Scicluna started wrestling during the 1950s, and used the name Mike Valentino early in his career. Scicluna worked primarily in
Canada until 1965, when he ventured to the
World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), now known as WWE, using his most famous moniker "Baron" Mikel Scicluna. Scicluna was famous for entering the ring with a royal blue cape over his shoulders, indicating that he was of Maltese royal descent. Scicluna was also known for being a master of the "
foreign object", mainly utilizing a roll of coins to bash opponents out of sight of the referee. He enjoyed success as a tag team wrestler, winning the
WWWF United States Tag Team Championship with
Smasher Sloan on September 22, 1966, in
Washington, D.C. (though they eventually lost the belts in the same city to
Spiros Arion and
Antonio Pugliese), then the
WWWF World Tag Team Championship with
King Curtis Iaukea on February 1, 1972, in
Philadelphia. In singles competition, Scicluna defeated Spiros Arion for Australia's
IWA World Championship on June 15, 1968, and would challenge
Bruno Sammartino and
Pedro Morales for the
WWWF Championship from time to time. One of his biggest career wins was pinning
Waldo Von Erich in six minutes at Madison Square Garden, prior to two Garden title matches with Sammartino. In the first match at Madison Square Garden against Sammartino he was disqualified; Sammartino scored the pin in a rematch. Scicluna went on to lose a series of matches to Spiros Arion. In June 1976, Scicluna found himself part of history, as the opponent for
Gorilla Monsoon on the night Monsoon engaged in an impromptu tussle with boxing great
Muhammad Ali. Scicluna was wrestling Monsoon in a televised match and was sent over the top rope to the floor after receiving a Manchurian Chop. Scicluna waved off his opponent and walked off, taking a count out loss. From there, Ali entered the ring from the audience and tried to jab at Monsoon. Monsoon responded by dropping Ali with an
airplane spin. This angle was a part of the build-up toward the
Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki bout later in the month. Scicluna retired from active competition in 1983. On November 16, 1987, Sciculuna 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 that was won by
Lou Thesz. After that, he retired from wrestling. He was inducted into the
WWE Hall of Fame as part of the
class of 1996. ==Personal life==