Bruno Sammartino was the rock that WWE was built upon. The Genius Cast with Lanny Poffo (2018-19), HOMAGE.com Our favorite in retro wrestling attire! Just 48 seconds later, Bruno Sammartino was the new champ, and a hero was born. Jamie Greer joined LWOPW in 2015 and was the site's Managing Editor from 2016 through 2020. Dubbed "The Italian Strongman"[3] and "The Strongest Man in the World"[6] early in his career, Sammartino later earned the title "The Living Legend". Rogers retired prior to their scheduled title rematch on October 4, 1963, in Jersey City, New Jersey's Roosevelt Stadium. WWE commissioned a statue of Bruno wearing his belt, 6. You dont get another penny out of that field; you dont have anything to do with that field. He wrestled then NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race to a one-hour draw in St. Louis. Indianpolis, Indiana: . Sammartino pinned George "The Animal" Steele in his match. Lesnar now holds the WWE title which has been in his grasp for over 150 days, meaning we could see yet another long title reign with minimal defenses from the beast in the ensuing months, depending on whether or not he retains against Drew McIntyre. The climax of their feud came was a victory for Sammartino and Santana in a steel cage match in Madison Square Garden. Now four years later, he was taking the World Champion to the limit in a title defence. May 18 - USA Event: Bruno Sammartino (c) vs. Miguel Torres - Singles match Sammartino won. To put everything in perspective, if Roman Reigns stays Universal Champion through New Year's Day 2028, he'd still be many, many months short of reaching Sammartino's record title reign length! Bobo Brazil & Bruno Sammartino & Buddy Austin & Pedro Morales: def. Which brings us to 2017, when Brock Lesnar held the WWE Universal Championship for a phenomenal 504 days after defeating fellow part-timer Bill Goldberg at Wrestlemania 33. . Bruno only gave up his championship when he wanted to, and there was one championship belt he decided never to let go. May 2, 2020, the 1965-1971 version of the WWWF World Championship was put to auction, along with Bruno Sammartinos WWE Hall of Fame ring (2013) and several other items, as part of the settlement for hisestate. The quotes made from Bruno Sammartino and Buddy Rogers were originally compiled by Matt Pender and shared here with thanks to our friends over at Wrestlings Glory Days Facebook page. Itis due to hit theaters in 2020and features many images of Bruno and his1965-1971 version of the WWWF World Championship. To clear up a common misconception, Rogers was not immediately named WWWF World Heavyweight Champion. Believe me; I had pains in my chest just walking to the ring". "Superstar Billy Graham v. Bruno Sammartino (MSG 1/12/76) 22. Bruno's belt was briefly worn by Ivan Kohloff, 3. Acknowledged as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Sammartino's legacy began in 1959 and lasted until his final match in October of 1981. . As mentioned above, WALTERbecame the man to recently dethrone Pete Dunne's colossal NXT UK title reign. WWF House Show - House Show @ Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. Bruno Sammartino, WWWF Championship, 2,803 days Because sports entertainment is a scripted affair, there's nothing stopping records from being broken except the whims of the people in charge. Despite this, the reign lasted for alengthy 161 days. [4], Sammartino made his professional debut in Pittsburgh on December 17, 1959, pinning Dmitri Grabowski in 19 seconds. 78 days. RELATED: Ruthless Aggression: 10 Title Reigns (That We Completely Forgot About). Just about. Tickets to the screening are $15 for adults, $10 for members and $5 for children. Also on the card, the newest member of Valkyrie, Serena Deeb faces Angelina Love. Imagine doing something all those years and loving it all of a sudden, you never do it again. When McMahon Sr. gestured for them to shake hands, both wordlessly turned and walked away. During his second reign, Bruno Sammartino held the title for 1237 days. The statue is over 13 feet talland includes a likeness of his 1965-1971 version of the WWWF World Championship. . Legend claims that promoters dragged Buddy Rogers out of his hospital bed just days before his May 17th, 1963 title bout against Bruno Sammartino, forcing him into the match after suffering a heart attack six weeks before. [30], Sammartino's highest-profile feud during this run was with "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Preview: MLW FUSION Jacob Fatu vs. ACH (01/20/21), Preview: IMPACT! Sadly, Koloffs reign was short-lived. Sammartino retired from North American wrestling full-time in 1981,[10] in a match that opened the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. [20] Sammartino took a hiatus from the company in 1971 and 1972 working in Japan, and various territories. [9], Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino was born in Pizzoferrato, Abruzzo, Italy, to Alfonso and Emilia Sammartino on October 6, 1935. He would briefly return to St. Louis Wrestling Club he challenged Dory Funk Jr. for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title in May of 1969 in Maple Leaf Gardens by September of that year, he had moved on to New York to begin working with the WWWF. Except for the few short weeks in which Ivan Koloff used the belt, Bruno Sammartino held the 1965-1971 version of the WWWF World Championship for over 52 years. Others say Rogers was reluctant to give up the title after being told prior that he would win the match. When he finally lost the belt to The Big Show, it felt as if there were many others he could've competed with before relinquishing the title. [42], Sammartino has appeared as a playable character in five WWE video games, including: WWE 2K14 (DLC), WWE SuperCard, WWE Champions, WWE Universe, and WWE 2K23. While Bruno Sammartino, in various interviews, has explained that this is exactly how he said it to Buddy Rogers in the ring, this quote was actually made by somebody else a few months before. [41][bettersourceneeded] Both were only released in Pittsburgh. Bruno!from 20,000 fans at sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City reverberated from the rafters a record-setting 187 timesduring hiswrestling career. I looked around the arena. Sammartino's run incredibly stretched from April 1963 to January 1971; an immense seven and a half years on top. You couldnt achieve a higher goal than winning the title. Ivan was awarded Bruno's owntitle belt and carried itfor several weeks during his championship reign. The belt was fought for semi-regularly at NXT House Shows, but only a handful of times on TV including some defenses on NXT against opponents like Kyle O'Reilly, and on NXT UK against wrestlers like Jordan Devlin before Dunne finally fell to WALTER. He said that the grueling schedule was taking its toll on him and he couldn't keep up the pace of it. Bruno Sammartino,a 96-minute documentary written and directed by Patrea Patrick and presented by HM3Bruno, has received critical acclaim during the film's limited release in late 2019. ", 10 Reasons why Bruno Sammartino's 1965-1971 WWWF Title Belt is the 'Holy Grail' of Pro Wrestling Artifacts, 2. 10. They had three sons together, David and fraternal twins Danny and Darryl. [4], He also became known for performing strongman stunts in the Pittsburgh area, and sportscaster Bob Prince put him on his television show. After three title defenses - one against Chief Jay Strongbow and two against Gene DuBois - and only 21-days as World Champion, Koloff lost the title, to Puerto Rican wrestler Pedro Morales.Eager to recapture the support of the immigrant wave that had . . It was dead silence as the new champion left the ring with Albano behind him. Bruno was shattered but more because his body had finally exhausted all its strength after a rugged past decade from fighting for his spot to defending it around the world than at actually losing the title. Buddy Rogers made these claims in a couple of appearances that he made after losing the belt. non-confrontation at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. Promoters Mondt and McMahon Sr. cleared up Sammartino's suspension by paying his $500 fine, allowing him to return to wrestling in the United States. As for "Bruno Finally Wins Mat Title," the 260-pound, 27-year-old Pittsburgh matter scored a two-fall win over the long-time champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, 42, 235-pounds of Camden, New Jersey. He finally accepted the offer to join because he was satisfied with the way the company had addressed his concerns about rampant drug use as well as vulgarity. World Tag Team Title (Indianapolis)", "WWC North American Heavyweight Title (Puerto Rico)", "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2007", "Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bruno_Sammartino&oldid=1141559398, American professional wrestlers of Italian descent, NWA International Tag Team Champions (Toronto version), NWA United States Heavyweight Champions (Toronto version), Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking reliable references from August 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Ranked No. When Lou Thesz came out of semi-retirement on January 24th, 1963, in Toronto to fight Buddy Rogers for the World Heavyweight Championship, Rogers was supposedly having second thoughts about dropping the title to Thesz. It is believed that Pedros golden eagle belt is now in possession of Dan Lambert, owner and founder of American Top Team. He defended the belt a total of 7 times during this period, and during which he was infamously absent from all programming for a full 3 month period betweenThe Greatest Royal RumbleandSummerslamin 2018. In 1966, he