The Original Face of WWE, Bruno Sammartino was a gentleman competitor, and earned the respect and admiration of nearly everyone he met. He held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship for a record seven consecutive years, and watching his matches and hearing the crowd’s adulation is still goosebump inducing. After a long and fulfilling life, he passed away on April 18, 2018, making this day in wrestling history one to remember.
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Living the American Dream
(Special thanks to @awrestinghistorian for the excerpt)
“Everywhere I had gone, a crowd had followed. The fans had made me feel like a real celebrity. Well, that’s my story. I did get to live the American dream and found out that, just as I had imagined as a kid, the streets really are paved in gold.” – Bruno Sammartino’s book
We often hear of the American Dream, often with derision from those that haven’t found it yet, but for Bruno Sammartino, all of his hard work paid off. He was beloved by fans and is touted as the greatest ever by many. It was a great run by the youngest of seven children born in Abruzzo, