Introduction
Michael K. Cariglio (born July 19, 1971) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his stage name, Michael Modest (sometimes shortened to Mike Modest). A Bay Area legend on the independent circuit scene, Modest ran the promotion Pro Wrestling IRON with tag partner Donovan Morgan and Frank Murdoch until its closure in 2005. Modest has also wrestled in Japan for Pro Wrestling Noah, winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship after defeating Yoshinobu Kanemaru. He has also wrestled in Canada, Mexico and Ireland. He is perhaps best known for his appearance in the wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat, and also appeared in the film Ready to Rumble and TV special Exposed! Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets (under a mask as 'Private Pain')
Career
Modest began wrestling in 1991, and has worked for All Pro Wrestling, Universal Wrestling Association, and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), along with both AAA and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico. Modest had try-out matches for both the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and WCW, and eventually got signed to a WCW contract, although he was released after WWF bought WCW. After his release, he began working for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan. In 2001, he also worked for Stampede Wrestling, and won the North American Heavyweight and Pacific Heavyweight titles. He was the last ever Pacific Heavyweight Champion.
Modest also operated the Pro Wrestling IRON school and promotion in the USA, along with his tag team partner Donovan Morgan. He also briefly worked for Ring of Honor.
On March 18, 2005, Modest won the Mike Lockwood Memorial Tournament held by New Breed Wrestling Association, defeating Jamie Noble in the finals. On February 18, 2006, Modest wrestled in a six-man tag team match with Morgan and Ryan Drago, as "La Migra" on an episode of TNA Impact!. They lost to the Latin American Xchange.
On March 20, 2014, YouTube personality Brian Zane interviewed Modest, who described his involvement with the NBC TV special Exposed! Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets, where Modest described how the producers of the special orchestrated how they created the special. Modest testified that "they took bits and pieces" of what the producers thought would cause a reaction towards their ultimate goal of proving professional wrestling as fake.
Personal life
Modest is divorced and has two sons. Modest currently lives in Las Vegas and is working for the Las Vegas Wrestling promotion Future Stars of Wrestling, where he is also the head trainer.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Modest Driver (Half nelson lifted and dropped into an Olympic slam)
- Reality Check (Over the shoulder back to belly piledriver) / (Vertebreaker)
- Signature moves
- Diving knee drop
- Exploder suplex
- Fisherman buster
- Handstand frankensteiner to an opponent sitting on the top turnbuckle
- Reverse chokeslam facebuster
- Running Death Valley driver
- Russian legsweep
- Stunner
- Swinging fisherman suplex, sometimes from the top rope
- Entrance themes
- "Minus Human" by Metallica
Championships and accomplishments
- All Pro Wrestling
- APW Worldwide Internet Championship (1 time)
- APW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Steve Rizzono (1) and Tony Jones (1)
- APW Universal Heavyweight Championship (5 times)
- Future Stars of Wrestling
- FSW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling
- PCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #58 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2003
- Pro Wrestling IRON
- PWI Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Donovan Morgan
- Pro Wrestling NOAH
- GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Stampede Wrestling
- Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Stampede Pacific Heavyweight Championship (1 time)