WWE Legend Bruno Sammartino, “The Italian Superman”, Dead At 82
By Eric Italiano - Coed.com
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WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino has passed away at the age of 82 on Wednesday, April 18. Sammartino, also known as The Italian Superman, is widely considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time. In 2013, Sammartino was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Sammartino grew up in Abruzzi, Italy, living under Nazi occupation during World War II. Sammartino and his family moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1950. He was eventually discovered by Vincent J. McMahon, the father of Vince McMahon, the current CEO of WWE. Sammartino was the WWE Champion (then WWF) for more than 11 years across two reigns. His first remains the longest single reign in the wrestling promotion’s history at 2,803 days. Sammartino retired from in-ring competition in 1981 before joining Vince McMahon in the booth.
Over the course of his extensive career, Sammartino had famed rivalries with wreslters such as George “The Animal” Steele, Gorilla Monsoon and Killer Kowalski.
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Bruno held the WWE Championship for nearly eight years — by far the longest reign of all time, and a record for all professional wrestling champions, no matter the organization. A household name all over the country, the beloved hero defended his title in legendary rivalries against WWE Hall of Famers Killer Kowalski, Gorilla Monsoon and George “The Animal” Steele.
In early 1968, Sammartino headlined the first wrestling event at the brand-new Madison Square Garden, just eight days after it opened. The Garden truly was the house that Bruno built, as he sold it out an astounding 187 times. When he lost the title to Ivan Koloff in 1971, grown men in the crowd were seen weeping, but on Dec. 10, 1973, Sammartino became the first two-time WWE Champion and held the title for an additional three-and-a-half years.
On Aug. 9, 1980, Sammartino defeated his former protégé, Larry Zbyszko, inside a steel cage at New York City’s Shea Stadium in front of more than 35,000 people. The heated grudge match broke box-office records for wrestling events, and Bruno retired from the ring the following year. Bruno returned to WWE in the mid-80s as a broadcaster alongside Mr. McMahon and as a mentor for his son David, who was just beginning his grappling career. Now known as The Living Legend, Bruno also engaged in several rivalries with a generation of WWE’s greatest villains, including “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and The Honky Tonk Man.
During his career, Bruno Sammartino helped sell out Madison Square Garden 188 times. Sammartino is survived by his three sons and four grandchildren.
The feud that kept Bruno Sammartino away from WWE for 25 years
By Justin Terranova - The New York Post
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Bruno Sammartino was one of the wrestlers who helped bring the WWF to relevance. When he passed away on Wednesday, the organization was the one to announce it.
Yet, there was a 25-year stretch when Sammartino and Vince McMahon were enemies as “The Living Legend” went from famed performer to outspoken critic. Sammartino’s ring days were essentially done in the late ’80s, but he was still connected to the WWF as a commentator and through guest roles.
But Sammartino grew disgusted with the infiltration of steroids that appeared to take over the sport and the outlandish storylines McMahon turned to during the infamous Attitude Era.
“I’m hoping some wrestling-minded people will come back into the scene and perhaps start back from basics, get some good-looking athletes, get away from the steroid crap and painted faces,” Sammartino told Lee Banaka in a 1991 interview, via Bleacher Report.
Sammartino had a sporadic role with WWF’s main competition, WCW, and squared off with McMahon in several public forums including “Donahue” and “Larry King Live.”
As Sammartino stayed away, McMahon oversaw WWF’s skyrocketing popularity. Stars like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin carried the sport to a ratings goliath. Beer drinking, sexual innuendos and middle fingers became the norm for telecasts.
“I didn’t care for Steve Austin because of his mouth,” Sammartino said. “He was a very, very vulgar individual and anybody who is like that I can never be a fan of. So, any of his positives were overshadowed by the negatives.”
After years of rebuffing WWF — now WWE — Sammartino accepted a spot in the Hall of Fame in 2013. Ironically, it was Triple H who initially came to prominence as the leader of DX — the faces of the Attitude Era — who convinced him to return. Leading up to his induction, Sammartino said he had yet to speak to McMahon.
“Now, yes, as you said he is the boss, so I feel that from my conversations with Paul Levesque (Triple H) and the agreements we’ve come to and so forth, I do believe he had to speak to Vince, and Vince of course had to agree,” Sammartino told Bleacher Report in 2013. “But as far as myself, I will see him for the first time at Madison Square Garden at the Hall of Fame. But I have not talked to him, and as far as I know, there aren’t any plans for us to talk until we meet in person at that time. So when that time comes, we shall meet in person and if he wants to bury the hatchet as the old saying goes, I commend him for the changes that he made.
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“I criticized him before, and I will give him credit because these changes could not have taken place without his approval. So, you know, I have to be fair too here. So, when I meet him I will shake his hand and I will tell him, ‘Hey, I’m willing to bury the hatchet, I didn’t like what you did before, but I like a lot of what you have done since, so I’m willing to put our past behind us.’”
Levesque, who is McMahon’s son-in-law and an executive vice president for WWE, had convinced Sammartino that they had implemented stricter steroid testing and that the changes were evident.
“When he contacted me, I was curious, wasn’t convinced, but after a while he started telling me about not only about the drug program and how strict they were, but he started talking about how they were making it more family friendly by doing away with the nudity and vulgarity and the profanity and all that,” Sammartino said.
McMahon and Sammartino would reunite before his induction and the hatched was, in fact, buried. Sammartino told “The NB Show” that the two embraced during a private meeting and both were satisfied with the direction of the sport. When Sammartino died at the age of 82, McMahon had nothing but kind words for one of wrestling’s pioneers.
