One of the harder aspects of researching wrestling is locating information that legitimizes
the ballyhoo and stories passed down through the years by promoters.  Because we all
know by now that the promoters behind-the-scenes were the great carnival barkers of
their time, doing pretty much anything to sell a ticket and draw an audience.  They'd hype
a wrestler or a big match to no end, offer falsified aspects into the scenario to build
excitement, and in many cases, their shenanigans were successful in pulling people in.

Promoters like Jack Pfefer were renown for taking a man and giving him a colorful
background and name, sometimes changing their religion or ancestry completely.  
George Wenzel of German heritage became Dave Levin, a Hebrew grappler, for example.
Pfefer loved using "international" wrestlers with ethnic names.  He felt having that by a
few Germans, Irish, and Jewish wrestlers on his wrestling shows, he could draw a mixture
of fans from all types of backgrounds.  That's exactly what he did.

In the case of Angelo Savoldi, there was a nice mixture of Pfefer-influence and realism.  
He was born Mario Fornini and his Italian background was played up by Pfefer as early
as 1937.  Newspapers indicated that he'd just arrived from Italy, which was a nice Pfefer
tactic, but was false because Mario had lived in the United States since the early 1920s.  
Giving him the ring name "Savoldi" was a masterful Pfefer scheme since it was also the
legitmate name of the famous ex-Notre Dame football star and pro wrestling hero
"Jumping" Joe Savoldi.  It wouldn't be hard to claim that "Angelo Savoldi" was a relative of
Joe, and use that gimmick to generate a little buzz.

The real aspect to the story was that Mario Fornini was from a 100% Italian family, and
even lived in Italy for awhile.  The genealogical sources are fairly detailed, and tell an
interesting story of the Fornini Family beginning in 1908 when Felice Fornini and his wife
Carmella arrived in the United States.  The couple sailed from Europe on the ship
Romantic, arriving in Massachusetts on March 9, 1908.  Carmella was pregnant at the
time and on October 21, 1908, she gave birth to her first child, Louis.

The Fornini Family shows up in the 1910 United States Federal Census in Attleborough,
Bristol County, Massachusetts.  The Census taker spelled their last name "Fomini," and
Felice was known by the Americanized designation, Phillip.  He toiled as a railroad
laborer, and their young family expanded in the years that followed with the additions of
Ralph, Albert, and Mario (born April 21, 1914).  At some point in the 1910s, Carmella
(and possibly Felice) took the children back to Castrocielo, Italy, where they remained
until January 20, 1921, when the family returned through Ellis Island.  At that point, all of
their sons had Italian names: Louis was listed as Luigi, Ralph was Raffaele, and Albert
was Umberto.  The Ellis Island records listed Carmella under her maiden name, "Papa,"
and the family was going to be reunited with their husband and father, who'd already
returned to the U.S., and had prepared their new Hoboken home.

Because of language barriers and possibly inaccurate reporting, the Fornini Family's
listing in the 1930 Census was butchered pretty heavily.  Their last name was spelled,
"Farrenini," and Felice was listed as "Felix." Notably, Mario was listed as "Michael," and
according to this record, he was born in Italy, unlike his three brothers, who had all been
born in Massachusetts.  If true, I had never known that Angelo Savoldi was actually born
in Italy.  But you never know, this record could be inaccurate.

Savoldi was a lighter-weight grappler, and figured into Pfefer's circuit in and around the
New York City area.  Because of Pfefer's uncanny ability to create phony stories and
family relations amongst his workers, it has been difficult to uncover accurate information
about many old-time wrestlers.  Wrestling results show that "Lou Savoldi" and an "Al
Savoldi" wrestled professionally, and may be Mario's legitimate brothers Louis and
Albert.  It seems to fit, although additional sources could help settle any remaining
questions.








Research by Tim Hornbaker
Angelo Savoldi Wrestling History