Age: 36
Birthday: May 7th
Height: 292 Lbs
Weight: 6'2"
Country of Representation: Italy
Fighting Style: Greco-Roman wrestling
Glyphs: Kathon (Earth Magick) and Chloros (Plant Magick)
Power Finisher: Wrath of the Titan
Submission Finisher: Hercules Hug / Jungle Grapevine
Favorite Food: His Nona's secret chicken cutlet recipe
Likes: Cooking, eating, lifting, gardening, wine selections, nature, nude beaches, mythology, traditional witchcraft, muscles, wrestling his buddies.
Hates: Restrictive clothing, rude people, social situations, overstimulation, being hungry, people who break linguini before putting it in the pot.
The Earth trembles before The Mighty Titan!
Legends and myths speak of divine beings with impossible strength, with power so formidable that they were overthrown and sealed away by the gods. Giovanni DiToro, likely descended from that same legendary bloodline, is a modern day myth and hero who draws his strength from the Earth. Whether channelling his gladiator ancestor's dominance, tearing up the battlefield as a wily barbarian, going pure wild as a jungle stud, or just doing some casual gardening, Gio DiToro is the GSA's preeminent muscleman with a soft side. A gentle giant (outside the ring, at least) he holds nothing back when he crushes his opponents!
Giovanni was born in Italy's Tuscan countryside. Like his colleague, Spike, Gio was orphaned as a product of the Great War tearing through Europe. Italy was one of the major theaters of the Great War, in part due to the (now dead) King's alliance with the scheming Alchemists. The Horror of Toscana, a massacre at the Val D'Orcia in which the combatants were petrified en masse (the same event that took Spike's parent's lives) occurred not far from where Gio was born and raised.
Fortunately, Gio was taken in by his battle-hardened and no-nonsense grandmother, a local Strega and matriarch of the family vineyard. As a child, Gio struggled to make friends with other children apart from his cousins, due to introversion as the result of losing his parents as well as being neuro atypical. His grandmother would keep him close at hand, teaching him to identity and cultivate local herbs and vegetables, in addition to gardening, wine making, and other disciplines of the land. Whereas Gio struggled at school, his grandmother found that when presented with a topic or concept that interested her grandson, she could channel his focus into learning it at an expert level.
Gio's hyper fixations served him well in both learning magick (which he used when gardening) and his intertest in bodybuilding and folk wrestling. By age 12, Gio was already undefeated amongst his peers in traditional grappling. By his teenage years, Gio was already receiving marriage proposals from men and women alike, but all would-be suitors would find themselves scared away by Gio's Nona, who deemed none of them worthy enough to date her grandson. This greatly strained their relationship, especially as Gio became more comfortable with coming out of his shell. He moved to Rome with his two cousins, Vincenzo and Lorenzo, polar opposites from each other, and always bickering. Gio helped keep the peace between them.
After an incident in which Gio singlehandedly pushed a collapsed building off a construction crew, a local movie producer (enamoured by Gio's physique) approached Gio to star in a series of 'sword and sandal pictures'. Though Gio could memorize lines perfectly, he wasn't the best actor, but that hardly mattered when it came time to playing the roles of seldom speaking heroes like Hercules, Samson, Tarzan, and a succession of various Barbarian Kings and jungle men. For a brief period, Gio was easily recognized by his colorful posters, usually featuring him being bound by chains, ropes, or vines, or flexing his enormous muscles. These films even had small releases outside of Italy, which did bode well for Gio's futuee, until his grandmother got wind of various abuses Gio and his fellow cast members were experiencing on set. After Gio's costar nearly drowned, the Titan's grandmother stormed onto the set and nearly put the director and producer in the hospital. Gio quit after this, finding the film industry too predatory for his liking.
