National Wrestling Hall of Fame inducts local photographer

Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, the Rock and countless other professional wrestlers have been photographed either in the ring or behind the scenes over the past 40 years by local Dyker Heights photographer George Napolitano, who was recognized for his body of work with his induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and DanGableMuseum at Waterloo, Iowa over the weekend of July 12-13.

Starting out by shooting wrestling matches in 1970 at Sunny Gardens, Queens, and moving on to Madison Square Garden, Napolitano has shot over a million photos of the warriors of the ring who act out the drama of good versus evil in America’s longest continuing action series.

Originally contributing photos and writing articles for Ring WrestlingWrestling MonthlyWWWF Wrestling Action magazine during the early ‘70s.

Over the decades of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, Napolitano has covered wrestling matches from New Jersey bingo halls to the Superdome and has traveled as far as Japan to capture the action. Bringing fans the ringside action from the apron, Napolitano has ducked flying folding chairs in Texas and has nearly been singed in the fire matches of Japan.

Over his years of documenting the sport, Napolitano has written 12 coffee table books, the most famous of which is The Complete Book of Wrestling. In his most recent book released in 2011, Hot Shots and High SpotsDuring the induction ceremony, Napolitano received the Jim Melby Award for excellence in wrestling journalism. Napolitano’s fellow inductees included professional wrestlers Adam Copeland known as “Edge,” Ric Flair, Jim Brunzell and Cowboy Bob Watts, along with Olympic champion Chris Taylor and collegiate wrestler Matt Hughes.