10 Sons Of Wrestling Legends Who Failed To Fill Their Father's Boots
9. David Sammartino (Bruno Sammartino)
A bona fide tri-state hero and perennial WWF champion, Bruno Sammartino held the WWWF Championship for a combined 11 years, across two reigns. A feat that will never be matched.
While disputes remain over just how many times he headlined Madison Square Garden, there is no doubting his drawing power at the venue, of which he was the WWF's main attraction for 15 years, from 1962 to 1978.
Retiring in 1981 after settling his red hot feud against former protégé Larry Zbyszko in Shea Stadium, Bruno returned to the WWF in 1984 to assist in his son David's wrestling career.
Initially pushed as a solo attraction, David's fledgling career was dealt a blow when it became clear he was a pawn in Vince McMahon's plan to get the elder Sammartino back in the ring.
Enjoying main event success when teaming with his father and wrestling preliminary matches without him, David quit the WWF in frustration a year into his career.
Sammartino Jr. would spend the rest of the 1980s bouncing from undercard to undercard in AWA, UWF and All Japan, trying and failing to get out of his father's shadow, before disappearing into the wrestling wilderness sometime in the 1990s