In sad news, Bill Apter has reported that Gino Caruso, best known to old-school wrestling fans as “Pistol” Pete Sanchez in the WWWF, passed away on July 27. As of writing, no cause of death has been made public, although it was known within the industry he had been in poor health for some time. Caruso broke into the business in the late 50s and, during his career, would work against some of the sport’s biggest names, including Arnold Skaaland, Ernie Ladd, Gorilla Monsoon, Roddy Piper, Greg Valentine, and Ric Flair.
Additionally, it’s understood that despite being mainly used as an enhancement talent, Caruso was highly respected by his colleagues, with Superstar Billy Graham revealing in his book that he would often travel with Caruso. It should also be noted that for anyone looking to research Caruso’s career, Pete Cotto, who died in 2021, also used the name Pete Sanchez. Often, these two are confused by the most die-hard of fans, with WWE’s Encyclopedia even making this embarrassing mistake.
