The following is a reprint of the Torch Newsletter cover story from five years ago this week.

-Jason Powell, Torch assistant editor

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Torch Newsletter Archive
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
Cover Story: Louie Spicolli dies at age 27 in his sleep
Originally published: Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly newsletter #480
Cover dated: February 21, 1998

Subheadline: Addiction to prescription pills mixed with alcohol likely caused his death, ending promising, storied career

Louie Spicolli (real name Louie Mucciolo) died Sunday morning in his sleep. He turned 27 years old on Feb. 10.

Spicolli, who used prescription pills virtually every day for years, partied with friends while watching wrestling videos at his house in San Pedro, Calif. on Saturday night. He downed as many as two dozen somas (muscle relaxers) while also consuming wine all night. He went to sleep, according to his friends, around 2 a.m. He turned off an alarm just past 5 a.m. A few hours later, a friend who crashed at his house noticed a smell coming from Spicolli's room. He entered and found Spicolli's skin discolored and vomit around him. An official autopsy has not taken place, but the believe is he either choked on his own vomit or had a bad reaction to mixing drugs and alcohol.

Spicolli had a reputation for being reliant on drugs to get to sleep at night. He carried that reputation with him from the WWF, to ECW, and finally WCW. Spicolli's first professional match was May 5, 1988 in Duluth, Minn. at a WWF television taping against Ron Bass. He spent several years as a regular jobber in the WWF wrestling under the name Louie Spicolli.

His last match in his initial WWF stint was against Sean Waltman (a/k/a Syxx, 1-2-3 Kid) in Waltman's tryout match. When Waltman got a contract and Spicolli didn't, despite expressing interest in one, he decided to move on. He left the WWF in 1993 because he didn't want to be pegged as a jobber for the rest of his career. "It's like being an extra in the movies," Spicolli said in a May 1993 "Torch Talk" interview. "If you do it for too long, the directors get to know you as a just being an extra. I thought the same. I thought I would be singled out as that forever."

He began working for AAA in Mexico where he picked up a new wrestling style. His big break came on the Nov. 6, 1994 AAA pay-per-view, "When World's Collide." He wrestled under the moniker, "Madonna's Boyfriend." He showed charisma and improved ring skills, plus his 5-10 height looked massive around the smaller luchadors. He got his dream job shortly thereafter, wrestling in the WWF full-time as "Rad Radford." He became an honorary Body Donna, but the WWF eventually phased him out, believed to be because of his reputation for popping pills.

A few months before his release from the WWF late in 1995, just before he was phased out of WWF storylines, Spicolli left a friend's house at 9:30 p.m. He said he hadn't been drinking or doing drugs, but he had a seizure and passed out. "I walked out of my friend's house and the next thing I remember I was waking up in the hospital with tubes down my throat. I was lying outside unconscious for nine or ten hours in the rain. I did stop breathing for two or three minutes when I got to the hospital. A CAT scan showed I had bleeding on the brain which would have been why I had the seizure."

Spicolli said that incident scared the WWF away from using him. "Before I had a seizure, I was accused of being ‘high as a kite' in the dressing room, which was totally untrue," Spicolli said in the "Torch Talk."

After getting his release from the WWF, he began working for ECW. His push was a bit erratic, also believed to be because of belief that he had a pill problem. He showed up late for some shows and argued about policy that required him to be at shows several hours beforehand to work out in the ring. Travelling from California, he believed he should be an exception. ECW booker Paul Heyman's enthusiasm for Spicolli went from high to low over the course of a few months. After no-showing a few scheduled dates, he was phased out of ECW. He inquired about employment with WCW. He signed a contract last year with WCW and worked sporadically at first as bookers tried to find a role for him.

In the weeks before his death, he began to get a role on television as an "NWO pledge," a Scott Hall hanger-on who wanted badly to be part of the NWO. His final pledge was to get under Larry Zbyszko's skin. Last week, without ever having done color commentary before, Eric Bischoff liked Spicolli's early mic work enough that he put him on commentary for a few matches on the Nov. 9 Nitro. Spicolli was an instant hit with good timing, delivery, and one-liners.

