Gino Hernandez

As a rookie, babyface wrestler in Ed Farhat's Big Time Wrestling promotion in Detroit, "Gino Hernandez" was a very young, fresh-faced performer who got over with female fans due to his long black hair, and good looks. He won Big Time's top title (its version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship) by defeating "Bulldog" Don Kent. During this time, Wolfe also wrestled at least one match for WWE forerunner the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). Gino lost the (Detroit) U.S. Title to his real-life boss: The Sheik (Big Time Wrestling owner and booker Eddie Farhat's 'Psycho-Arab' heel persona).

Wolfe's Gino character—nicknamed "The Handsome Halfbreed"—started wrestling in 1975 in the San Antonio, Texas wrestling territory, Southwest Championship Wrestling (SCW), after being trained by Jose Lothario. He was initially in a tag-team with Lothario, then turned into a singles act via a "protege vs. mentor" storyline. The storyline feud with Lothario culminated in a "hair vs. hair match", which Hernandez lost—having his head shaved in the ring, as a result.

Hernandez (left) in a match against Dusty Rhodes, c. 1978

In the late-1970s and early-1980s, Gino worked for Dallas-based territory, World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) (called NWA Big Time Wrestling, at the time). The highlight was a storyline feud with David Von Erich over the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship, which Gino won and lost back to David.[3] Gino returned to SCW, forming a hugely popular tag-team ("The Dynamic Duo") with the territory owner's son, Tully Blanchard. Hernandez and Blanchard's tag-team act became so successful that they were the top (based on box office drawing power) heels in the state of Texas—regardless of territory.

In 1982, Gino instigated a storyline feud with Chavo Guerrero by hitting him over the head with a beer bottle, and later insulting the Guerrero family name. This short-lived feud played out across multiple Texas territories.

Gino returned to WCCW in 1984, at different times individually or collectively feuding with the Von Erichs: Mike, Kevin and Kerry Von Erich. That summer, Gino was paired with Nickla Roberts, who was billed Andrea the Lady Giant (a'la Andre the Giant). The duo worked a series of mixed tag team matches against Sunshine and Mike Von Erich. Even Sunshine's aunt, Stella Mae French, was involved. Gino was put in a tag team with WCCW newcomer Jake "The Snake" Roberts in August 1984. Gino also formed a tag-team with Chris Adams; WCCW called them "The Dynamic Duo", as SCW had Gino and Tully. This WCCW version proved the more famous, as Adams and Hernandez drew high revenues and television ratings for World Class in their feud with the Von Erichs.[4] The duo invented the famed gold scissors gimmick: snipping hair from the heads of their incapacitated opponents right after defeating them (a humiliation tactic meant to increase fans' anger toward the heels, increasing the heels' TV/live show drawing power). This gimmick was later used in the WWF by Brutus Beefcake.

Adams and Hernandez lost a "hair" match to Kevin and Kerry Von Erich at a Cotton Bowl show on October 6, 1985. After the match, Hernandez attempted to escape, but was tackled by Chris Von Erich, who was at ringside, and eventually had his hair shaved bald. His hair quickly grew back in two months, while Adams' hair took longer. With the Von Erichs storyline completed but the momentum from it still red-hot with fans, Gino was next booked to turn on Adams in December 1985. WCCW management intended this new feud to become its top storyline throughout 1986. On January 26, 1986, during a grudge match in Fort Worth, Hernandez threw "freebird hair cream" (a "hair-removal product" previously established in WCCW storyline continuity in 1983 by Freebird Buddy Roberts) into Adams' face, rendering Adams blind (in reality, Adams was returning to his native England to spend time with his new wife Toni, and his family; however, WCCW told Adams he had to continue to "sell" the blindness whenever out in public). Hernandez was scheduled to perform on a house show the following Thursday, and on a non-televised show at Dallas' Sportatorium the following Friday. After Gino no-showed both events, WCCW management's phone calls to him went unanswered.

Although police dropped the homicide investigation into Hernandez's death, some still believe he was murdered in a drug-related incident.[10][11][12] According to David Manning, Hernandez had five times the amount of cocaine in his system that would have resulted in a fatality, and he and Kevin Von Erich stated that Hernandez also had cocaine in his stomach.[13] Manning also suspected foul play due to the fact that Hernandez's dead bolt on his door was not locked, as he made it a habit in the past to lock the dead bolt at all times.[13] In the weeks before his death, Hernandez had expressed to Manning and others the belief that his life was under threat.[10]

Former rival Michael Hayes said in a 2016 interview: "I have a real, real hard time believing that Gino Hernandez OD'd... he was most definitely hanging with the wrong crowd, and either ran his mouth too much, or knew too much, or all of the above."[14] Asked about Hernandez's death, Jake Roberts said: "Gino was attached to some heavy people... he was running in some pretty big circles, man, that maybe he didn't belong [in]."[7] Hernandez's mother Patrice Aguirre and ex-wife Janice Marie Bancroft expressed the belief that he was probably murdered; Aguirre reported that criminal John Royal had told her of debts owed to him by Hernandez. She later received a recorded message from a gangland source who was close to Hernandez, claiming that her son was not murdered.[10]

Both Aguirre and Bancroft have explored the possibility that Hernandez faked his death, given that he had once talked about doing so, and because the autopsy report was replete with errors about his ethnicity and physicality. The family never saw his body, which was concealed by Hernandez's manager Walter Ayman due to its decomposed state, and honored in a closed-casket service.[10] Wrestler Brutus Beefcake has rejected the murder theory, saying that Hernandez "had a serious drug problem" and was an "intense, crazy partier".[15] Jeanie Clarke spoke about Hernandez's mental state in the weeks leading up to his death in her autobiography, describing an incident where he virtually held her hostage (including brandishing a gun) as he fell into a deeply paranoid episode following a night partying and binging on cocaine. Hernandez was embarrassed and apologetic afterwards, and Clarke expressed concern for the intensity of his drug use.[16] A documentary on Viceland TV, part of the Dark Side of the Ring series, called "The Mysterious Death of Gorgeous Gino", aired on May 8, 2019.