Wrestling with life in or out of the ring

Sons of the famous opt for different paths

Before opening a popular restaurant in Blasdell, Ilio DiPaolo made his name in the ring, wrestling across the country and around the world, earning a modest living to support his growing family. This was long before the establishment of to-day’s wildly popular WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), not to mention pay-per-view telecasts and weekly televised shows that draw millions of viewers.

Back in the ’50s, when the Italian- born DiPaolo was winning countless matches with his famous “airplane spin” finishing move, wrestlers drove from city to city in vehicles that often doubled as their living accommodations. If that home on wheels broke down and you didn’t make it to the next wrestling venue, you didn’t get paid. It was that simple.

Ilio and his wife, Ethel, the daughter of wrestling promoter Pedro Martinez, brought four children into the world, including two sons, Dennis and Michael. Both would follow in the giant footsteps of their famous father. Not in the wrestling ring, but in the restaurant business.

When the WWE brings its Mon-

day Night RAW event to HSBC Arena this evening, among the wrestlers scheduled to appear are Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes.

Like Dennis and Michael DiPaolo, their fathers also found fame inside the ring. DiBiase’s father went by the moniker “the Million Dollar Man.” DiBiase’s stepgrandfather, “Iron” Mike DiBiase, and even his grandmother, Helen Hild, were also professional wrestlers.

Wrestling is also a family affair for the Rhodes family. Cody’s father, Dusty Rhodes, wrestled in Buffalo many times, and his stepbrother, Dustin “Goldust” Rhodes, is currently a WWE superstar. Cody is also the nephew of Jerry Sags and Fred Ottman, better known to wrestling fans as “Typhoon” and “Tugboat.”

The entertainment factor is what drew DiBiase, 26, and Rhodes, 23, to follow their fathers into the ring. But what happened to their father inside the ring is what drove the DiPaolo brothers to pursue the restaurant business.

“It was a difficult lifestyle,” Dennis DiPaolo said of his father’s wrestling career. “My parents traveled all over, from city to city, and we traveled with them. My father didn’t really want his family to be constantly on the road. He eventually settled on Buffalo because of the fan base here — the people.

“The people here made him feel more at home than any other city. He felt an attraction to the community.”

Michael DiPaolo came closest to following his father into the ring. He was on the varsity wrestling team at Ashland College before having a change of heart and transferring to the Culinary Institute of America. He now serves as executive chef at Ilio DiPaolo’s Restaurant & Ringside Lounge. Dennis oversees the business side of the restaurant.

“We may be in the restaurant business, but we make a great tag team,” said Michael.

“My father suffered from separated shoulders and broken ribs from being thrown out of the ring, a hernia from lifting a 350-pound wrestler over his head, concussions from being thrown onto the floor, neck and back injuries from being body slammed, and he underwent eight ankle operations,” Dennis said. “The body can’t take that punishment six or seven days a week.”

But DiBiase and Rhodes — who appeared at the “Night With the Aud’s Tough Guys” event Friday night at Ilio DiPaolo’s along with Western New Yorker Dick “the Destroyer” Beyer and Angelo “King Kong” Mosca — had other plans.

“It was my childhood dream to be a wrestler,” said DiBiase. “I wanted to be a wrestler just like my dad. When I was in high school, it was pretty incredible to come home from school with my buddies, turn on the TV and see my dad. He wasn’t an accountant or a dentist like the other dads. He was a wrestler. It was cool. It was different.”

At first, DiBiase’s father wasn’t thrilled with his son’s decision to follow in his footsteps.

“My father wanted me as far away from the business as possible,” admitted DiBiase. “There’s a bit of the rock star lifestyle, and that can be hard on a family. My father was probably away from home for 75 percent of my childhood. That takes a toll on a family. But my dad was always an incredible father.”

Rhodes had a similar experience growing up as the son of a famous wrestler.

“I always saw my dad in a heroic light,” he said. “To the fans, my dad was also a hero. You see that, and you can’t help but want to be part of it.”

“No one can really understand a wrestler unless you are a wrestler and in the business,” added DiBiase. “There’s a mystique that’s handed down from father to son and it’s absolutely incredible. I love what I do, and I look forward to going to work every day. How many people can say that?”

But what about those injuries?

“I’m married, and 10 or 15 years from now I wonder if I’ll be able to get down on the floor and play with my kids,” said DiBiase. “Honestly, I think about that all the time. But then there’s that feeling of excitement you get when you walk out in front of thousands of fans all screaming your name. It’s absolutely incredible.”

While Michael DiPaolo has no regrets about entering the restaurant business with his brother, he often wonders what might have happened had he chosen to enter the ring professionally.

“You just never know,” he said. “I’m happy here at the restaurant, and I think my dad would be glad that we’re still in the business. But sometimes, after working a long week, I still feel like I’ve been in a wrestling match.”