I grew up during the prime of hulkamania. Despite the non-consequential finish, as well as the inclement weather, they got their moneys worth and then some. He spoke to "Ring Rust Radio" about Hogan's recent controversies, speculating that people were beginning to see "the real Hulk Hogan" in light of racist comments caught on film. Bruno went on to tell JBL that Hogan wasn't a big draw in a lot of territories. This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Sammartino detailed his stance on Hogan during an appearance on "Legends with JBL." We had a lot in common - his relationship with AWA, we knew a lot of the same people and had a lot of mutual friends. Due to combined WWE title run of 6, 225 days, over a total of six reigns, there would be little argument that a WWE Mount Rushmore would feature the face of both men. In 1972, 1976, and 1980, Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York, hosted thousands of screaming wrestling fans to see the first-ever supercards by WWE. Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan have virtually nothing in common, physically or philosophically. The cause of an injury like this could never be concealed today; however, in 1976, without the internet, social media, cell phones, and cable in its infancy, this was relatively easy to accomplish. And to many, he will always be that legend and icon of pro wrestling fame. He's the author of the wrestling book, The Long Way Home. ", told Sean "X-Pac" Waltman on the "1,2,360" podcast, During an episode of "The Wrestling Shoot Interview" (via EssentiallySports), to let the world know that Hogan was a "phony piece of s***,", nary let a day go by without cursing Hogan's name on Twitter, Greg denied the story in an interview with Sportskeeda, during an interview with "Boston Wrestling. The good Doctor performed a long-distance lacersphincterostomy (aka tearing one a new hole) on a very startled McMahon. Lanny Poffo, brother of the late-great Randy Savage, told Sean "X-Pac" Waltman on the "1,2,360" podcastthat Hogan had reconciled his differences with "The Macho Man" weeks before his death. Press J to jump to the feed. During an episode of "The Wrestling Shoot Interview" (via EssentiallySports),Hogan acknowledged he may have disparaged Hart, framing him as the tag team wrestler he had long since evolved from. Like Backlund, Hart's grievances with the Hulkster were born out of professional conflict. Still, this feud vaulted Zbyszko into the main event position with several promotions, including a two-time run as American Wrestling Association (AWA) World Heavyweight Champion. Bruno Sammartino: Strong Man: Directed by George A. Romero. WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino Dies at 82 as Hulk Hogan and Other Stars Pay Tribute. However, on three separate occasions (1972, 1976, and 1980), Shea Stadium came to life, as thousands upon thousands of screaming wrestling fans witnessed what would become known as the Showdown At Shea. Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 - April 18, 2018) was an Italian-born American professional wrestler. "She left you [Hogan], and you are some piece of garbage." With Bruno Sammartino. . This card opened with Polish Power Ivan Putski defeating the great Baron Mikel Scicluna, the pride of Malta. A lot of people thought he was a great draw, but in reality, he really wasn't. "Hulk Hogan, look, I'm not going to lie. Moreover, 'The Living Legend' said that Hogan did not have the ability to draw in the same markets every month because he could not vary his in-ring work. Of course, this occurrence was conveniently erased from WWE history during the build of their epic encounter at WrestleMania 3. Below are a few highlights: Several months earlier, Bruno and Pedro teamed up to wrestle two arch nemeses, Mr. Fuji and Professor Toru Tanaka. But if youre going to feed him to the public every month in the same place, he couldnt do it. The only picture available of the night Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan teamed up. Domamania Occasional Pre-Show. Ive never asked to be handed anything., My whole life Ive been fed by the WWE. Michaels, who interacted with Hogan throughout the summer lead-up to their match at SummerSlam, grew to be annoyed by Hogan for political maneuvering that had started to become par for the course. Hogan would make several returns thereafter, in no small part to the drawing power, like Sammartino before him. The second show in this Showdown at Shea trilogy took place on June 25, 1976, ironically the day after my 21st birthday. In the grand finale, Pedro Morales, WWWF World Heavyweight Champion at the time, went to a draw with the former titleholder, Bruno Sammartino. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Bruno Sammartino: . However, by the time he was coaxed back into action by Vince McMahon, Hogan was on the top of the wrestling business and ushered in a new boom the wrestling business had never seen before. At the second WrestleMania, Sammartino competed in the 20-man battle royal at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago. Same goes for Hogan and Bret Hart and the Ultimate Warrior during . The New York Mets average home attendance that year was 18,133. Although Bruno had retired in 1981, a lawsuit against the WWWF on claims he was cheated by Vince McMahon Sr. on the promised gate percentages for his entire second title run was settled out of court and included him returning to do colour commentary. More than Bruno Sammartino making himself a star, the man and how he was booked established a recurring pattern for how WWE would book for decades to follow. Hart went on Periscope a few years agoto let the world know that Hogan was a "phony piece of s***," so there doesn't seem to be any love lost on the part of the Canadian legend. Bruno Sammartino, champion for 11 years, was ignored until rejoining the fold late in his life. The Undertaker's account of his dealings with Hulk Hogan around the time of his debut paints the Hulkster's political ways in a negative light. 6/7/80 - included a reairing of the Hulk Hogan / Frankie Williams match from the 4/12/80 Championship Wrestling: Sammartino also told RFVideo(per Sportskeeda)that Hogan no-showed matches against him in the mid-late '80s and had to be replaced by Sgt. While record-keeping for that era was less than stellar, its generally agreed Sammartino successfully defended the title approximately four hundred times in that initial reigna more than respectable mark for any fighting champion, and all the while Sammartino remained a respected figure behind the scenes as well. "RIP Bruno," wrote Hulk Hogan . Brunos PPV appearances were limited, he would be in the corner of his son at the inaugural WrestleMania as the younger Sammartino fought to a double DQ with Brutus Beefcake. AEW Dynamite Results - MJF Disrespects Bruno Sammartino, Mentions "Banned" Hulk Hogan - Jon Moxley kicked off tonight's AEW Dynamite and said that the All Elite Wrestling ring belongs to him and no man backstage can look him in the eyes and tell him any different. He claimed that Backlund told the McMahons the company's world title should be reserved for a "real athlete," implying that Hogan fell short of the title's standards. In an interview with Inquisitr, hedenigrated Hogan for his use of steroids. Bruno Sammartino was direct and blunt, righting the wrongs . Guys like myself, Ric Flair, and Hogan, and the fans still appreciate us. Click to enlarge. Ive always been fortunate to have a seat at the table, but theres a great deal of pride in being a provider. Rest In Peace! Other matches included Jack Brisco defeating Mr. Fuji, Gorilla Monsoon defeating Ernie Ladd via referees decision,Chief Jay Strongbow and Sonny King defeating Lou Albano and The Spoiler, and The Fabulous Moolah defeating Debbie Johnson for the Womens Championship. Vince asked me to put on the tights because the house was down. He was a broadcaster for several years in the 1980s and competed in a battle royal at the second WrestleMania in 1986. The National Wrestling Federation (NWF) Championship was a prestigious title while it was the domain of Buffalo-based promoter Pedro Martinez. And I said, 'Vince, I could never do people justice at this stage in my life and the way I'm still banged up.' The two legends teamed together on August 29th, 1987 for a tag team match against King Kong Bundy and One Man Gang. George Hackenschmidt - Creator of the bench press and the hack squat (circa 1907) 4.1K. Before Hulk Hogan could be the face of the company during its national expansion, before Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock could lead The Attitude Era, and before John Cena or Roman Reigns were even born, Sammartino was a two-time WWE Champion who had cumulatively held the strap for over 11 years (as a fun fact, Cena was born . Although he was pinned (albeit with an extremely quick count), he not only busted the Giant open, but he lifted the 400 plus pound Giant with relative ease and slammed him into the mat. Bruno, the teacher, transformed into Bruno, the madman. If you've never heard of "Superstar" Billy Graham, then simply watch Hulk Hogan. I feel a good 5 year run with him at the top for most likely 3. 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 . His style also . Recently on WWE Network's Legends With JBL, WWE Hall Of Famer Bruno Sammartino discussed his WWE comeback in 1984. It should be noted that while unrelated, the three Showdown at Shea shows have one common thread: each was headlined by The Living Legend, Bruno Sammartino. Guys with every superstar quality and can be on the cover of a magazine right away. While this sounds utterly disproportionate on the surface, the reality was that the hard-working folks of New York bought their ducats to see Bruno and Pedro. On September 30th, 1972, 22,508 fans converged on a cool, rainy Saturday evening for the inaugural Showdown At Shea event. By this point, it was Hogan that was at the top of the mountain while Sammartino was largely occupying a fill-in position on shows and attempting to help his son, David, become a WWE superstar. The sole photo of the two teaming together comes from a newspaper article, which you can see below. Hulkamania was the new rage after Bruno Sammartino's era. During the match, Inoki did his best imitation of a fiddler crab, crawling around the ring and kicking Ali in the legs over 100 times. In one of those rare instances where kayfabe mirrored reality, Zbyszko, as a teen, literally crawled through the shrubbery to gain entry into Brunos backyard just to catch a glimpse of his hero. He was not the kind of guy that knew how to work a match that he could come back next month and the month after that and a month after that. Alas, Hogan never got around to putting Hart over, and "The Hitman" naturally took it personally. 