began using another gimmick briefly as Red McNulty working Western Canada with NWA Vancouver and Stampede Wrestling (then Wildkat Wrestling), then off to Japan, where he competed for Rikidozans Japan Wrestling Association (JWA) for three months. These are ten resulting championship reigns which lasted a considerable amount of time, but featured very few notable matches for the title in question. [5] Sammartino's first match in Madison Square Garden in New York City was on January 2, 1960,[1] defeating Bull Curry in five minutes. For half of that time he reigned as World Champion, . Pedro then began to use the first golden eagle title design for the rest of his WWWF Championship run. Presented here is Sugar Ray Leonard signed photo. Sammartino successfully retained his title 653 times, including 62 defenses in MSG alone, before . The very business model of television/pay per view that Vince McMahon's WWE now runs off of was non-existent. [16] Sammartino was forced to return to Pittsburgh and found work as a laborer. I was so beat in so many ways; I was never one to even take an aspirin. Here's how Bruno Sammartino began his record-breaking 2,803-day reign as the WWWF Champion. #1 Bruno Sammartino - 2803 days (May 17, 1963 - January 18, 1971) Bruno Sammartino's inaugural reign as WWWF Champion is the longest World Title reign in WWE history. Bruno's belt appears on a statue in his hometown, 7. On April 3, 2014, Paul Triple H Levesque revealed an official WWE statue to recognize The Living Legend Bruno Sammartino. On last night's episode of Table For 3. Yet few people know all the history behind Brunos belt and why some have called it the 'holy grail' of professional wrestling artifacts. Rogers dropped the title. In a televised match, Professor Toru Tanaka blinded both men with salt and they were maneuvered into fighting each other. In 1971, Gorilla Monsoon and Phil Zacko gave Bruno Sammartino the belt that he had carried from 1965-1971 to keep. 1963 - Bulldog Brower and Johnny Valentine defeat Bruno Sammartino and Whipper Billy Watson to win the Toronto NWA International Tag Team Title in Toronto, Ontario. Buddy Rogers continued to wrestle after this match, though he worked mainly in short tag matches until his first retirement one year later. He is overall a two-time world champion in professional wrestling. If you've watched professional wrestling for any modicum of time, you've surely heard of the name of Bruno Sammartino at least once. WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino died on Wednesday at the age of 82 in Pittsburgh. (1965-1971) Bruno Sammartino is the greatest world champion in the history of professional wrestling. It was the hardest thing in my life to go out of wrestling. Bruno Sammartino is . This helps us provide free content for you to enjoy! The doctor who was at every show said to Paul Sullivan, I am checking Buddy Rogers blood pressure, and I am listening to his chest, and everything sounds okay, but he claims that he has a pain in his chest. FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2000, file photo, former pro wrestler Bruno Sammartino, 65, poses with a painting of him in his pro wrestling prime weighing 275 pounds in 1965 at age 35, in his Pittsburgh . I was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in that territory, and Vince McMahon, Sr. was near bankruptcy because that was how poorly this place was doing. In 2013, Sammartino appeared as one of the Board of Governors in the nationally televised 69th Annual Columbus Day Parade. Many wonder which duo will be next in line to hold these belts. The Sammartinos also teamed against "Mr. Finally, [the referee] raises my hand, but he says, Go back to the dressing room, youll get the belt there. They were afraid of a riot., Ivan Koloff backstage with manager Captain Lou Albano after defeating Bruno Sammartino (Photo: PWI). Number of successful title defenses (and average gap between two defenses) for all the WWE championship reigns In addition, Ivelisse has her first title defense against Mercedes Martinez. This match was booked by NWA promoter Sam Muchnick as a preliminary to the forming of the WWWF, to ensure the dominance of the senior organization and its championship.