Spicolli took some heat from booker Kevin Sullivan because his match later on that Nitro ended several minutes too soon. Spicolli forgot everything planned for the match except the finish, attributing it to hitting his head on a suplex by Adams early in the match.

But Spicolli was in great spirits because after Nitro went off the air, he met with Bischoff in Bischoff's trailer outside the arena. They discussed his character development. Bischoff said he saw Spicolli turning into "WCW's Chris Farley," based on his look and style behind the mic. Spicolli agreed. Spicolli wasn't originally scheduled to be at Thunder on Feb. 12, but Bischoff decided to fly him in at the last second to do more color commentary. Spicolli wasn't as entertaining as a few days earlier, but wasn‘t a bust either. He did stir controversy when he told Schiavone not to use the term "bombshell" because they were in Oklahoma City. The comment brought into question his judgement, but Bischoff still had big plans for him. Spicolli was scheduled to be at Nitro in Tampa, Fla. on Feb. 16 and to face Zbyszko this Sunday at SuperBrawl.

Police were immediately called when Spicolli's body was found. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police found prescription pills and scrips all over his room and that morning even contacted the doctor prescribing his pills, Dr. Joel Hackett of Indianapolis, Ind., to find out why he was taking so many pills. His friends say Spicolli didn't take any more somas than usual that night (he had a high tolerance), but the mixing of the pills with alcohol cost him his life.

Spicolli had warning signs. Besides the seizure in 1995 that led to him being admitted to intensive care for two days, last year he had another health scare that sent him to the hospital. He ended up getting off the prescription pills for a short time, but when his mother was diagnosed with cancer last winter, he got back on the pills to get sleep and relieve his anxiety and stress.

On Jan. 1, 1998, during a conversation about Brian Pillman's death and prescription pill use in wrestling, Spicolli explained the differences between various popular pills. He called somas (which he took the night before he died) "fun drugs that put you in a good mood, but are addictive." He said, "No matter how stressed out you are, they put you to sleep." He said somas were especially popular in the WWF and ECW. "Wrestlers take a handful of muscle relaxers instead of the pain pills." He said wrestlers have slang terms for somas, such as "jello" and "Elvis Presleys" because they make your muscles so relaxed. He talked about another WCW wrestler recently having a major medical problem rumored to be from taking a handful of somas while drinking alcohol. He admitted he took somas, but believed he had his use under control.

Word of his death was slow to spread on Sunday, with most wrestlers finding out after the WWF pay-per-view, or by phone Sunday night or Monday. WCW acknowledged his death briefly on Nitro, but otherwise avoided the subject. Since Spicolli hadn't been a featured wrestler for more than a few weeks, they avoided "bringing Nitro down" by dwelling on his death. Just a couple of minutes after acknowledgement of his death at the start of Nitro, the entire NWO came out with smiles on their faces. Eric Bischoff said it was "just like old times" having the entire NWO together. Outside of a comment by Larry Zbyszko about how he'd refrain from commenting on Spicolli out of respect to his parents, no one talked about him. Given his years wrestling for the WWF, it's expected the WWF will acknowledge his death on TV this weekend.

Despite his reputation as a pill popper, Spicolli was popular among fellow wrestlers. He was good friends with Owen Hart, was especially fond of Bret Hart who he called his idol, and in his WWF days hung around with Davey Boy Smith and The Clique (Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Waltman). Spicolli was considered to be a bit "overeager" and even "naive" sometimes as he trusted people a bit too much and didn't grasp the need to play politics to get ahead. His love for wrestling was never in question.

"As far as when wrestling's over for me, I want to get get into the broadcast aspect," he said in the May 1996 "Torch Talk." "I told (WWF booking assistant) Bruce Prichard once that my goal is to someday have his job, when he is retired. Wrestling's my life. It's what I know. That's what I've been doing since I got out of high school. I think I could wrestle another 10 to 15 years. I want to learn everything I can about this business, be it the broadcasting end of it, the booking aspect, or putting together a TV show. I know it can't happen overnight, but at my age I think I have plenty of time to achieve that."

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