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Ex-WWE Star Returns For First Match In 16 Years

WWE logo over blurred Nunzio Tony D'Angelo

Gold was on the line on NXT at the ECW Arena as a former WWE star competed in their first match in the company for over 16 years.

Tony D’Angelo held onto the NXT North American Championship at Halloween Havoc against Oba Femi but being The Don is never an easy task and with NXT heading to the old ECW Arena, a former face from the company had D’Angelo in their sights.

D’Angelo was approached backstage on the 29th of October edition of NXT TV by Shawn Spears and Brooks Jensen but Luca Crusifino and Stacks Lorenzo had a worrying voicemail to play for their boss. The unnamed voice was unhappy that they had to hear from “Silvio” that D’Angelo would be in Philadelphia and warned that this disrespect would not be tolerated.

Nunzio Returns To Action In WWE

That voice belonged to former WWE and ECW star Nunzio – also known as Little Guido – and when NXT rolled into south Philadelphia, he was on hand to call out D’Angelo’s disrespect. As a result, D’Angelo had to pay a price and that price was putting his NXT North American Championship on the line against Nunzio.

Nunzio was accompanied by his FBI partner Tony Mamaluke for the match while Tony D’Angelo was flanked by The Family. In the end, D’Angelo held on to his gold and after the match, the two sides squashed their beef and embraced in the ring. The show also saw several other ECW icons make their return to WWE.

Prior to the 6th of November edition of NXT, the last time Nunzio had competed in a WWE ring was back in July 2008 when he was part of live events going up against Umaga in handicap matches. His last match on WWE TV was in June of the same year when he was part of an unlikely team that included Colin Delaney, Funaki, and Batista as they defeated La Familia in an eight-man tag team match on SmackDown.

Since leaving WWE, Nunzio has maintained his career and he remains active in the ring on the independent scene at the age of 52.