Jim Cornette on The Passing Of Bruno Sammartino 

Dr.Mansa Bansu,PhD. I saw him and remember him as a commentator and I remember his son David. My Godfather always spoke about him. Wrestling isn't the same anymore.

I guess you figured the story would make no sense if you hadn't pointed out that you are African American.

The point is that the part that Bruno played was enlightening to all minorities, Italian, Jewish, African American. Bruno gave interviews that enlisted the help of the common man. He would tell the fans that with your support I can defeat this opponent. Good strategy, good box office results, whether intentional or not.

@@bulldogbrower6732 It worked because of his humble beginnings. He was raised in Italy and grew up during WW2. He and his family (minus his father, who had already went to America) lived in the mountains to hide from the Nazis. His mother would sneak into the local village, which was occupied by the Nazis, to get food and supplies. The family immigrated to America and joined Bruno’s father after the war. Bruno didn’t speak English and he had health issues from the family’s poverty and suffering during the war years, so he was bullied at school. To solve this problem, he took up weightlifting. The rest is history.

Him selling out MSG over and over again truly helped keep the WWWF alive so you are right. Only three wrestlers legitimately saved WWF from bankruptcy: Bruno, Hogan and Austin.

Wwe never were going bankrupt in the 1960s, when they had Bruno Sammertino, Vince Sr, was financially secure, his territory was only popular in throughout New York and New Jersey. They cater to there own territory. Buddy Rogers was a huge draw too and he help too. Bruno became WWE first big mega draw superstar that broke live gate records and the first to establish Madison square garden as the Mecca of Pro WRESTLING, he broke Madison square gardens all Time attendance records, day in and day out, and became the pride of the Italian people and new Yorker, that spanned to the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Vince Sr, was the one who wanted him and believe in him. But they never were on the verge of bankruptcy in the 1960s, they were flourishing and the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s was the first golden era period in pro wrestling. Then after Bruno they had superstar Billy Graham was a huge draw too and became a star, then they had bob Buckland then Hulk Hogan and Vince Jr took pro wrestling world wide and mainstream and it was mega huge, the reason WWE is well known to causel fans is because of hulk Hogan and his mainstream successs, and MTV was new at the time and they merged and pro wrestling went mega mainstream and world wide. Bruno was the first mega drawing power wrestler. But Hogan took it to the stratosphere....and stone cold brought back wwe for going out of business in 1997, and a long with Vince JR helped turn wwe into a global phenomenon and WWE had another golden era, attitudes era and the WWE went public and broke ratings records and it was pop culture and it went mega mega mainstream. It was stone cold that kept wwe from going bankrupt and going out of business, after the steroid scandal in 1993 and losing alot of money from the dark ages of Pro WRESTLING and ratings going down, causel fans losing interested, attendances went all the way down, and wcw was trying to put them out of business, but it was Stone cold, and Vince McMahon jr rivalry that got the causel fans hooked again with the star power of The Rock and Mike Tyson, stone colds drawing power brought WWE from the brink of bankruptcy. But Bruno was the first WWE mega star and drawing superstar, Bruno did make wwe alot of money, but back then wwe had Buddy Rogers and other wrestlers for there own territory.

Jonathan Turbide regardless Bruno was one of the one of the mount Rushmore of Pro WRESTLING, it was always Bruno Sammertino, Hulk hogan, stone cold, the rock, ric flair, Andre the giant, John cena....those are the guys who became the greatest ever drawers and star power, mainstream success, known to causel fans, the biggest stars in pro wrestling history, they broke more live gate records and boxoffice boxoffice pro wrestling tickets, more pay-per-view buy rates, record breaking television ratings and sold more merchandise then any wrestler alive. They are the biggest draws. Even Dave Meltzer put all of them on the Mount Rushmore of Pro WRESTLING. Bruno Sammertino was the first and at the top of all of them.

bullshit! they would have just found somebody else to be champion and promote the shit out of him, just like they did for bruno. there was NOTHING special about him. he couldn't wrestle, he couldn't talk, he had no gimmick, he had no charisma. he was strong, and he was ITALIAN, that's it. there were a lot of italian fans in the north east. dominic denucci would have been just as popular if he was champ. and look who they replaced sammartino with...Morales! another bum with ZERO wrestling ability, but he was Puerto Rican and by this time, there were also tons of PR fans in new york.

@@capacola262743 Hahaha

Zac Craze had it till he went crawling back to Vince

Bruno OWNS MSG :D

agree and I was there yep back in the day Haystacks and Bobo I go way back

Denise Mitchell I wasn’t there, born in 83, but I know and appreciate history

I saw his match w Larry Zybysko ,,that's when things started turning into a circus. Not like the joke the business is now,, but you could see the direction it was heading.

Thor Boysen an 8-year deserving title run, he single-handedly regularly sold out Madison Square Garden and made Vince McMahon a shit ton of money, and it was just on his pure, raw, unadulterated Talent, there was no corporate machine behind him like there is nowadays behind people who get pushes

Holding a title for that long in a territory that only worked a few matches a month, in an area with a population that insured most people wouldn't be able to see him more than once or twice a year, is really not that impressive. Especially when you factor in his being Italian. I'd say someone like Vampiro, a white Canadian, getting super over for years in Mexico is more impressive.

