3. The Full Blooded Italians
Later, The Full Blooded Italians would make their way to WWE. Or at least, one of them would. Little Guido, known as 'Nunzio' was the only surviving member of the group to reprise the gimmick in the company. Incredibly, he was also one of the only men who was part of the faction to actually have Italian heritage. Back in the original ECW, Paul Heyman's idea was to hilariously cast non-Italians as citizens of the country. Tracy Smothers, a tough-as-old-boots Southerner from Georgia was one of those men. Another was Tennessee native Tommy Rich. There were other members, but one of the funniest was J.T Smith, an African-American wrestler who received a bump on the head and became convinced he was Italian. Over time, the stable changed to simply being a tag-team between Guido and Tony Mamaluke, and Rich, Smith and Smothers were phased out. There was also Big Sal E. Graziano, a monster of a man who acted as Guido's bodyguard. The original concept for the group was nuts, but proved extremely popular with fans.