Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: “Iron Man” Tommy Cairo
Date: 12/04/2025
Your Host: James Walsh
Here is our brand new interview with Thomas Cairo, ECW original Tommy Cairo! In this chat, we discuss his new promotion Super Strong Pro Heavyweight Wrestling in New Jersey, his recent loss of his leg and overcoming the challenges that presents, his view on Tod Gordon starting ECCW, Paul Heyman not liking him because he didn’t drink the Kool-Aid, his Sinaphore Cain matches with Sandman, his hard hitting matches with the Raging Bull Manny Fernandez, and a whole lot more!
This conversation goes over an hour in length! If you ever wanted to pick Tommy Cairo’s brain, this is your chance to hear his thoughts on a ton of topics! We wrote some highlights below. But, don’t forget to listen! There’s more in the audio than in the text!
Tommy is an uplifting guy who has faced incredible adversity and overcome it. And, in overcoming it, he’s created his own promotion with the focal point of doing charitable, non profit work for groups that can really use the money. He’s opinionated, strong willed, and tough as nails. It should be no surprise that like me, James Walsh, he’s a New Jersey guy. In the words of Paul Stanley of KISS, “It doesn’t matter where you’re born. It matters where your head is at!” In this case, I think both apply! I’m proud to say Tommy Cairo and I are cut from much the same cloth. If you can, check out the link below to see his promotion’s Facebook account. If you live in the New Jersey area, buy a ticket for his show! Give his page a like! And, help out the “Iron Man!”
Check out Super Strong Pro Heavyweight Wrestling on Facebook!
Check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com for great interviews like this. We’ve been around for 23 years and have done over 900 interviews! All can be heard now at our site. Also, check out our news, our RIP tributes, our results, and, if I may be so bold, our merchandise store!
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KUNiXCyJANA
“IRON MAN” TOMMY CAIRO:
On losing his leg and facing health issues over the past few months:
“It is a long story. But, it was about 3 years ago. I lost my leg. I was in the hospital for about 3 months for that, I got out of the hospital, got my new leg, and about two weeks after that, I fell in my house and broke my 16 year old prosthetic hip and my femur. And, after that, I had an issue with my heart. But, right now, things are going great. I’m off almost off all of my diabetes medication. I feel good. I will say this. I’m up every day at 6:30 in the morning. When I spin around and look down at my leg and see a stump, every day it is shocking. But, when I put my boot on, my leg, I look down and I see two boots. And, with the new wrestling company, I’m out of the house working on promoting this thing 5, 6 hours a day and I come home and I put in a few more hours at home on the phone or in my book. I don’t know anything other than that.”
On what happened to cause his leg loss:
“I went for a swim in the Chesapeake Bay. I have a house in New Jersey and a house in Virginia. Well, I got bit or stung by something while swimming. And, with all the things I was doing at the time that I probably shouldn’t have been doing, it all caught up with me. I walkd around for almost a month with sepsis! My leg was bothering me but I kept saying to my son, “I think I sprained my ankle and that is why it hurts.” That was one of the last things I remember saying before waking up in the hospital with an Indian doctor looking at me jumping up and down and saying, “Your levels are back to normal!” I had no idea what happened, why I was there. I didn’t remember any of it. I really could have died. But, I’m still here. My wife told me the doctor told her one night not to leave the hospital. She called my good friend the “Equalizer”, a wrestler I’ve known for 30 years. He came down and she told him what the doctor said and he said, “That man is the Iron Man. He’s not going anywhere.” Well, I think I lived up to that name. Because, I survived it.”
On the concept of Super Strong Pro Heavyweight Wrestling, his new promotion:
“When I was a kid, there was a wrestling show on called Heavyweight Wrestling from Washington D.C. which was presented by Capitol Wrestling. I like that. And, today, we want to focus on the heavyweight wrestlers. Some of these guys have been mistreated. They have to work with and put over these 5 foot nothing, skinny fat – They’re not fat but they’re not in shame and don’t look like athletes. We put the focus on the heavyweight wrestlers. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We’re trying to put the damn thing back together again!”
