Bruno Sammartino

Early life Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino was born in Pizzoferrato, Abruzzo, Italy, to Alfonso and Emilia Sammartino on October 6, 1935. Despite her heroic efforts, Bruno grew up frail and thin because of the privations. In 1950, she and the children joined her husband in Pittsburgh. defeating Bull Curry in five minutes.

Sammartino (right) with Verne Gagne and WWWF promoter Vincent J. McMahon Feeling like he was being held back in the New York territory in favor of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) star Buddy Rogers, Sammartino gave his notice to Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) owner Vince McMahon Sr. and planned to go to San Francisco to work for Roy Shire. While on his way to California, he missed two bookings in Baltimore and Chicago, and as a result was suspended in those territories. California honored the other state's suspension, leaving Sammartino out of work. In his autobiography, Sammartino states that he believed McMahon set him up, by double-booking him and not informing him of his match in Baltimore, as a way of punishment. Sammartino was forced to return to Pittsburgh and found work as a laborer.

World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation (1963–1981) First World Heavyweight Championship reign (1963–1971)

After the first WWWF World Champion, Nature Boy Buddy Rogers, was hospitalized three times in April 1963 for chest pains, Vince McMahon Sr. and Toots Mondt made a command decision to make an emergency title switch. Between Antonino Rocca and Bruno Sammartino they went with the younger Sammartino who was 27 years old at the time. The match was scheduled to be concluded quickly so as not to risk Buddy's health any further. Promoters Mondt and McMahon Sr. cleared up Sammartino's suspension by paying his $500 fine, allowing him to return to wrestling in the United States. Sammartino won the title on May 17, 1963, defeating Rogers in 48 seconds. Sammartino and Rogers faced each other two months later at Madison Square Garden in a tag team match, with Rogers and Johnny Barend defeating Sammartino and Bobo Brazil by 2 falls to 1. Rogers pinned Sammartino for the third and deciding fall. Rogers retired prior to their scheduled title rematch on October 4, 1963, in Jersey City, New Jersey's Roosevelt Stadium. Sammartino instead that night had his first match against new number one contender, Gorilla Monsoon. Because Monsoon won the match by disqualification, Sammartino retained his belt.

On December 8, 1969, he teamed with Tony Marino to win the WWF International Tag Team Championship by defeating The Rising Suns (Tanaka and Mitsu Arakawa). Company policy meant that Sammartino could not hold two championships simultaneously, so he was replaced by Victor Rivera. Sammartino held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship for seven years, eight months, and one day (2,803 days). On January 18, 1971, Sammartino lost the championship at Madison Square Garden to Ivan Koloff. Sammartino recalled the shocked silence that greeted the result, remarking he thought he had damaged his ears. Later that year, he won the International Tag Team Championship for the second time by teaming with Dominic DeNucci.

Eventually, on December 10, 1973, Sammartino regained the WWWF Heavyweight Championship by defeating Stan Stasiak. His second title run lasted three years, four months, and twenty days (1,237 days). As the main event of 1980's Showdown at Shea, Sammartino defeated Zbyszko inside a steel cage.

Sammartino retired from North American wrestling full-time in 1981, The suit was eventually settled out of court by McMahon Sr.'s son, Vince McMahon after his father had died, and included an agreement for Sammartino to return to the company as a commentator. The match ended in a double-disqualification after the Sammartinos began brawling with Beefcake and his manager Johnny Valiant. He returned to in-ring action soon after with his son, as they wrestled against Beefcake and Valiant at Madison Square Garden. The Sammartinos also teamed against "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff and Bobby "the Brain" Heenan in various arenas.

Sammartino's highest-profile feud during this run was with "Macho Man" Randy Savage. An irate Sammartino attacked Savage during a TV interview, after Savage bragged about injuring Ricky Steamboat, by driving the timekeeper's bell into Steamboat's throat during a televised match. Sammartino defeated Savage in a lumberjack match for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship via disqualification at the Boston Garden. This allowed Savage to keep the championship, as titles cannot change hands via countout or disqualification. He was often teamed with Tito Santana and his old enemy George "the Animal" Steele (who was a fan favorite at this point in his career) to wrestle Savage and "Adorable" Adrian Adonis. The climax of their feud came was a victory for Sammartino and Santana in a steel cage match in Madison Square Garden. Sammartino also engaged in a feud with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper after Piper insulted his heritage on a segment of Piper's Pit at Madison Square Garden. Sammartino faced Piper in both singles and tag team matches. Sammartino teamed with Paul Orndorff in his matches against Piper, while Piper would tag with his "bodyguard", Ace "Cowboy" Bob Orton. Sammartino would eventually get the upper hand in the feud, by defeating Piper in a steel cage match at the Boston Garden. In 1986, Sammartino competed in a 20-man battle royal at WrestleMania 2 at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago.