71. r/WWE 18 days ago. Moments, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant: Secret History Behind Feud, 7 Times Wrestlers Lost Control on a Talk Show, Bruno Sammartino and Freddie Blassie Too Real for the Mob. This started after Sammartino became irate at Savage bragging about injury Ricky Steamboat. A near-record crowd of 36,295 screaming fans at the normally placid Shea saw Bruno exact a measure of revenge on this turncoat, this traitor this Judas. MR AMERICA HULK HOGAN - WWE Mattel Elite Series 101 Wrestling Toy Figure DMG PKG. In the shocking declaration, he said that he was never a fan of Hulk Hogan. Bruno Sammartino (2,803 days) Bob Backlund (2,135 days) Hulk Hogan (1,474 days) Bruno Sammartino (1,237 days) Pedro Morales (1,027 days) Coming in at No. The match took place at the Baltimore Arena, and saw The Hulkster and The Living Legend defeat their opponents in a match that currently has no footage available from it. As I am sitting here writing this, I wonder why the match would have been billed as a championship match when the championship could not change hands? Bruno would hold the then WWWF title for a staggering 2,803 days on his first reign lasting from May 1963 through to January 1971 and then a further 1,237 from December 73 through to April 1977. It was also the year of his final WWE match, which is the focus of this post, which took place on 29 August in Baltimore. Podcast." Picture 1 of 2. And that's saying something. In any event, it was a wrestling trilogy that will live on forever in the memories of old-school wrestling fans. It is not known whether or not Hogan has been able to mend fences with the Sheik in recent years, though the two did dress up as one another for Halloween in 2015. Hogan's experience with the Sheik predates their epic encounter in 1984, as he alleged on the "Steve Austin Show" that AWA Promoter Verne Gagne attempted to put a bounty on his head for leaving the promotion. Borne then alleged that Randy Savage gave Hogan a black eye at that same WrestleMania, and went on to further detail his personal issues with him. "Everything I learned was from Bruno. And I was older. This contest was shown at Shea Stadium via closed-circuit television from Japan. I was never a fan of Hogan because I was never impressed with his quality of performance in the ring. In March of 2001, I thought it was over with. Sammartino was eliminated from the match by Killer Kowalskis protg, Big John Studd. The WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship, defended by Fujinami, was virtually unknown to the average New York wrestling fan and was, for the most part, contested in Japan. Backlund told "Ring Rust Radio" in 2016 he was not a fan of the way Hogan carried himself outside the ring. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. This Week in Wrestling 2016 week 34 | Ring the Damn Bell, Black Drop: A History of Black Trailblazers in Pro Wrestling, Downed On The Farm: Top WWE Developmental Prospects That Never Made ItPart 100, Beginner's guide to New Japan Pro Wrestling, History of the WWE Intercontinental Title, Styles Clash: Clash of The Champions Revisited, The Many Failures That 14 Year Old Me Would Never See Coming. That man is the legendary Bruno Sammartino. This time, only one problem: Bruno was convalescing in a hospital bed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, trying to recuperate from the severe neck injury he recently sustained. The Tokyo crowd in attendance threw garbage in the ring and shouted, Money back! To quote the immortal Eddie Cochems, There you have it sports fans. Epic events at a not-so-epic venue. He replaced Bruno as the top man in the company, which could explain the curt comments from the Italian superstar. Of course, this was kayfabed into a storyline that Hansens lariat, aided and abetted by a loaded elbow pad, was the cause of Brunos neck injury. I was never that guy. Before "Nature Boy Rick Flair" and "Stone Cold Steve Austin," before Hulk Hogan and the "Executioner," one man dominated championship wrestling like no other. Bruno Sammartino and Stan Hansen | The Botch That Broke Bruno, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant The Truth Behind Their Feud, Muhammad Ali, Antonio Inoki, and the Controversial Birth of MMA. Hogan took the heat, then Bruno came in to clean up before and Hogan pinned Bundy to win the match. He stole everything he had from the legend. Philadelphia was way down. On one occasion, Brunos doctor, Louis Civitarese, answered a McMahon phone call in Brunos room. 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