His ring name is Marcus Valentine and for a hundred days it has been national wrestling champion. He is Gianmarco Geraci31 year old from Lamezia, who For six years he has been practicing this combat-entertainment sport, which combines athletic performance with theatrical performance. Gianmarco Geraci began training in Rome in 2018 at the Siw (Superior Italian Wrestling) school, the most followed Pro Wrestling federation in Italy, which for years has broadcast and promoted the sport-entertainment of Wrestling to the public in Italy. In fact, a show is broadcast every week, followed by over 15 thousand followers on YouTube. Geraci’s first ring debut took place in 2019 in Tuscany, where the Siw school is based. «It is a real show – explained the fighter from Lamezia – they are shows that combine athletic performance with theatrical performance, whose origins lie in the traveling American fairs of the late 19th century. It draws inspiration from free wrestling and grappling, even if it has different variations and styles as in Mexico or Japan.” Although Geraci’s style also draws inspiration from Japanese martial arts, he has been a fan of this discipline for years now. In the ring, the young man from Lamezia wears a real stage costume, which he designed and whose character is inspired by the Japanese fox.
«When we are in the ring – underlined the athlete – the spectator not only watches the fight but also the physical and theatrical preparation of the athletes, between one move and another we tell a story, with our body and face, to try to intrigue the viewer.” In 2023 Geraci won the Siw “Genesis” title in Pisa, defeating the champion who held the title before him. He also won the tournament for “The best lightweight in Italy” in Naples. And Geraci has all the experience needed to defend this title, having already fought in several Italian federations between Rome, Bologna, Naples and Messina. The next “defense” will already take place in Rome in February in the “Break Pro Wrestling”. But in addition to the shows throughout Italy, Gianmarco Geraci is also thinking about the future in his city: «My desire is to create a wrestling school here in Lamezia. I have already organized a show on the occasion of Lamezia Comics at Parco Impastato which was a great success. There is a lot of curiosity in this discipline and I would like to spread it here in Calabria too.”