On if he agrees with CM Punk saying modern wrestlers are “soft”:
“I do but I wouldn’t say CM Punk is the correct messenger for that after how he faired in MMA. I mean, you should get the best possible trainers and only get in there if you’re absolutely sure that you can compete. He didn’t do that. Some people say, “Oh, that (the UFC stuff) doesn’t matter.” It matters.”
On women’s wrestling being huge now and the girls no longer being ring rats:
“I think it is great that women have this opportunity. Back in the day, I saw a lot of ring rats and some of those girls were 13, 14, 15, 16 years old. Do you know how many lives were damaged by being a ring rat? I don’t know how any wrestler that did those kinds of things back then can be proud of themselves. They ought to be ashamed of themselves! I mean, I’m a father. How can anybody that did those things have a kid and not think about what they did? Anyway, the girls today are amazing athletes. They have earned their spot. And, in February, there will be an 8 woman tournament to crown the SSPHW Champion! We will also show off the World Title soon also.”
On being associated with ECW:
“My wife came home one day and her sister nad found an ECW sticker and she gave it to me. I kind of put it on the counter. I guess she noticed and said, “Don’t you like it?” It wasn’t that I didn’t like it. I just don’t think that my entire career, which was more than 30 years, should be summed up just by those 3 years or so in ECW. Don’t get me wrong. I am proud of everything I did. But, I did a lot of great things. I wrestled in Japan in front of 48,000 people. I wrestled guys like “The Raging Bull” Manny Fernandez in very good matches. I challenged for the NWA World Heavyweight Title against Dan “The Beast” Severn many times. I appreciate ECW and that I was associated with it and am remembered for it. But, I did a lot of other things.”
On Tod Gordon not getting the credit for starting ECW:
“I think he should get all the credit. He started it. When he and Eddie Gilbert started ECW, and I loved Eddie Gilbert, they started something special. Things really changed when he handed it off to Paul Heyman. Paul gets all the credit for ECW now but he is also the reason it is a failed promotion. I went on Francine’s thing, her podcast, and I said this. I said there are a lot of guys that I know that might not be with us anymore that Paul Heyman owed money to – And, it was a life changing amount of money. She (Francine) and others will say, “Oh, that’s just Paul.” No. If you agree to pay someone, you owe that person that money. I don’t go along with the “Paul being Paul” thing.”
On his Singapore cane matches with The Sandman:
“I remember when Paul stood up on the steps and all of us looked up at him. He would say things and I think he knew I didn’t drink his Kool-Aid and that is why he didn’t like me. But, he stood up and said they wanted to do this Singapore Cane match and those involved would have to cut themselves and not in the traditional places. I remember nobody putting up their hands until two people did, it was me and Hak, The Sandman. And, for a year, we put on some of the hardest hitting, bloody matches ever in ECW.”
On Paul Heyman shoving the child at WWE Survivor Series:
“Was this recent? No, I didn’t see it. But, maybe it was just him finally showing his true colors.”
On his matches with “Raging Bull” Manny Fernandez:
“You know, I’m very impressed that you just asked me about that. I have not been asked about those matches before but they are some of my favorite matches in my career. Manny is the kind of guy where if he doesn’t respect you, he isn’t going to put you over. But, it didn’t take long for us to work together and find we really worked well together. We were snug but really tore it up. I remember the promoter for USA Pro said he wanted to book Manny Fernandez and he wanted to book me and always knew that if we were both booked on the same show, we would have to work with each other. Manny Fernandez is great!”
On the ticket prices for his new promotion:
“Well, when I ran a company about 10 years ago, our ticket prices were always $12. Now, we charge $25. Some of that will go to one of the charities. For example, one of the shows we have this Sunday, Ddecember 7th, will be for the Girl Scouts of America and the second one will be for the Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital. So, when you buy a ticket, you are not just going to see great Heavyweight wrestling but you are raising money for great causes as well.”