Sammartino's final match was at a WWF house show in Baltimore on August 29, 1987, where he teamed up with Hulk Hogan to defeat King Kong Bundy and One Man Gang in the main event. Sammartino continued doing commentary on Superstars of Wrestling until March 1988. He appeared in the media in opposition to the WWF on such shows as The Phil Donahue Show, Geraldo, and CNN.

Sammartino worked as a commentator for the Universal Wrestling Federation. On October 28, 1989, Sammartino made a special appearance at the NWA pay-per-view event Halloween Havoc, where he was the special guest referee in a "Thunderdome" cage match which featured Ric Flair and Sting taking on Terry Funk and The Great Muta.

On March 25, 2010, Sammartino was honoured at the 74th annual Dapper Dan Dinner, a popular awards and charity fundraising event in Pittsburgh, with a lifetime achievement award, for which fellow former Studio Wrestling personalities Bill Cardille, "Jumping" Johnny DeFazio, Dominic DeNucci, Frank Durso, and referee Andy "Kid" DePaul were all present.

In 2013, Sammartino accepted an invitation for induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, after having declined several times in prior years. He finally accepted the offer to join because he was satisfied with the way the company had addressed his concerns about rampant drug use as well as vulgarity. The ceremony took place at Madison Square Garden on April 6, 2013, and Sammartino was inducted by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sammartino appeared on October 7, 2013, episode of Raw and received a birthday greeting in his hometown of Pittsburgh. On March 28, 2015, Sammartino inducted Larry Zbyszko into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Other media In 2019, Patrea Patrick wrote and directed the documentary Bruno Sammartino emphasizing the influence of his early life in World War II Italy on his subsequent career. Sammartino is also included in two DVDs summarizing his career and life: Bruno Returns to Italy With Bruno Sammartino (2006) and Bruno Sammartino: Behind the Championship Belt (2006). Both were only released in Pittsburgh. Sammartino is honored on the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame.

Video games

Personal life

Sammartino was married to his wife Carol from 1959 until his death in 2018. The Sammartinos lived in Ross Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh from 1965 on.

They had three sons together, David and fraternal twins Danny and Darryl. In 1998, he said he had been estranged from David since retiring from wrestling against David's wishes for a tag team.

They were grandparents of four grandchildren. They now run Pros of Wrestling, an indie wrestling company based in the Pittsburgh area.

In 2010, Bruno made an emotional return to the area of Italy where he grew up and hid from the Nazis. May 17, 2013 was declared "Bruno Sammartino Day" in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. In 2013, Sammartino appeared as one of the Board of Governors in the nationally televised 69th Annual Columbus Day Parade.

Backstage incidents In the late 1960s, Sammartino was involved in a fight with former Pennsylvania Athletic Commissioner Joe Cimino. Cimino was new to his post and intervened in a match finish involving Sammartino, who took a shot at Cimino in the ring and the argument continued backstage. Sammartino ended up in a screaming match with Cimino on Pittsburgh's local Studio Wrestling program, and Cimino suspended him for a month. Irvin Muchnick mentioned the incident in his book, Wrestling Babylon.

In his autobiography, The Cowboy and the Cross: The Bill Watts Story: Rebellion, Wrestling and Redemption, Bill Watts told of witnessing a backstage incident between Sammartino and Gorilla Monsoon. Watts wrote that Monsoon "soon found himself in deep water" when messing with Sammartino, and he did not go into further detail on the incident out of respect for Monsoon. Flair said Sammartino refused to shake his hand at the event, while Sammartino said Flair saw him coming down the hall, turned, and rushed away. WWE honored his life with a ten-bell salute before a house show in Cape Town, South Africa later that day, and again on the 23 April episode of Raw in St. Louis, Missouri. Mayor Bill Peduto remembered him as "one of the greatest ambassadors the city of Pittsburgh ever had."

Championships and accomplishments Sammartino is a two-time and longest single and combined reigning WWWF World Heavyweight Champion. Sammartino was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2002.

George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2019 Grand Prix Wrestling Grand Prix Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Edouard Carpentier International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2021 International Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2013 Keystone State Wrestling Alliance KSWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2012) Maple Leaf Wrestling NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version) (1 time) NWA International Tag Team Championship (Toronto version) (1 time) – with Whipper Billy Watson NWA Hollywood Wrestling Los Angeles Battle Royal (1972) Pro Wrestling Illustrated Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1976) Match of the Year (1972) Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Class of 2002 Sports Illustrated Ranked No. 10 of the 20 Greatest WWE Wrestlers Of All Time World Wide Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame (Class of 2008) World Wide Wrestling Association WWWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time, final) WWWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Argentina Apollo World Wide Wrestling Federation/WWE WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) World Wrestling Association (Indianapolis) WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dick the Bruiser World Wrestling Council WWC North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Wrestling Observer Newsletter Feud of the Year (1980) Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)