In his time away from WWE, Albano capitalized on his newfound celebrity. Once the Rock n' Wrestling phenomenon began to wind down, Albano led the British Bulldogs to the World Tag Team Championship in 1986 before leaving WWE. After a lengthy rivalry with the singer (which saw Lauper's pal Wendi Richter win the Women's Championship from Albano's client The Fabulous Moolah), Captain Lou apologized to Lauper and became an instant fan favorite. Thus began the legendary "Rock 'n' Wrestling" Era in WWE, which combined with Hulkamania, helped launch WWE into a new stratosphere in the mid-1980s. In 1983, he appeared in Cyndi Lauper's music video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and later claimed to be the catalyst to Lauper's success. Saito, The Executioners and The Moondogs were just of few of the other teams to become World Tag Team Champions under Captain Lou's guidance.Īfter 15 years of being one of the most hated men in sports-entertainment, however, Albano had a change of heart. Several of his championship duos featured Hall of Famers, including fellow 1996 Hall of Fame inductees The Valiant Brothers and 2007 inductees The Wild Samoans. In the span of 20 years, he managed 15 different teams to the World Tag Team Championship, earning the nickname "The Guiding Light" and a record that may never be broken. Having been a tag team star himself, though, it was in managing duos where Albano excelled. He would lead Don Muraco, Greg Valentine and Pat Patterson to the Intercontinental Championship but never again tasted a World title. Koloff's reign lasted only three weeks, and despite managing several other Hall of Famers, Koloff was the only World Champion Albano ever managed. This made him perhaps the most hated man in the promotion, but in 1971, he accomplished his goal when protégé Ivan Koloff defeated Sammartino in Madison Square Garden to end the Italian champion's reign of seven-plus years. Albano soon began teaming with Tony Altimore together they were known as "The Sicilians." After coming to WWE in the 1960s, they defeated the legendary Bruno Sammartino & Spiros Arion to win the WWE United States Tag Team Championship in 1967.Īfter the breakup of The Sicilians, Albano transformed himself into a manager, making it his sole mission to end the lengthy WWE Championship reign of Bruno Sammartino. After a stint in the United States Army, he began his sports-entertainment career in Canada in 1953. With his open Hawaiian shirts, outrageous facial hair and trademark rubber bands hanging from his cheek, Captain Lou may not have looked like much of a success, but his record speaks for itself.Īlbano was an excellent athlete as a youth, attending the University of Tennessee on a football scholarship. This show was also the birthplace of the "Excuse me, princess!" meme, as it was Link’s catchphrase.įor more bizarre facts from The Super Mario Bros.He was "often imitated, never duplicated." Rightfully so, because the legendary Captain Lou Albano will always be one of a kind. The usually silent Link was reimagined as a very "thirsty" hero who always wanted to get a kiss from Princess Zelda. On Fridays, the Super Mario animated segments gave way to The Legend of Zelda, a cartoonish adaptation of Nintendo's RPG masterpiece. A pre- Grey's Anatomy Patrick Dempsey even guest starred as a Piranha Plant! That's wild.
Those live-action scenes aren't exactly top notch, but there was a certain charm to seeing Elvira, Cyndi Lauper, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Maurice LaMarche's Inspector Gadget ham it up on the set. Former wrestler Captain Lou Albano and Danny Wells portrayed Mario and Luigi on the animated series, as well as the live-action segments that featured their "adventures" before they landed in the Mushroom Kingdom. In the latest installment of SYFY WIRE's Everything You Didn't Know series, we're taking an extended look back at The Super Mario Bros.
2.Īnd when we say "loosely" based, we mean very loosely!
CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO AND DANNY WELLS SERIES
Super Show! gave Nintendo its first ever live-action Mario and Luigi, as well as an animated series that was loosely based on Super Mario Bros. While Mario made his animated debut on Saturday Supercade in 1983, The Super Mario Bros.
CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO AND DANNY WELLS TV
Thirty years ago, Mario was a TV star and Nintendo was a little less picky about how he was presented in the time before the Super Mario Bros.
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