Gypsy Joe

Gypsy Joe on Wikipedia
Gypsy Joe on MySpace

Gypsy Joe (real name Gilberto "Pepe" Melendez) is considered by many to be one of the legitimately toughest men in pro wrestling history, one of the sports great all time brawlers, and along with men like The Shiek, Terry Funk, Bruiser Brody and Abdullah The Butcher, one of the founding fathers of "hardcore" wrestling and was the first known wrestler to ever jump off a steel cage. A Puerto Rican native, Joe trained with men like Pedro Morales and Carlos Colon on the island where he briefly wrestled before moving stateside. He debuted in the United States at Sunnyside Garden in Long Island, New York in 1963. That started a career that has spanned almost 50 years in which Joe experienced success in numerous regional territories, (Tennessee, Montreal, Kansas City, West Virginia, Kentucky, Dallas), made brief stops in others (Florida, Mid Atlantic, Puerto Rico, Mid South), and became a legendary figure in Japan (IWE, AJPW, W*ING, IWA).

Joe who'll be 77 this December still wrestles occasionally,and is listed in the Guiness Book Of World Records, and was also featured in WWE magazine as the oldest active professional wrestler in the world. Joe's most recent high profile appearance was in the corner of Necro Butcher and Eddie Kingston at the Ring Of Honor 8th Anniversary Show and he was also mentioned as one of the all time toughest wrestlers on WWE 24/7's Legend's Roundtable Series.