He made his pro wrestling debut in 1958 in Montreal, Quebec under a hood as the Masked Marvel and also wrestled in Ottawa, Ontario.[2] In 1959, DeNucci started teaming with the original Dino Bravo as Dominic Bravo, a storyline/kayfabe brother as the two worked as a tag team in Canada throughout The Maritimes, Toronto, Ontario, and Winnipeg, Manitoba.[2] They also worked in Cleveland and Buffalo. The team headed west for Calgary wrestling for Stampede Wrestling starting in 1962. DeNucci would keep the Bravo name until he left Stampede in 1963. He wrestled as Don DeNucci in the San Francisco territory in the latter half of 1963.
World Championship Wrestling (Australia) (1964–1966, 1968, 1970)
In 1964, DeNucci made his debut in Australia for World Championship Wrestling.[2] He feuded with Killer Kowalski. On November 7, 1964, he defeated Kowalski for the IWA World Heavyweight Championship in Melbourne. He dropped the title to Ray Stevens on January 9, 1965. A month later he regained the title by defeating Stevens. On March 10 he dropped the title again to Stevens. He continued feuding with Kowalski. On February 12, 1966, he won the title for the third time defeating Kowalski. He held the title for 111 days until losing it to Toru Tanaka on June 3 in Sydney. Afterwards, he teamed with Kowalski and his Italian friend Bruno Sammartino feuding with Japanese heels Toru Tanaka and Mitsu Arakawa.
After leaving the WWF, DeNucci returned to Toronto and wrestled there for a year. From 1984 to 1985 he wrestled for Lutte Internationale in Montreal and American Wrestling Association in Minnesota. He also worked in Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.[2] On November 16, 1987, he returned to the World Wrestling Federation for a one night appearance at a house show in East Rutherford, New Jersey participating in a Legends Battle Royal won by Lou Thesz. After that he retired from wrestling at 55 years old.[2]
Sporadic appearances (1990s)
During the 1990s, DeNucci wrestled five times. The first was a loss to Johnny Valiant by disqualification on November 9, 1990, at an event in Chesterland, Ohio. Then he defeated Johnny Hotbody on April 4, 1993, at Maccabiah Mania in Livingston, New Jersey. On May 13, 1994, he defeated Lord Zoltan at an IWA event in Warren, Ohio. On June 7, 1996, DeNucci reunited with Tony Parisi as they defeated Bruiser Bedlam and Danny Johnson at the Ilio DiPaolo Memorial Show in Buffalo, New York. Then on July 30, 1999, he defeated Lord Zoltan at Curtis Comes Home event in Rostraver, Pennsylvania. The show paid tribute to DeNucci's student Mark Curtis who died from cancer.
Return to wrestling on independent circuit (2005–2012)
In 2005, DeNucci came out of retirement at age 73. On August 27, 2005, he lost to Ivan Koloff in a Russian Chain match at WrestleReunion 2 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He wrestled in the independent circuit in Pennsylvania for the rest of his career. Also he made appearances as a referee and manager. On March 24, 2007, he defeated Larry Zbyszko at International Wrestling Cartel's Night of Legends 3 in Franklin, Pennsylvania. He had Bruno Sammartino in his corner as a manager. On May 3, 2009, he teamed up with students Shane Douglas and Cody Michaels as they defeated J. J. Dillon, Lou Marconi and Frank Stalletto at Deaf Wrestlefest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He wrestled his last singles match on May 29, 2009, defeating Samuel Elias by count out at Far North Wrestling in New Castle, Pennsylvania.
He wrestled his final match on April 14, 2012, in Toronto, teaming with his protege Shane Douglas to defeat Lord Zoltan and Shawn Blanchard at Pro Wrestling Superstars.[9]
DeNucci was Catholic[11] and spoke at least four languages: English, French, Spanish, and Italian.[12] In June 2020, Dominic experienced heart issues and was hospitalized.[13]
DeNucci died on August 12, 2021, at UPMC Passavant Hospital in McCandless Township, Pennsylvania,[11] at the age of 89.[2]