I’m the forgotten WWE legend who helped The Rock through his first ever match and now he’s thanked me with stunning gift
Few wrestlers have seen and done quite as much in their careers as Steve Lombardi, better known to many fans as The Brooklyn Brawler.
Now 63, he worked for WWE for over three decades as, ultimately, one of its most unsuccessful stars of all time.
Whether as The Brawler, Doink The Clown, Kimchee or his real name of Lombardi, he battled as what’s commonly known in the industry as an enhancement talent – or more unkindly as a ‘jobber’ – a wrestler whose job it is to lose matches and make more established stars look good.
The veteran performer has managed that emphatically over the decades, with a damning ‘win’ percentage over the course of his career.
Though WWE matches are of course predetermined, the numbers reflect just how much time Lombardi has spent staring at the ceiling since his debut in the early 1980s.
Renowned wrestling stats website Cagematch the numbers and, from their total record of more than 1,400 of his matches, says he’s lost more than 1,200 won less than 14%.
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Some of those losses are decidedly high-profile, and certainly some more than others.
Lombari has had many a notable opponent; wrestling Bret Hart in the legend’s first WWE match, facing Mark Henry in the strongman’s first ever wrestling outing and, perhaps the biggest of all – Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Years after he’d taken on The Rock’s father, Rocky Johnson in his first WWE match, he was tasked with guiding a young pup – now the biggest movie star on the planet – through his first ever venture between the ropes back in 1996.
In an with Chris Van Vliet, Lombardi has revealed candid details of just how uncertain Rock was ahead of the encounter – and the youngster’s shock at the revelation he’d be winning the match.
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He recalled: "I'm The Rock's first match ever in front of 15,000 people and, when I talk to Rock he says: 'Well, you had my dad's first match in WWF too.
"I said: 'Rock, how many matches did you have?' He goes: 'Steve this is my first match.'
“I said: 'Your first match at WWF?' [and] he says: 'No, my first match ever in my life in front of an audience…'”
Lombardi added: “We went into the dressing room and talked about the match, [and] he goes: 'How's the Brooklyn Brawler going to beat me?' and I [said]: 'Vince [McMahon] did not bring you all the way here to lose, you are going over.'
Then Rock says, 'Going over? That is unheard of for a person's first match.'"
Johnson did indeed go over - a wrestling term for winning - that day the better part of 30 years ago and went on to evolve into The Rock, one of WWE’s most popular stars in the Attitude Era.
Rock actually met The Brooklyn Brawler once again in 2000. swiftly dispatching him in just 30 seconds on an episode of Monday Night Raw in a cool throwback to the matchup four years prior.
The megastar would of course then transition into Hollywood and become one of the biggest names on the planet, but it appears he’s never forgotten that nervous first showing in a wrestling ring when The Brawler was on hand.
He’s since thanked his former for in stunning style, with Lombardi going on to reveal: “He sent me a giant picture that’s about the size of a 46-inch tv set.
“It’s got him hip-tossing me in the first match we ever had in the top of the picture, and it’s got seven dollars in glass.
“In gold on the bottom it says: ‘Steve, I had seven dollars to my name when I had this match, and I can’t thank you enough.’
“It’s hanging on my wall at home…even though he’s worth millions and millions of dollars, that meant more than the money.”
Lombardi’s tenure with WWE came to an end in 2016 after more than 30 years, though he appeared again on Raw two years later in a special anniversary episode.