Im an olde, olde man but even Im not old enough to have been a Bruno Sammartino fan. The temptation was strong to relegate the WWWFs Living Legend to second place, and place the Dream first - but Im engaged in writing The Truth with these articles, and The Truth of the matter is that no one, living or dead, has ever held a wrestling crowds heart and soul in their hands like Sammartino. One of the greatest icons of all time, Sammartino held the World Heavyweight title on two occasions, which may not seem like a lot compared to someone like John Cena that is, until you realise that the first reign was from May 17th 1963 to January 18th 1971, over seven and a half years. In total, his two reigns cover eleven years (or 4,040 days). Sammartino was the most popular wrestler in America for twenty years, a man whose personal charisma and character were such that he rivaled, if not exceeded Hogans popularity in the 1980s. But while Hogan performed as a superhero type, a huge no-selling babyface superstar, Sammartino was a blue collar favourite, the icon of families across half of America. His epic feud with former protege Larry Zybysko in 1980 made Zybysko a star and proved that Sammartinos time wasnt over. Bruno was, though: still so over, in fact, that heel Zybysko would be regularly assaulted for the unspeakable crimes hed committed against the peoples favourite. He was stabbed, beaten and once, the taxi he travelled in was attacked and overturned. Sammartino was to wrestling what Ali was to boxing. He drew crowd exceeding 30,000 at Shea Stadium not once, but three times. New Yorkers were so hot to buy tickets to his shows at the Garden that a closed circuit television was installed next door so that people who couldnt buy tickets could see him wrestle and so not riot. He brought families of all races and classes together. Therell never be another wrestler quite like him, especially these days with the eradication of kayfabe.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
