDynamite, Trent joined theDon Callis Family.[101] On the July 13 episode ofAEW Collision, Trent was hit in the back of the head with a monkey wrench by Cassidy, this was done to write Trent off television to allow him to get surgery to fix two broken screws in his neck, which were damaged after a previous match following his neck fusion surgery.[102]
Marasciulo appeared in a 2011 episode ofSilent Library alongsideDolph Ziggler,Chris Masters,Curt Hawkins,JTG, andCaylen Croft.[103][104]
Marasciulo is the middle son of three boys born to Al and Sue. Sue is a retired schoolteacher and the author of two children's books designed to assist children withdyslexia overcome their reading challenges.[105]
Sue initially made her AEW debut during Best Friends' feud with Santana and Ortiz. She first made her appearance at Fyter Fest, driving her son and his tag team partner Dustin Howard (better known as Chuck Taylor) before their title match in herHonda Odyssey minivan, and has since made several more appearances, always driving a white minivan of some brand.
Sue would often refer to Marasciulo by his real first name "Greggie" on TV.[106]
Paul London will face Trent? on Night Two of All Star Weekend 9!
Trent Barreta – Barreta has just fallen off of the WWE radar and is nowhere to be seen. If you want to see where he is at, check out the brief "Where's Trent?" portions of Z! True Long Island Story.
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