Bruno Sammartino

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bruno Sammartino
Statistics
Ring name(s) Bruno Sammartino
Billed height 5 feet 10 inches
Billed weight 265 lb (119 kg)
Born October 6, 1935
Pizzoferrato, Italy
Billed from Abruzzo, Italy and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Debut 1959

Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (born October 6, 1935), is a former professional wrestler, best known for being the longest-running champion of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), holding the title across two reigns for over 12 years in total, as well as the longest world championship reign in professional wrestling history, lasting from May 17, 1963 to January 18, 1971.

"The Italian Strongman" has often been called "The Living Legend" of professional wrestling and is considered one of the greatest performers professional wrestling has ever known. Sammartino's actual wrestling ability was somewhat limited compared to "real" pro wrestlers like Lou Thesz, but his brawling style, power moves, and personal charisma, plus the fact that he came across as a genuinely nice guy, won him many fans, especially on the East Coast. During his career, Bruno was also known as "The Original Italian Stallion." Bruno weighed in at 245 - 285 pounds (he took off some weight in his later years).

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born in in Pizzoferrato, Abruzzo, Sammartino's family hid, during his childhood, in caves from German soldiers during the latter stages of World War II. In 1951 he moved to the United States and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

As a kid he thought that American streets were actually paved with real gold.

When Sammartino first came to America, he was sickly from his experiences of surviving during the war years. His slight frame, along with his tenuous grasp of English, made him an easy target for bullies in school. Sammartino wanted to build himself up physically and became devoted to weight training. His high school, Schenley, didn't have a wrestling program, but he worked out with the University of Pittsburgh wrestling team under legendary coach Rex Peary. Sammartino became known for performing strong man stunts in the Pittsburgh area, and sportscaster Bob Prince put him on his television show. It was there that he was spotted by local wrestling promoter Rudy Miller, who recruited Sammartino for pro wrestling. Miller knew that Sammartino could easily be marketed as an ethnic strongman, and that he would appeal to Italian immigrants who supported wrestling.

[edit] Career

[edit] World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation (1959-1986)

Sammartino started wrestling in 1959. He won the WWWF World Championship title on May 17, 1963, defeating "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers in just 48 seconds. He kept this title for an incredible seven years, eight months, and one day; it still stands as the longest continuous world title reign in wrestling history.

Sammartino was undoubtedly the most popular wrestler in the Northeastern United States during the 1960s and 1970s. He headlined cards that filled Madison Square Garden on a monthly basis, and over 200 times overall, the most of any individual. He battled the top heels of his time, including Killer Kowalski, Gorilla Monsoon, and George "The Animal" Steele. Finally, on January 18, 1971, Sammartino lost the title at Madison Square Garden to Ivan Koloff. The crowd was so stunned into silence that Sammartino thought his hearing had been damaged. During the timeline feature on the History Of The WWE Championship DVD, it states that Koloff's title victory was not announced to the crowd out of fear that it would start a riot.

In between his two title runs, on September 30, 1972, Sammartino battled then-titleholder Pedro Morales to an over one-hour draw in a scientific title match at Shea Stadium in New York. Eventually, on December 10, 1973, Sammartino regained the WWWF Championship, defeating Stan Stasiak. His second title run lasted three years, four months, and twenty days.

During this time, on April 26, 1976, Sammartino suffered a neck fracture in a match against Stan Hansen at Madison Square Garden, when Hansen improperly executed a body slam. After two months of recovery, Sammartino returned, and faced Hansen in a rematch on June 25, 1976 at Shea Stadium. Sammartino scored a decisive count-out win, after Hansen ran from the ring. This was rated 1976 Match of the Year by a number of wrestling magazines.

His second WWWF Championship reign ended on April 30, 1977 when he was defeated by Superstar Billy Graham in a controversial ending when Graham had both feet on the ropes while successfully pinning Sammartino.

One of the most emotionally-charged feuds of Bruno's career started on January 22, 1980, when his former student Larry Zbyszko violently turned against him during a scientific exhibition, broadcast on the World Wrestling Federation's Championship Wrestling show. Bruno, shocked and hurt by Zbyszko's betrayal, vowed to make Zbyszko (whom Bruno described as a "Judas") pay dearly. Their series culminated on August 9, 1980, in front of 36,295 fans at Shea Stadium. As part of the Federation's Showdown At Shea card, Bruno defeated Zbyszko inside a steel cage.

After retiring from wrestling full-time in 1981, he spent the greater part of his time managing his son David, and wrestled only occasionally.

He returned to the ring in the mid-1980s, where his most notable feud was vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage. He often teamed with Tito Santana and even old enemy George "The Animal" Steele to wrestle Savage and "Adorable" Adrian Adonis. The feud intensified in 1986 when an irate Sammartino attacked Savage during a TV interview, after Savage bragged about injuring Rick Steamboat (by driving the timekeeper's bell into Steamboat's throat during a televised match). Sammartino also defeated Savage in a lumberjack match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship (via disqualification, allowing Savage to keep the belt).

On October 28, 1989, Bruno made a special appearance at the NWA PPV Halloween Havoc, where he was the special guest referee in a "Thunderdome" cage match which featured Ric Flair and Sting taking on Terry Funk and The Great Muta.

[edit] Against Pro Wrestling?

In recent years Sammartino has publicly criticized the direction professional wrestling has taken, making reference to lurid storylines, over-the-top theatrics, steroid abuse, and the like. He disowned his son David along with the other side of his family, his brother Paul Sammartino and sister Maria Di Matteo and has not spoken to them in well over 17 years. In particular he has been on bad terms with Vince McMahon, saying that McMahon has despoiled the organization that McMahon's father started. As such Sammartino has refused to provide commentary on WWE-produced retrospectives of his career, instead participating in a series of independently-produced documentaries on his career, including Bruno Sammartino's Legends Never Die, La Roccia, The Passing of the Belt, and The Boys are Back.

[edit] Hall of Fames

Sammartino has also refused entry into the WWE Hall of Fame; however he is a founding inductee into the unrelated Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and is an inductee of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

[edit] Ring of Honor

Sammartino made a special appearance for the independent promotion Ring of Honor, on September 16th, 2006 in Manhattan, NY, putting over the company.

[edit] Finishing/Signature Moves

[edit] Championships/Accomplishments

[edit] World Wide Wrestling Federation

[edit] National Wrestling Alliance

[edit] Other titles

  • 1-Time WWA Tag Team Champion (with Dick the Bruiser)
  • 1-Time Grand Prix World Tag Team champion(with Ed Carpentier)held concurrectly with the above
  mentioned WWA Tag Title.

[edit] Pro Wrestling Illustrated

  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 200 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.

Wrestling Magazine Awards

  • Bruno won several Awards from Wrestling Magazines in his career. He won Wrestler of the Year in 1974, Most Inspirational Wrestler in 1976 and the Editor's Award in 1981. He was part of 5 Match of the Year Awards: 1972 (won Battle Royal), 1975 (vs. Spiros Arion), 1976 (vs. Stan Hansen), 1977 (vs. Superstar Billy Graham) and 1980 (vs. Larry Zbyszko).

[edit] Wrestling Observer Newsletter

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../b/r/u/Bruno_Sammartino_4a57.html"
In other languages