Many wrestlers claim to hail from exotic and even fictitious places, but Scicluna (pronounced sikh-cloo-nah) actually was from Malta. He was proud of his homeland and returned to Malta every year with his family.

Baron (a title given to Maltese noblemen) Mikel Scicluna is described as a velvet-caped professional wrestling bad guy who enraged fans with his use of foreign objects and other sneaky tactics. He would play a sort of shell game with the referee, concealing the object (probably a roll of quarters) in his trunks, boot, mouth, under his arm, etc. Only rarely did referees ever catch on to Scicluna's deceptions, and he used them to his advantage and as his signature move. Another unique thing about Scicluna was that he would always sell his ear no matter what move he was on the receiving end of.

WWE describes him as "the most famous man in sports-entertainment to be billed from the tiny island nation in the Mediterranean Sea. Scicluna would enter the ring with a blue cape slung over his shoulder, indicating that somewhere in the distant past there was a hint of royal blood. But when the bell rang, there was nothing suave about the Baron, who frequently victimized opponents with a roll of coins."

Starting the Career

His career started when he went to Toronto and wrestled professionally as Mike Valentino in the 1950s. In 1965, he went south of the border to join the World Wide Wrestling Federation managed by Vince McMahon Sr. in 1965. Scicluna thus became to first and only Maltese wrestler to ever join a major wrestling promotion such as WWWF until today.

Scicluna was seen widely in televised matches and a staple on the local Pittsburgh telecast 'Studio Wrestling'.

He wrestled, twice, Bruno Sammartino for the world championship at Madison Square Garden, losing both times.

Sammartino was a friend of Scicluna. "I had some of my greatest matches in the '60s against Mike," Mr. Sammartino said. "I loved guys who were dedicated to what they did. He worked hard to stay in great shape, and he always gave it everything he had. He could really move. I had heard Mike wasn't feeling well. I was shocked when I got the news."

In his wrestling career, Scicluna was always a villain. "He loved it when they booed him; to him that was applause," said Bill Cardille, the host of 'Studio Wrestling'. But according to his son, Michael, "He was nothing like his wrestling character. He played the role well. Those who didn't know him thought that's who he was. But he couldn't have been more different in real life than he was in the ring."

Rise to Fame

During his career, Scicluna's biggest successes came as a tag team wrestler. Shortly after entering WWWF, Scicluna won the United States Tag Team Championship with Smasher Sloan in 1966. Six years later, he and King Curtis Iaukea captured the World Tag Team Championship.

He also teamed up with fellow Hall of Famer George "The Animal" Steele (mainly in the Pittsburgh area) during his career, and the two were a notable thorn in the side of Steel City native Bruno Sammartino.

In between, Scicluna established himself as a recurrent threat to Sammartino and Pedro Morales during their reigns as WWE Champions, coming close but never winning the gold.

Scicluna's matches were never high on the card (as he spent the majority of his career as a jobber) but he always got a heated reaction from the crowd especially as he would often engage in entertaining verbal exchanges with the regulars at ringside. He was a distinctive heel character and, despite his less-than-impressive win-loss record, is considered as one of the most "glorified jobbers" in the WWWF. He always put over the stars on television, but at the arena shows it was not uncommon for Scicluna to defeat other preliminary.

His most famous moment, however, came when he involved in a famous angle in 1976 whilst wrestling Gorilla Monsoon at a WWWF TV taping. During that match, boxing great Muhammad Ali, who was seated at ringside, began yelling at Monsoon. Scicluna, who had been tossed from the ring by Monsoon, threw up his arms in disgust and walked back to the dressing room as Ali proceeded to get into the ring and mix it up with Monsoon. The confrontation ended with Monsoon giving Ali an airplane spin and dumping him to the mat.

Scicluna retired in 1983 after 30 years in the ring and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996 by Monsoon. He died at the age of 80 after a battle with liver cancer.

Baron Mikel Scicluna's Championships and Accomplishments:

NWA San Francisco

NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) (1 time) wrestling as Mike Valentino with Gene Dubuque

World Championship Wrestling (Australia)

IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Ciclón Negro

World Wide Wrestling Federation

WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Smasher Sloan

WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) with King Curtis Iaukea