OT: RIP Bruno Sammartino
Two-time WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino has passed away.
http://www.wwe.com/article/bruno-sammartino-passes-away?sf187243454=1
with all respect to Bret Hart, Bruno was the best there was.
his wrestling career was a bit before my time --- the only time I saw him "wrestle" was when he attacked Macho Man after Macho Man was obnoxiously bragging about injuring Ricky Steamboat with the timekeeper's bell.
But I appreciated his commentary in my time, and his importance to professional wrestling. As "Wolverine in Iowa 68" said, he was the best there was.
That about the WWE and pro wrestling in general. Being like a 14-time champ is not something to brag about compared to 2-time champ who's held the belt a long time.
Yeah, I'm aware it's all fake; still, it's silly logic even in a made up world.
has changed a lot over the years. It is kind of "old guard v. new guard" kind of thing. In Sammartino's time, and even for a while after, there were really only a few events per year where the belt or the intercontinental belt changed hands. You had your main events (A team v. A team events) that were like a few times a year at most and then basically everything other than that was a house show and nothing of consequence ever happpned in those.
Basically through Hogan, the only time any belt really changed hands was during a Wrestlemania, a Summer Slam, or a Royal Rumble, and very infrequently on a Saturday Night Main Event card. You see somebody like John Cena who has had like 25 different belts, for a while they had A team v. A team bouts one or two times a week on different variations of Raw, Smack Down etc. You had A team guys facing each other all the time, the title was passed around more. I don't think one wrestler having two belts for years or 15 belts over the course of years is looked upon as better or worse, just different times.
Makes sense to me.
I do wish they would consolidate the belts big time in WWE.
I love how you broke this down like there was legit competition going on to win the belt. You guys know wrestling results are scripted right? It's not like these guys are holding the belt because they win legit competition, they keep the belts because some script writer decided they would.
Was that when the Steamboat's larynx was crushed!??!
that match was shown on the usual "Saturday AM Superstars of Wrestling" show ---- it was pretty shocking at the time.
Macho Man did an INCREDIBLE job in coming off like a manical animal. Vince McMahon and Sammartino did a good job selling how badly Steamboat was hurt. Venutra was a great heel commentator ("I guess Steamboat's inability to continue means The Macho Man wins the bout!")
I don't know if this was intentional, but the EMTs also "dropped" Steamboat as they tried to put him on the stretcher. That added to the drama as I watched as a little kid.
All set up for WrestleMania 3 several months later, of course.
actually happened during the Saturday show. Plus I was hooked into the face vs heel dynamic, which I attribute to my being 12 years old at the time.
It seems like so much of my childhood is dying.
I was working as a busboy at the Holiday House in Monroeville, PA (just east of Pittsburgh) and Bruno came in for some appearance there. I said hi and he said hi back. Very nice in person and didn't strike as a celebrity jerk at all.
One of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, and a legitimate celebrity during his heyday. He'll be missed.