Full Name: Anthony James Caruso

Ring Name: Carlo Mancini

Birth Date: April 6, 1993

Age: 31

Height: 5' 11"

Weight: 224lbs

From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Gear:

Top: Tony Caruso
Second Top: US Army
Middle: 04-06-1993
Second Bottom: E-4 CPL
Bottom: Catholic

For Segments/Promos:

Wrestling Style: Brawler; Technical (if needed)

Main Finisher(s): Carlo Somebody (Blue Thunder Bomb)

Accomplishments:

ROH World Champion (3x)
GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion (1x)
IWGP Intercontinental Champion(3x)
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship (1x; with G.o.D)
Rank of Corporal in the US Army

Theme:

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Mentor: Paul Heyman

Allies: Eimi Matsudo, SLK, Natsumi Maki (Natsupoi), Yurai Tauchi (Tam Nakano), Momo Watanabe, Utami Hayashishita, Azumi (AZM), and Rina, Paul Heyman

Love Interest: Eimi Matsudo

~Story~

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a very middle class Italian household, Anthony Caruso has always gotten into fights at school, causing him to lose his scholarship after many different schools throughout his young life.

By the time he graduated high school, Anthony would get drafted into the Army, his parents hoping, his father a Vietnam War veteran and his mother a professional chef, that Tony would fail, considering he always had problems with authority.

However, to their surprise, Anthony would change his attitude and become an adult, growing from immaturity to the point he's more responsible and more successful.

Serving 26 months in the Army, Anthony would do his job proud, but one day, while on patrol, the very lower half of his left leg, the shin and ankle area, would get blown off by a random mine in Afghanistan.

Being honorably discharged, Anthony would be shipped home to Philly, pondering about what he wanted to do next in his young career.

Luckily, his father, being a wrestling fan and the childhood friend of ECW original Paul E. Dangerously, from New York, he gets into contact with Paul about helping Tony get into the business, which he agrees.

Getting a WWE tryout in 2013, Tony would do surprisingly well, despite being crippled with a prosthetic leg and having an awesome attitude throughout the training.

While the officials were impressed by his work ethic and all around positivity, they felt as if Tony could do well behind the scenes instead, but Heyman, being such an advocate for Anthony, he would push for Anthony to be a performer, and the officials had no choice but to offer Caruso a contract.

Performing at house shows to improve his craft and his status as a wrestler, Tony would get positive reviews from fans and peers alike, praising the fact he was willing to improve himself and show how reliable he was, but the next year, Tony was released.

However, Tony and Paul would keep in touch, making sure that whenever Caruso needed advice, he would always call or text his mentor.

Instead of giving up on his early wrestling career, Caruso would travel to Japan and start wrestling there, improving his skills and in-ring prowess towards the Japanese audience, showing that he can keep going.

After three years of hard work, Tony would actually earn his first Championship in Japan, the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship.

To Tony, it symbolized how much of a hard worker he was, being respected by his peers and just being an amazing human being while sharing his struggles.

Living in Japan since 2016, Tony would prove himself, winning the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on three separate occasions, while joining one of the most prestigious faction in Japanese wrestling history, the Bullet Club, where he would go on to unleash his dark side, but never joining The Elite, believing that he would turn on the OGs.

The BC OGs quickly respected Tony as Tony respected them back as him and the Guerrilas Of Destiny would become the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

During his reign, Tony would take the day off and have some fun, becoming an attendant at World Wonder Ring of Stardom, attracting the joshis, including one in particular, named Eimi Matsuda, or better known as Giulia.

The two would become very good friends after they found a lot of things in common, like how they were both Italian and speaking Japanese and the Italian as well. Eimi, however, would be very entranced by Tony by how much of a positive guy Anthony is, and was very much shocked by how almost fluent his Japanese was, even though an Italian-American from Philadelphia.

That would cause the two to get even closer, becoming best friends in the process, but on August 29th, 2021, Tony would receive shattering news that his father had died after a long battle with COVID-19.

Feeling the need to return home, Tony would do so, letting Eimi know about the situation and he would be back soon.

Throughout that time, Tony would debut for Ring of Honor, winning the ROH World Championship after a 25 minute hard hitting match, dedicating the match to his father, holding the title for a few months before the company went on hiatus.

After his time in America, Tony would return to Japan, embraced by Eimi and many of the girls at Stardom, who would check on him every time they see him at one of their shows or them going to one of his.

However, on April 6, 2023, on his 30th birthday, Paul Heyman, Tony's mentor, would personally call Tony to offer him a new contract with NXT. Shocking everyone, he signed with the company and would begin his new journey in NXT, making a lot of new friends.

Eimi was ecstatic when she learned that Tony debuted for WWE and expressed her happiness on Twitter, by showing a video of herself cheering on her friend as tears were visible on her face while her friends around her comforted her.

Replying to her tweet, Tony responded in Japanese, "I hope to see you here someday! Maybe tag together?"

Later on that same year, it was reported that WWE was targeting Eimi and it was apparent that she was interested, but knowing how much Tony to her, she signed with NXT.

However, she still had to help her trusted boss from Stardom, Rossy Ogawa, start up his new wrestling promotion, but she was required to make an appearance at NXT Stand And Deliver. Little did she know that Tony was waiting to surprise her when it was announced that he wasn't on the card.

During the show, Eimi was featured on the titantron, shocked and amazed by how well known she was among the fans, but when Tony showed up from behind and surprised Eimi, causing her to immediately break down into tears and cry, making Tony cry too as they both embraced, knowing how much they missed each other after a year.

