When WWE brings up Bruno these days, they speak of him in awe, as a man who helped build the company, and who held the world title for over 4,000 days. It was an incredible run. But Bruno actually made it into the WrestleMania era as a wrestler, which is never mentioned! Dont remember him? Thats because at WrestleMania 2, he was more of an after-thought than anything in the NFL/WWF battle royal. Imagine WWE using Hogan when he was 50 in a match like that at Mania. Bruno originally called it quits in 1981, but Vince Jr. lulled him out of retirement in 1985 as he began to take the company national. The man still had fire into his 50s, but it was just odd seeing him take on guys like Hercules Hernandez and The Designated Hitman instead of closing out the main event. When He Should Have Hung Up The Tights: His original retirement in 1981 probably should have stuck. He competed with the WWF off and on until 1987, which was a full 10 years after he held the WWF title. A special appearance now and then with Hogan was a good idea, but a bunch of mid-card matches seemed beneath him at that point.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