He didn't need to wait long before his next big break. Cousin Lorenzo became a successful manager for spellbreaking, and soon invited Gio to participate in local matches. Though Nona was firmly against it, Gio's winning streak was unparalleled. When the evil heel Cerberus finally did put Gio on the ropes during a Battle Royal, Nona stormed the ring with her wooden spoon in what spellbreaking aficionados described as 'an unparalleled bloodbath'. The incident disqualified Gio from participating in further matches in Italy, but caught the attention of Colt 'The Bolt' who made an offer to Gio on the spot. As Colt is and has always been inherently adored by mothers, grandmothers, and aunties alike, the charmed Nona reluctantly acquiesced to her grandson going off to Texas to be signed to the GSA. After several years of success, Gio has climbed the ranks to Gold Star level, and is believed to be a contender for the Platinum Championship. Then again, Gio is extremely humble and may not be ready to step back into the spotlight quite yet. He prefers mentoring the newer trainees along with his good friend, Victor, otherwise known as El Amante Intoxico.
Gio is a lot like a giant dog that does not fully understand its own strength. He enjoys challenging his colleagues and teammates to traditional (i.e. naked) wrestling matches. It would be fair to call Gio an exhibitionist, and he constantly complains about wearing 'too much' gear into the ring (to be fair, Buck designed him his very elaborate, Roman gladiator inspired entrance wear). Gio does have quite the body to behold, being one of the most muscular (and hairiest) bodybuilders at the GSA. In his downtime, he enjoys cooking and maintaining the garden with fellow green thumb, Buck. He still struggles with social anxiety, to the point that it often takes him awhile to maintain eye contact with someone. Inside the ring, however, he's as fierce as they come!
Gio is a rare double glyph wielder, and his two Earth-based glyphs work in tandem. The Glyph of Kathon allows him to draw energy from the ground and the environment, adding even more power on top of his natural strength. His body takes on a noticeable glow in this state, not unlike the reflection of polished bronze. As he prefers oiling up before a fight as well, Gio in combat is a living statue of a god come to life!
Gio's secondary Glyph of Chloros gives him the unique ability to accelerate plant growth and mobility, usually reserved for vines (especially grape producing vines) and roots. He uses these vines to entangle or ensnare his opponents to the ground, allowing him to close the distance between nimble and projectile wielding spellbreakers. Like fellow spellbreaker (and mentee) Cian, Gio is a pagan who worships and follows the ways of the old gods, independent from the Faith of the Goddess Aethrin. In particular, his family venerates pastoral and forest deities.
Gio favors traditional, Olympic/Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling techniques, to the point he eschews most forms of 'pro wrestling'. In fact, it took tons of convincing on Colt's part to get Gio to even come up with a 'finisher' or 'special' technique, as Gio found it hard to wrap his mind around the concept. For submission, Gio prefers a (quite literal) Grape Vine when he is on the ground, using his vines in tandem with his arms and legs to pull his poor opponents apart. For standing finishers, Gio is very fond of a 'Hercules Hug', which likewise harnesses the power of his vines to bind his opponents as they are brutally crushed in his muscles. To this day, no spellbreaker has managed to escape this hold without submitting, and more than a few ribs have been broken as a result! Gio is also fond of using this move in particular to....er....'finish' his opponents in naked matches. Though seldom employed, and most always for top card fights, Gio's 'Wrath of the Titan' sees him yanking his opponent off the ground, holding him up by the arms across his back, and slamming them into the ground (similar to a Razor's Edge). Like his bear hug finisher, nobody has yet to kick out after this!
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| Gio's preferred gear when he has to fight is his favorite 'jungle man' look, modelled here on the set of his movie 'The Jungle King's Rutting Season'. Unfortunately, Colt has told him to wear additional underwear beneath it after the GSA got fined for 'indecent exposure'. |
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| "I like the version without the mist, so you can see more of my hairy chest!" |
Battle Quotes "I am the Titan! Now, let's oil up!" *beating chest* "RAAAAUUUGHHH! Get ready to be CRUSHED." "Give! Or Gio breaks your body now..." "You are small compared to Titan! Does my size intimidate you?" Let us finish this match like REAL men! *flexing over defeated opponent* Worship your new god! |
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