19 Nastiest WWE Breakups

It's great that Bruno Sammartino and WWE were able to mend fences well before his death earlier this year. Rather than dying on the outs, Bruno got to spend the remaining years of his life venerated by the company he helped make a household name.

However, for a very long time, Bruno was practically dead to WWE. During his time as WWWF Champion, Sammartino had his problems with Vince McMahon Sr., but he pushed on as the face of the company throughout the 60's and 70's. Finally, as his body caught up with him, he became a semi-retired commentator. During this time, Vincent J. was replaced by Vincent K., and things started to drastically change for the company.

As part of VKM's national expansion strategy, a push was made to make the talent bigger and flashier. More outlandish, cartoonish storytelling was integrated into the product. Ever the traditionalist, Bruno wasn't keen on this, but he was even less keen on the physiques of this new crop. It's widely believed that McMahon encouraged talent in the '80s to use steroids to make them impressively jacked. All this combined with the company's shoddy push of Bruno's son David made the living legend fed up.

In the time between Bruno's departure and return, he had nothing good to say about WWE. Showing up on talk shows with McMahon during incidents such as the ring boy scandal, he would slag off his former employer. It was a messy split that fans are glad to see was patched up.