The place: New York's famed Madison
Square Garden. The time: May 17, 1963. He wore the world's
heavyweight championship belt for the first time in his life,
four years after turning into a professional wrestler. Since
then he had held that title for fourteen years, undefeated
except on one occasion in 1971. He was a consummate athlete,
and he commanded respect from friend and foe alike. He held a
wrestling attendance record in Australia for selling out
twenty-one consecutive nights and he once drew in an estimated
crowd of 40,000 fans in a bull ring in Caracas, Venezuela.It's
no surprise that Bruno Sammartino is truly known as
wrestling's living legend!
Bruno was born in Abruzzi, Italy and
immigrated here to the United States at age 15. His lifelong
dream since age 8 was to become a wrestler. He idolized a
greco-roman wrestler named Batisti who represented Italy in
the Olympics in the 30's. He loved amateur wrestling, but he
said it's not really a spectator sport because it didn't have
any thrills or surprises. In pro wrestling, you have to add a
lot of stuff to make it exciting. While going to high school
during the day, Bruno worked out constantly at a local gym in
Pittsburgh where he lived.
His first job while living here in
America was as a construction worker and during the evening he
wrestled at various arenas. He finally turned pro in 1959.
Then on May 17, 1963, Bruno defeated Nature
Boy Buddy Rogers to capture
the WWWF Heavyweight Wrestling Championship and from that
night on he successfully defended his title with such
enthusiasm and tenacity that no other wrestler could ever hope
to defeat him.
That is, until he met "The
Russian Bear" Ivan
Koloff. Koloff became the new
heavyweight champion by defeating Sammartino on January 18,
1971 in Madison Square Garden. It was a night of humiliation
for Bruno and a night of victory for Koloff who boasted and
bragged about how he became the only man to ever defeat
Sammartino, and that Bruno was no living legend. And from that
night emerged a devastating feud that would become historic in
the annals of professional wrestling.
Koloff subsequently lost the title to
Pedro
Morales at Madison Square
Garden a month later on February 8, and Morales held the belt
for two years, then lost it to Stan "The Man"
Stasiak. Stasiak held the title for a mere nine days before
losing to Sammartino on December 10,1973. The living legend
then became the first two-time WWWF champion.
Throughout his entire career, Bruno
has met and fought challenger after challenger and emerged
victorious in the WWWF. Most of his matches have been grueling
and sometimes have ended in controversy. But no matter the
outcome, Bruno has defended his title with such tenacity that
he truly lives up to being called the "living
legend."
Bruno had also introduced the fans to
two proteges that he had trained: Larry Zbyzsko and Spiros
Arion. Zbyszko was also from Pittsburgh and became an almost
identical wrestler to Sammartino. He was very successful and
talented during his WWWF tenure, and even won the tag team
championship along with Tony Garea by defeating the Yukon
Lumberjacks. But he always thought he was in the shadow of
Sammartino, and decided he didn't need to follow Bruno any
longer, resulting in a bitter rivalry. This teacher vs.
student feud ultimately ended before an excited crowd at New
York's Shea Stadium when Bruno defeated Zbyszko in a steel
cage match.
Spiros Arion was another friend who
became one of Bruno's bitter enemies. Spiros was born in
Athens, Greece and had been wrestling since he was a teenager.
He was a fan favorite and had also become a very good
technical, scientific wrestler during his time in the WWWF.
Spiros became friends and eventually a tag team partner with
Bruno. During their brief partnership they were very
successful as a tag team, but it wasn't about to last.
Arion had his mind tainted by Freddie
Blassie, who somehow convinced Spiros that Bruno was jealous
of him and that he was not to be trusted. The confused athlete
would eventually dump Sammartino as his tag team partner.
After an incident which involved Bruno, Spiros and Chief Jay
Strongbow, Spiros sided with Blassie and viciously turned on
Bruno. However, the two unsuccessfully tried to wrestle the
title from the living legend.
Opponent after opponent, feud after
feud, no one could take the title from the waist of Sammartino.
Wrestlers from Ivan Koloff , The Executioners, Cowboy Bob
Duncum, to Nikolai Volkoff, The Valiant Brothers, Waldo Von
Erich & Buggsy McGraw fought fierce battles but in the end
Sammartino emerged victorious.
