It's being reported from very reliable sources that Sylvano Sousa, Passed away from complications of the Covid-19 Virus. The sources include Associate producer of The Wrestler and 350 Days Evan Ginzburg, and I got confirmation from three people who were trained by Sousa.
Sousa (real name Dave Silva) was more than just an enhancement talent in the 80's for the WWF. He also was a mid-card star up in Canada where he feuded with Al Tomko, as well as owner and promoter of the Atlantic Wrestling Federation. Sousa's AWF ran shows in New Hampshire as well as Massachusetts and featured old WWF stars such as Rick Martel, King Kong Bundy, Captain Lou Albano as well as featured future stars such as the late Steve Bradley (who went on to get a WWF Developmental contract and worked Memphis, Puerto Rico, OVW as well as Les Thatcher's Heartland Wrestling Federation), and Matt Bloom (who was Prince Albert in the WWF, Giant Bernard in NJPW and now works as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center).
On a personal note. back in 1997 when i was living in New Hampshire, it was Sylvano Sousa who gave me my first break to live my dream of working in professional wrestling. Helping film his shows, setting up chairs, ring, cage when he had cage matches, etc. I cut my teeth and paid my dues (which helped lean me toward locally promoting shows for WWA New England and EWA which was based in Maine back then) working for Sousa, and I learned a ton of knowledge from him.
He was also inducted into the New England Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame back in 2013, link to that is here. https://youtu.be/TR2REHbWu-I
Here's a match from 1978 WWF where he and Well known wrestling personality John Arezzi teamed to face Dusty Rhodes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-iLA1XvTMU
Here, Sousa on one of his shows in Manchester, new Hampshire, gives the late Walter 'Killer' Kowalski, an award. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eFJKJ73Kvs
Here'sa a match with Sousa facing the man who in the future would be known as The Missing Link, Dewey Robertson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrRZhjUPOeQ
Sousa vs Al Tomko in Vancouver. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eccjerQZ-qM
Sousa would go on to hold the Canadian Championship that year as well.
And this one comes from a Night Of Legends Show in Wilmington, Mass. where Sousa turns on Captain Lou Albano, leading to a match against Damon D'Archangelo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y554VNtU3FY
And this is the match against D'Archangelo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iloz7qhpQ08
Finally, this was an article I wrote about my time working for Sousa in the AWF and how I actually got my break, thanks to Mr. Sousa. http://prowrestlingtapes.angelfire.com/awf.html
Sylvano Sousa helped many in the New England area and he will be missed by many.
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