Julio Dinero's one Hot Commodity
By ALEX RISTIC -- SLAM! Wrestling
For those not in the know, Brian Wall has been in the wrestling business
for the better part of a decade. The funny thing is, he's been in both
of the major wrestling federations in the past, but it's his current stint in ECW as Julio Dinero that is getting him more recognition.
As part of the heel team of Hot Commodity, Wall is making a name for
himself in hardcore-land by filling a void in ECW -- having a good heel
combination that can be bad-ass as well as humorous.
|
|
Julio Dinero
|
It's easier for Wall to laugh now, considering that he's now a bigger
fish in a smaller pond, the reverse of his tenures in the WWF and WCW.
"I wrestled as Julio Sanchez in WCW," Wall told SLAM! Wrestling. "My character was no one that got any TV time, or anything to create a character. I'd go in
there and wrestle their guys, and we'd have competitive TV matches, but
was never given an interview, or any chance to solidify a persona. I
just when in there and wrestled pretty much."
He continues on about his stint in the WWF, which wasn't much different.
"I worked as Julio Fantastico in the WWF. I worked with Steve
Blackman on Heat once, and I did a lot of stuff with guys like D'Lo [Brown]. I
wrestled on a lot of those Saturday night tapings, and they used me in a
lot of dark matches, which was fine with me. I'd just go in there before
the shows were taped and put on a couple of matches. It was a good
experience and I learned a lot."
Sounding gracious for the opportunities allotted to him, Wall still knew
he could accomplish more. And in ECW it appears he's doing so. While Hot
Commodity isn't at the top of the rankings right now, it could be
successfully debated that his role in ECW currently is affording him
much more of a spotlight than before he joined fed. Wall tells the tale
of how he became an ECW-ite.
"I put a lot of time into ... I spent two-years in WCW and was never given
a contract, so I was like, 'OK, well I'll go to the WWF.' I know people
in all places, so I went over there. I was never given a contract, but I
was given the hope of getting a deal, and I was sent to their training
facility and worked with Dory Funk Jr. and Tom Pritchard. I realized
that if I was going to get a job it wasn't going to be any time soon. I
decided to take a shot at ECW. It was in my hometown (a house show),
Washington, DC, so I went and got on the show accidentally some how. They
said, 'Do you want to work?' and I was like, 'Sure,' so I wrestled, and
they brought me back the next day, and I came back two months later when
my schedule allowed it. I worked for them again, and Paul E. was there
and he invited me to join, so I waited until all my indy dates were done
and joined up in June of this year, full-time."
Wall's path to ECW started several years ago, when he entered the Baltimore
Monster Factory, and trained with Axl Rotten and Hack Myers. He's been a regular on the indy scene around Maryland, and appeared on last year's Heroes of Wrestling pay-per-view.
After talking to Wall, his beginnings in the business are as humble as the man
is himself. Not taking himself to seriously, he remembers his first
match, but not in great detail.
"A battle royal was my first ever gig. I was the first one tossed out
(laughs). I didn't last too long. I went right up to the biggest guy in
there, like an idiot, and was thrown out pretty fast. They didn't have
numbers for everybody, and I knew I wasn't going to win, so at that
point I just went after the big guy. Battle royals, in my opinion, if
you're not going to go over, get out of there as soon as you can.
Punching and kicking going on all over the place is not the place to be.
I started in 1994. I don't have the date. I'm probably the only wrestler
who doesn't know the date of his first appearance. You ask anybody and
they usually go, 'Oh, it was December 3rd, 1941,' or whatever. I should
be a bigger fan of myself (laughs). To me is was just another day, even
though it was the first day of my wrestling career, to an extent, I was
just to busy with everything else, I guess."
Over the years Wall has developed his own style. To borrow from Canadian
bureaucratic rhetoric, his style is a cultural mosaic of several
different aspects in the realm of professional wrestling.
|
|
Julio Dinero
|
"I would consider myself a mix of European, Japanese and straight
forward good old American professional wrestling. I try to do some of
the high flying stuff, but it being ECW, I'm not going to out fly Rob Van
Dam or Kid Kash, so I don't try to go overboard with that. I have a lot
of martial arts stuff, but I'm not going out kick Van Dam or Tajiri
either, so I kind of find stuff for me to do that they don't. As far as
the European stuff, I can do a lot of chain wrestling or mat wrestling,
but usually that isn't called for, so I usually go to the good old
America WWF main event punch-and-kick style, which is kind of what seems
people like to see."
Wall's character is the opposite of his down-to-earth, real-life persona.
In real life, he works in accounting. Julio Dinero is a male gigolo, and the Hot Commodity team of EZ Money and Chris
Hammerick is deceiving, as they're all kind of pretty boy heels. Yet,
that's the path he appears to be taking to make a name for himself in
ECW. And his new found recognition is just the tip of the iceberg, as
Wall's list of goals is not short.
"Right now I would like to be ECW heavyweight champion. Not right this
second, obviously, that would be impossible and unfeasible, but I would
much rather, at this point in my career, stay here. Obviously there's a
progression that occurs with most guys, like the Dudleys and Taz, where
they move on to the next level, but I would rather stay with ECW and try
to get to the next level so there's no reason to leave."
It seems like Wall his sights set high, as they should be. But just
because he hasn't reached the pinnacle yet doesn't mean he hasn't had a
lot of highlights in his career thus far. Wall ends the
interview with the story of his first match in the legendary Madison
Square Garden in New York City. He called it one of his "favourite matches."
"I worked a
dark match with Joey Abs at Madison Square Gardens, and I remember that
because it was Madison Square Gardens, and to me that's a match that
always comes to mind. It isn't about titles, I've won plenty of belts,
but being in Madison Square Garden was pretty cool, and actually having
a good match at MSG is a pretty big deal."