The fans around them cheer and applaud as the reunion was happening in front of them.

The two would hang out after the show, getting Cheesesteaks from Tony Luke's, where Anthony's friend Tony Luke Jr had worked at.

Anthony would pay for their meals as it was a reunion, but it was Eimi's first time trying an authentic Cheesesteak from Philadelphia because before she took a bite of the sandwich, Anthony would take out his phone and start filming her.

Confused by it, Anthony said that since it was her first time trying a Cheesesteak, he should video her trying it. Eimi then took a bite, resulting in her eyes closing in such ecstasy as Anthony would find it adorable.

She would say in Japanese, with a huge smile, as the translations of Anthony and Eimi's conversation would be captioned on the video,

Eimi: "My dietician will not be happy with what I am eating right now, but my belly will."

Anthony: "None of our dieticians are happy with what we're eating right now!"

Soon after Eimi helped Ogawa with the company, she would start competing in NXT, but over time, Anthony would start to fall for her after many years of friendship.

Remembering the video on YouTube, where Eimi said that guys in their 40s wearing glasses were her type, he starts to doubt himself, but does she change her preference?

~Excerpt~

When the camera was on Eimi, she was confused until the fans popped for her as she stood up, almost taken aback by how the crowd responded, almost tearing up.

I find it very heartwarming because it seemed like she didn't know how well known she was to the fans, but little does she know, I'm gonna surprise her tonight.

And the funny thing is, although I didn't have a match, I lied to her, which I hate doing, by saying that I wasn't going to be at the show, but jokes on her, I'm here.

While the camera was still on her, I started walking down the steps, shushing the crowd and telling them to be quiet as I kept walking down.

Luckily, Eimi didn't notice me, but as she was about to sit back down to enjoy the rest of the show, I patted her shoulder while saying...

Me: 調子はどう？美しい君！ (How you doin', gorgeous!)

When Eimi turned her head towards me, she quickly turned her head back around and covered her face and started crying as I wrapped my arms around her.

But after that, Eimi turned around and hugged me back as I kept it tight while the fans around us started to applaud and cheer as this reunion was taking place in front of them.

I missed her so much and I wished many times that I could go back to Japan and hang out with her with the girls, but this happened to work out in our favors since she now signed a contract with WWE, and we get to hang out once again.

Eimi kept crying into my shoulder as I was crying myself, but with a smile and tears were slowly coming down my face as well.

Like I said, I missed her, and I wanted to be around her again, and now I am.

Mr. Ogawa was tearing up at the sight of Eimi and I reuniting after a very long year. I mean, I think many of the Stardom members were tearing up when it showed us on the titantron, overwhelmed with emotion.

When I released Eimi, her eyes were RED from all the crying and her makeup started washing away.

I then pulled out a napkin and wiped it off so she could stay so happy that I'm here with her again, but underneath the messy makeup, she still looked gorgeous.

Rossy: アンソニー！元気ですか？ (Anthony! How are you?)

Me: 元気ですよ、小川さん、お元気ですか？ (I'm doing great, Mr. Ogawa, how are you?)

Rossy: 再会に涙。 (Tearing up at this reunion.)

Me: まあ、もう1年経ったんだから、いいんじゃない？ (Hey, well, it's been a year, so why not?)

Rossy: 同感です。いいですか、この再会がとても感動的だったので、二人で近況を話させてあげましょう。 (I agree. Listen, I'm gonna let you two catch up, just because of how emotional this reunion has become.)

Me: 本当にありがとうございます、小川さん。 (I appreciate it so much, Mr. Ogawa.)

Rossy: お願いします。私たちは何年も知り合いです。私をロッシーと呼んでください。 (Please. We've know each other for years. You can call me Rossy.)

Me: そうします。ありがとう。 (And I will. Thank you.)

I shook his hand as he and Regal walked out of their seats and I managed to sit next to Eimi, who was still emotional about me being in her presence again.

To change languages, we spoke Italian, just because it's much easier for Eimi, especially when she's half-Italian and half-Japanese and she can't speak English that well.

Eimi: Pensavo che non saresti stato qui. (I thought you wouldn't be here.)

Me: Scusa, ho mentito. Volevo scioccarti. (Sorry, I lied. I wanted to shock you.)

Eimi: Beh, sicuramente lo hai fatto. Non posso credere che tu non sia sulla carta. (Well, you definitely have. I can't believe you're not on the card.)

Me: Beh, quando ho sentito da Suzu che avresti firmato con NXT qualche settimana fa, ho dovuto chiederti se potevo togliere lo show. La direzione ha concordato ed eccoci qui. (Well, when I heard from Suzu that you were signing with NXT a few weeks back, I had to ask about taking the show off. Management agreed and here we are.)

When I said that, she started to get emotional again and I'm pretty sure that Natsumi and the others were tearing up about our reunion tonight.

Eimi: Ti sei preso una pausa solo per uscire con me? (You took time off, just to hang out with me?)

Me: Mi sei mancato, Eimi. L'ho fatto davvero. Volevo vederti non appena ho saputo della tua firma. (I missed you, Eimi. I really did. I wanted to see you as soon as I heard about your signing.)

Eimi: Oh, Antonio. Sei così dolce. (Oh, Anthony. You're so sweet.)

She then laid her head on me and purred like a cat, just because of happy she was as we watched the rest of the show.

I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of fans started taking pictures of us, guessing that we're dating and whatnot, but we aren't. Plus, Eimi clearly stated that she prefers men in their forties who wear glasses, so there's no point in me trying to ask her out.