Mexico's not as huge in wrestling as Madison Square Garden is, WWE is what put Madison Square Garden on the map with wrestling, Madison Square Garden is synonymous with wrestling, Mexico never reached a nationwide audience like Madison Square Garden did, I'd say about it a third of as many people that know Bruno Sammartino know Vampiro

First off, that's a strawman because I was talking about the feat of being an outsider making it big in another country. as opposed to an Italian man making it big in fucking New York. Hardly a great feat. MSG is only a big deal to WWF/E fans. It is not synonymous with it to anyone else. Second, you have a VERY narrow minded view of pro wrestling outside the USA. Mil Mascaras is more famous, and was more popular, longer, than probably anyone else in the history of pro wrestling. Bruno didn't reach a nationwide audience either. He was a star in the North East, and had a handful of other places where he had worked enough that people knew him. Other than that, most people only knew his name from magazines, if they knew who he was at all. He was NOT a big deal anywhere besides the WWWF. And like I said, he had it EASY there. His title runs are really not that impressive, and that's the ONLY thing he's famous for. What you'd say is irrelevant. What can you prove?

Pretty sure Stone Cold made more.

@@CarlMarxPunk Stone Cold took a lot of mileage before he got to Bruno's level. Bruno was consistently on top for the entirety of his career

@@sketchstevens5859 That's true, but it wouldn't change the fact Stone Cold made more money. That being said. Burno would probablly kick his ass in a shoot.

Carl Marx Punk tough to compare money from 60s 90s

According to Bruno that was a shoot.

@@RedFox0909 Well, he definitely hated Rogers, that's for sure.

Whats a moveset ? Freaking marks ugh , shes an ok worker and promo that if her daddy wasnt licking Triple Hs taint she wouldnt even be in the business.

I went to college near Charlotte in the 70's and NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling was the biggest and most successful NWA territory at that time. Paul Jones was a popular heel wrestler before becoming a manager. R.I.P. #1 Paul Jones!!

I believe you 100% about the NWA territory being the most successful territory at the time. In fact, it was the NWA & World Class that made me a fan of wrestling. You here allot of talk about how the Attitude Era was the best & this & that, but I would wager a months rent that the pops the NWA with the Rock N Roll Express vs the Midnight Express or the World Class Von Erichs vs the Freebirds would more than equal any pops the Attitude Era could ever bring. I remember watching a shoot that the late Dust Rhodes did not long before he died & he said, "People act like Steve Austin was the only one who ever drove a truck to the ring before, but that's been done a long time ago." Not sure how true that is, but one thing NO ONE can ever dispute & that is, at least back in the 70's & 80's more fans still believed wrestling was more real or at the very least had a bit more of a real feel to it than today's current product does. Back in the 70's & 80's kayfabe was still somewhat believable. And IMO that's what helped sell the product. As for the late great Paul Jones, while he will be missed by all us old school farts, he'll never be forgotten. In fact, I still have em in my NWA tabletop wrestling game feuding with Boogie Woogie Valiant. Talk about great times!!! lol

Johnny V,Bruno,Paul Jones,Terry Garvin Simms.Need 2 more

Beautiful April, unfortunatly your right. It comes in 3's. I hope the cycle is broken for this one. I hate losing anyone, wrestlers included. Bruno defined the word "champion". This is so heartbreaking.

joe blow Art Bell and Barbara Bush!!

Its no myth. The Von Erichs. And more recently my own kin when I loss both my parents & my only brother. The myth ain't no myth, the myth is fact & its true.

I have never known what you said about death in 3s to be false.

Except Jim and Bruno was so much more. Than an attraction.

I totally believe that story. Bruno and Pittsburgh were a perfect fit. Don't forget everything he had to do to get here, escaping the Nazis in Italy and everything. It's a giant loss.

That’s 440 lbs. Not sure if I believe that story.

David Snyder I find it plausible as a "maybe". Bruno did hold the world record bench press at one time. Which is quite a feat, especially for the period in time when he accomplished it.

otiskariya The lip on a 55 gallon drum is so small he couldn't have gripped it well enough. If it were standing up, I would be more apt to believe the story

@@bossmann6358 oh he could lift that much trust me i heard him

Martin Baggett I am so with you and agree you there. He seemed so active for his age and in shape

The Arena had serious character.

spectrumlocalb191 it was with Ring of Honor so I think ROH has the rights to it. I don't think you can buy it at this current time on their website as I didn't see it available

LOL, that'd have been ironic, considering he was never a heel. I doubt he'd even want that role.

actually he auditioned for the part of luca brazi in the GODFATHER. the part went to lenny montana. true story.

So it's just WWE to you? Poor clueless fool.

Why do you capitalize most words?

According to Bruno himself, he had lots of offers for biopics and turned them down.

There's a 3 hour doc on him, and he's given hours of interviews, so why would you want some fictional movie?

Jason Naugle Highly disagree with George and Lawler. The other 2 an argument definitely can be made.

Jason Naugle I agree with all names if you're talking about people who pioneered professional wrestling. Except Lawler. Lawler is definitely underrated, especially with fans of a generation who only know him as a WWE commentator, but Mt. Rushmore? That's stretching it a bit imo. The other 3 truly transcended the business in to mainstream entertainment & no doubt, paved the way for Hogan, Flair, Rock, Austin, etc. Lawler only did so briefly, & that too, because of the rub from Andy Kaufman.

Christopher Cleary that's perfect

Christopher Cleary not flair but Harley race

I think Taker should replace Andre. Not only has he had what many consider the best gimmick in pro wrestling history, but he's had the staying power to last over 25 years with that gimmick (obviously excluding his American Badass years).

Kick Flair for Lou Thesz.

No Dusty Rhodes?

Jason Naugle To be fair he was 82.