Tony Ricca

Thomas Ricca (born June 7, 1968) is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Tony Ricca of the World Wrestling Federation now WWE and The Pharaoh. He is also the promoter of the New Jersey-based promotion AKW Arena Kaged Wrestling. In 2015, a limited amount of Retro Action Figures of Tony Ricca were made that brought attention to him in the media.
Early life and professional wrestling career
Thomas Ricca was born and raised in Hammonton, New Jersey. He trained as a wrestler under Larry Sharpe and debuted November 9, 1990, as one-half of the tag team "The Hammonton Hitmen". His debut was at a charity event that benefited the troops that were serving in the Gulf War. After his debut, Ricca was asked to work independently as "The Hammonton Hitman".
On July 29, 1991, Ricca wrestled at a television taping for an episode of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)s Superstars of Wrestling, against Jim Duggan. The episode aired on August 31, 1991. Afterward, Ricca looked to create the right persona for his career. In 1992, during Easter weekend, Ricca, watching The Ten Commandments with friends, saw the Pharaoh character. That was the start of his most popular persona known as The Pharaoh. Before debuting as The Pharaoh, he decided to further his training by taking private gymnastic lessons to execute a moonsault, which he dubbed "The Sphinx". Ricca debuted as The Pharaoh on June 12, 1992, and won using "The Sphinx". The local newspaper quoted the move as "A Spectacular Flying Backflip". Following Ricca's debut as the Pharaoh, Ricca was approached by former World Wrestling Federation referee Dick Woehrle to see if he was interested in working on his shows in the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Asia and around the world. Ricca accepted and became Woehrle's top prospect and was introduced in late 1992 to World Wrestling Federation Gorilla Monsoon.
In June 1998, Ricca opened up Powerslam, a pro wrestling training center on Vine Street in Hammonton. In October 1998, Ricca promoted a wrestling event for the World of Wrestling. 2,000 plus attended the wrestling event which included headliners Jimmy Snuka and King Kong Bundy. Ricca followed with more promotions until he unveiled his new promotion, The AKW, Arena Kaged Wrestling in 2000 at the same location. Ricca brought independent wrestling to another level by adding a caged structure surrounding the fans while watching the event. Ricca had the matches taped for TV and aired on cables network WMCN until Spring of 2002. Ricca promoted many headliners including, Disco Inferno, Vito LoGrasso, Daffney, Captain Lou Albano and many undercard wrestlers. Ricca also wrestled in the AKW as Nicky Sauce using a mask.

Other media
In 2017, Ricca wrote an online article for the magazine Entrepreneur.
Ricca was featured in Huffingtonpost
Personal life
In June 2014, Ricca's daughter, Gabriella Ricca, won the USAIGC/IAIGC Gymnastics International World Championships as the 12-year-old division's All-Around Champion and Bar Champion in Orlando, Florida . She was the only 12-year-old to receive at least a 9.0 in each event. Her accomplishments received coverage in the Courier-Post

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