WWE Releases Steve "Brooklyn Brawler" Lombardi
Office worker fired after 30 years with the company.
PWInsider is reporting that WWE has released Steve Lombardi, who competed for the company as The Brooklyn Brawler and worked as a road agent for decades afterward.
Lombardi was let go last week along with Damien Sandow, Wade Barrett, Cameron, and five other stars, though the company chose not to announce his firing.
Lombardi first started working for WWE as an enhancement talent in the early 1980s, but in 1989, he was repackaged as The Brooklyn Brawler. Though the disheveled Yankees fan was still relegated to making other stars look good (even The Red Rooster), the gimmick resonated and fans still remember it today.
Lombardi was repackaged several times in the '90s, including taking on the mantle of Doink and adopting the baseball-player persona of Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz. Still, Lombardi always reverted back to the Brawler character. Though he retired from in-ring competition in the late '90s and took on a role as a road agent, Lombardi still made sporadic appearances as The Brooklyn Brawler throughout the years.
There is no word as to why WWE released Lombardi, who was not only one of the company's longest-tenured employees, but also a very important judge in the evaluation of incoming talent.