Then it happened, in Philadelphia on
May 1,1977. Bruno Sammartino has been defeated and lost the
heavyweight championship to Superstar
Billy Graham. The reign of
wrestling's living legend was over. Bruno would never again
regain the championship he so proudly defended for 14 years.
Throughout his career in the WWWF, in
every championship bout that Bruno fought in at Madison Square
Garden it was to record crowds. Bruno's claim to fame was that
during his career he had never lost a steel cage match. Bruno
also became the only wrestler in WWWF history to ever wrestle
in Shea Stadium....twice. Once in a rematch between the master
of The Lariat, Stan
Hansen and in a steel cage
match against his former pupil Larry Zbyszko.
Bruno had survived against every hold
& maneuver his opponents used on him: "The
Lariat", "The Heart-Punch", "The
Claw", "The Axe", and "The Swinging
Neckbreaker", every kind of match from a "Texas
Death" & "Russian Chain" to even a
"Sicilian Stretcher" match and he still held onto
the title. Managers like The Grand Wizard, Fred Blassie and
Captain Louis Albano continuously dogged the trail of
Sammartino plotting his defeat in their quest for the gold.
Stan Stasiak, George
"The Animal" Steele,
Bruiser
Brody (seen on the right in
this shot), Tor Kamata, Ernie
Ladd, Killer
Kowalski, and Ken
Patera (shown here on the
left) all faced the mettle and wrath of Bruno and realized the
he would never go down in defeat and that he had more heart
and determination than any wrestler they would ever face.
There will never be another wrestler like Sammartino, he
honored and cherished being world champion than any wrestler
wrestling today. He truly will forever be known as wrestling
true living legend.
BRUNO SAMMARTINO'S
GREATEST MATCHES
11/17/73: Bruno Vs. Ivan Koloff (MSG)
Bruno defeats Koloff before 22,090 with Gorilla Monsoon as
special guest referee at 21:14
12/15/75: Bruno Vs. Ivan Koloff (MSG)
Bruno retained his title by defeating Koloff in a 15 ft. high
steel cage match in 11:46 before an sellout crowd of 26,350
plus 4,253 in the Felt Forum.
2/2/76: Bruno Vs. Superstar Billy
Graham (MSG) A sellout crowd of 25,600 plus 3,100 watching on
closed circuit in the Felt Forum saw Bruno defeat Superstar
Billy Graham when referee Danny Bartfield stop the match at
17:55 because of several cuts inflicted on Graham by
Sammartino.
3/29/76: Bruno/Parisi Vs. Graham/Koloff
(MSG) Bruno teamed up with Tony Parisi and defeated Ivan
Koloff and Superstar Graham before 21,004 fans at Madison
Square Garden.
4/26/76: Bruno
Vs. Stan Hansen (MSG) Stan
Hansen defeated Bruno when the referee stopped the match after
Sammartino suffered a cut above his eye and suffered a
fractured vertebrae after receiving "The Lariat"
before a stunned audience of 17,493.
6/25/76: Bruno Vs. Stan Hansen (Shea
Stadium) After 10:19, the grudge match between Bruno &
Hansen was settled when after being tossed out of the ring
four times bloodied & bruised, the bad man from Borgia,
Texas fled the ring with blood streaming from his face and
with his manager The Grand Wizard right behind him. The crowd
booed hansen after he left and Sammartino stood alone in the
center of the ring with his title belt held high over his
head.
12/20/76: Bruno Vs. Stan Stasiak
(MSG) Bruno defeated the man he regained the WWWF title from,
Stan "The Man" Stasiak before a sellout crowd of
22,090 at Madison Square Garden in a "Sicilian Stretcher
Match". This was Bruno's 23rd successful title defense at
the Garden since he regained the championship in 1973.
3/7/77: Bruno Vs. Ken Patera (MSG) In
this, their third outing against each other Bruno emerged
victorious in his match against the Olympian strongman Ken
Patera. With Gorilla Monsoon as Special guest referee and
before 26,492 fans with an additional 4,400 in the Felt Forum.
6/27/77: Bruno Vs. Superstar Billy
Graham (MSG) In one of their last few rematches, 22,090 plus
4,000 fans in the Felt Forum paid to see Bruno try to regain
his title from the newly crowned champion Superstar Billy
Graham. Both wrestlers fought to a time limit draw.