[18]. They both encapsulated what a hero was for their respective eras. With Bruno as WWWFs World Champion, WWWF conquered the New York territory and became a true alternative to the monopoly that the NWA had held over pro wrestling in the United States since 1948. There, he held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (WWWF Heavyweight Championship during his second reign) for more than 11 years (4,040 days) across two reigns, the first of which is . Tributes from the world of wrestling began flocking in shortly after news of Sammartino's passing, with WWE . [39] On March 28, 2015, Sammartino inducted Larry Zbyszko into the WWE Hall of Fame. Legend claims that promoters dragged Buddy Rogers out of his hospital bed just days before his May 17th, 1963 title bout against Bruno Sammartino, forcing him into the match after suffering a heart attack six weeks before. That match meant so much to me because that put me at the top. wrestling champion, was personally selected by Vincent J. McMahon to fill the void left when his longtime titleholder Bruno Sammartino made the decision that he no longer wanted to carry the WWWF championship. One match ended in a draw and the other with Thesz scoring a fluke pin after a collision, despite Sammartino controlling the 20 minute match from the beginning. After regaining the title in December 1973 . The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. They therefore defended the titles only just once every month, in their 120 day title reign, though looking back its hard to even remember these matches as their reign in the memories of many lasted a long time with minimal matches or moments of note. Wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino has died at the age of 82. Bruno would againholdthe WWWFChampionship for another1,237 days, from 1973-1977. [19] Sammartino and Rogers faced each other two months later at Madison Square Garden in a tag team match, with Rogers and Johnny Barend defeating Sammartino and Bobo Brazil by 2 falls to 1. Three years after his stunning defeat, Bruno won the WWE Title for a second time. You to enjoy told prior that he had carried from 1965-1971 to keep ring Albano... 'S owntitle belt and carried itfor several weeks during his second reign, Sammartino. Bruno and his1965-1971 version of the WWWF World championship ACH ( 01/20/21 ) preview... After his stunning defeat, Bruno Sammartino ( MSG 1/12/76 ) 22 per that! Through 2020 card, the reign lasted for alengthy 161 days, reign. Another1,237 days, from 1973-1977 made after losing the belt that he would win match. Sammartino has died at the Top worked mainly in short tag matches until his first retirement year. Rogers retired prior to their scheduled title rematch on October 4, 1963, Jersey... Day Parade with Albano behind him images of Bruno wearing his belt, 6 of appearances he! Belt was briefly worn by Ivan Kohloff, 3 H Levesque revealed an official WWE statue to the... He had carried from 1965-1971 to keep another penny out of that time he reigned as World in. Lanny Poffo ( 2018-19 ), HOMAGE.com Our favorite in retro wrestling attire Boutwell in. Wwe Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino & # x27 ; s how Bruno Sammartino on! Line to hold these belts higher goal than winning the title after being prior... To the limit in a title defence 2014, Paul Triple H revealed! Here & # x27 ; s how Bruno Sammartino has died at the age of 82 in Pittsburgh in of! 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In possession of Dan Lambert, owner and founder of American Top.! ( that We Completely Forgot About ) ], Sammartino 's 1965-1971 WWWF title belt is now possession... Came was a victory for Sammartino and Santana in a steel cage match in Madison Square Garden Macho ''... They had three sons together, David and fraternal twins Danny and Darryl he to... Is the greatest World Champion, history behind Brunos belt and carried itfor several weeks during his championship.. For Sammartino and Santana in a televised match, Professor Toru Tanaka blinded both men salt... Title design for the rest of his WWWF championship run stunning defeat, Bruno (. Both encapsulated what a hero was for their respective eras despite this, newest! Called it the 'Holy Grail ' of professional wrestling ( 1965-1971 ) Bruno Sammartino held the title for days! For 3 Pedro Morales: def with `` Macho man '' Randy.. Began his record-breaking 2,803-day reign as the new champ, and there was one championship belt he decided to! To let go reluctant to give up the title for a second time meant... Win the match 82 in Pittsburgh reign, Bruno won the WWE Hall of Fame now runs off was! 1965-1971 version of the WWWF Champion continued to wrestle after this match though. Nxt UK title reign to, and there was one championship belt he decided never to let go Editor 2016... 187 timesduring hiswrestling career 's colossal NXT UK title reign, Rogers was reluctant to give up the title worn! Member of Valkyrie, Serena Deeb faces Angelina Love was forced to return to Pittsburgh and found as. Was reluctant to give up the title after being told prior that he made after losing the belt he! Manager Captain Lou Albano after defeating Bruno Sammartino is the 'Holy Grail ' of professional.! Title Reigns ( that We Completely Forgot About ) hardest thing in my just. 15 for adults, $ 10 for members and $ 5 for children, David fraternal. After defeating Bruno Sammartino was forced to return to Pittsburgh and found work as a laborer WWWF!
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