Vinny Pacifico packs a power(ful) punch.
WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard recently spoke with Vinny Pacifico, pro wrestler and Bang Energy-sponsored athlete. Pacifico’s ‘Power Punch’ energy drink gimmick was suggested by EC3, and he says Bang contacted him after a match clip went viral.
“We do the spot where I double down and I crawl to the corner, [take a drink of an energy drink], and hulk up like Popeye. It got super over. I posted that clip on Twitter, Instagram, and three days later, I got an email from Bang trying to sign me to a contract. But before that, I emailed a few places. I emailed Monster, I emailed Red Bull. I never hit up Bang. So Bang called me. And other places had their certain sports they wanted. They had their go-to sports, so they weren’t interested in what I was doing with wrestling. Bang was all for it. They were cool. They were very professional, very responsive,” Pacifico explained.
“I like Bang. This is a cool opportunity and signed the contract within a day or two, and that’s it. They sent me a bunch of stuff in the mail that I could use for my matches, I could use for promotion, I could use it for anything. It’s a very big opportunity to grow as well because now I can make really good money when they have me do appearances for them. So yeah, I got very lucky. Very grateful that that happened.”
Vinny Pacifico went into more detail about EC3 pitching the character to him, adding that his advice has helped a great deal.
“Back then, I didn’t have a character. It was two years ago. I didn’t really have a set character, it was just more like a white meat babyface or could be a cool heel if I wanted to be, but wasn’t. He called me like, ‘Yo, you have a really good personality. Why don’t you just use it this way?’ He gave me this character, Vinny ‘Power Punch’ Pacifico, instead of The Kid, and it clicked with me,” he explained. “We did some promos where it just worked so well. It was so natural, and this character could be heel or face. It could be used any way. It could be used as a midcarder, champion, it could be used as any type of performer.
“It’s really cool and it’s just natural to me. It’s me turned up. I like energy drinks and I’m very energetic, as you can tell,” Pacifico added.
Pacifico said he now uses social media to get his “vignettes” over, often using other wrestlers in the segments to help get their names out there too.
“I like to put my character into situations with other characters in wrestling to create content and so far it’s worked great. I’ve gotten a lot of success from it, it’s been a lot of fun. People ask me to do them now. ‘Hey, I’ve seen those promos you’ve been doing. Can I get in one of those?’ We talk about ideas, we do it. Bang likes them, and they’re fun. It’s content that will get me and the [other talent] over. It’ just fun content for fans to enjoy and to be able to mesh characters.”
Pacifico praised EC3’s mind for the business, noting how much he’s benefitted from listening to his advice.
“He’s very smart in terms of wrestling. I mean, he’s very smart in life too, but he has a very good mind for wrestling. Like I said, he’s helped my career tenfold. I believe being good at wrestling is important, but having a character that can hook fans in is very important too. I didn’t realize that until trying [to implement] characters. So, he’s just a genius, and I love picking his brain. His seminars are great,” Pacifico said. “I give a lot of credit to him. The gym’s helped me out. Hitting the gym with him, his leg days are nuts. Everything he does is intense. He does it 100 percent or not at all.”
Watch our full interview with Vinny Pacifico below:
