Bill Alfonso

Bill Alfonso
Birth name	William Matthew Sierra
Born	(1957-08-11) August 11, 1957[1] Hampton, New Hampshire
Residence	Tampa, Florida[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Bill Alfonso[1]
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Billed weight	161 lb (73 kg)[1]
Trained by	Extreme Championship Wrestling
Debut	1979[2]

William Matthew "Bill" Sierra (born August 11, 1957) is an American former professional wrestling referee and manager better known by his ring name Bill Alfonso. He achieved his greatest success in Extreme Championship Wrestling in the mid-to-late 1990s. He is well known for the whistle that was almost always hanging around his neck, which he blew constantly during his wrestlers' matches.^[3]

Career

Early career, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation (1979-1995)

Alfonso refereed his first match in Texas at the age of 21. He was the official in a chain match between The Sheik and Terry Funk.^[4] Shortly thereafter, he took on a regular role as a referee in Championship Wrestling from Florida.^[1] He is seen on footage from 1983 (featured recently on various WWE DVD releases) as an "NWA official" sitting in the conference room as the main event of the first Starrcade between Harley Race and Ric Flair is being announced by Bob Geigel. He then worked in every major American promotion, including the World Wrestling Federation where he was a referee for The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez match at Wrestlemania 9 as well as World Championship Wrestling.^[1]

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1995-1997)

In May 1995, he made his debut in Extreme Championship Wrestling as a "trouble-shooting referee".^[1] Introduced by Shane Douglas, he angered many ECW fans with strict enforcement of the rules and disqualifications of wrestlers for such ECW traditions as using steel chairs as weapons.^[4] In this role, he engaged in a feud with ECW founder Tod Gordon that resulted in several wrestling matches.^[4]

Alfonso was then stripped of his refereeing duties and took on the role of Taz's manager and helped him on a winning streak that lasted over a year.^[1] In the midst of Taz's feud with Sabu, however, Alfonso turned on his charge and aligned with Sabu.^[5] In this role, he performed more than the usual duties, as he actually managed Sabu's finances.^[4] Rob Van Dam later took on Alfonso as a manager and formed a tag team with Sabu.^[6] Alfonso also led Van Dam to the longest ECW World Television Championship reign in the history of ECW.^[7] In 1997, Alfonso fought Beulah McGillicutty with this match becoming infamous because Alfonso lost 1/3 of the blood in his body according to Paul Heyman.

Return to WWE (2005-2006)

Alfonso was at the 2005 ECW One Night Stand managing Sabu and standing in the ring with RVD while RVD delivered a shoot style promo. Alfonso returned at ECW One Night Stand 2006 after Rob Van Dam won the WWE Title, as he celebrated with him and the rest of the then-ECW Roster.

Independent promotions

Bill Alfonso making his entrance a show in March 2013

Since the closing of ECW, Alfonso has appeared in several independent promotions. He worked one match in Xtreme Pro Wrestling as a referee.^[1] He has also worked in Elite Wrestling Entertainment as a referee and a manager,^[1] as well as managing wrestlers in Squared Circle Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Unplugged.^[1] In May 2007, he made his first appearance with Women's Extreme Wrestling, where he serves as a manager and as commissioner.^[1]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010)

On August 8, 2010, Alfonso took part in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's ECW reunion show, Hardcore Justice, managing both Rob Van Dam and Sabu during their match against each other.^[8] On the following edition of TNA Impact!, the ECW alumni, known collectively as Extreme, Version 2.0 (EV 2.0), were assaulted by A.J. Styles, Kazarian, Robert Roode, James Storm, Douglas Williams and Matt Morgan of Ric Flair's Fourtune stable, who thought they didn't deserve to be in TNA.^[9][10]

Other Media

In October 2002, fellow manager Missy Hyatt sued Alfonso in a case televised on Judge Mathis. She accused Alfonso of damaging her Porsche and was awarded $500.^[1]

Personal life

Alfonso is not the only person in his family to have a career in the Professional Wrestling sport, his step brother, former Olympian Bob Roop also spent many years as a wrestler fighting all over the world under a variety of names and gimmicks while his cousin David Sierra has also enjoyed a long career in the ring including a stint in WCW as Fidel Sierra where he is remembered for a controversial feud with Hacksaw Jim Duggan. However, contrary to popular belief, Alfonso is not related to Mike Awesome with whom he spent time with in ECW. The confusion is thought to have stemmed from the fact that Awesome's real surname was Alfonso and the fact that he wrestled in Japan as The Gladiator, a name that Alfonso's real brother Bob Roop also used during his career.

In wrestling

• Wrestlers managed by Alfonso^[2]

• Nicknames
  • "Fonzie"
  • "The Best Manager in the Business"
  • "The Manager of Champions"
  • "The Man Who Calls It Right Down the Middle"
  • "The Vice President of Extreme Affairs"
  • "Big Money"
  • "The Most Admired Man in Pro Wrestling"

Championships and accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Manager of the Year (1997)^[11]

References

External links

• Bill Alfonso article from SLAM! Wrestling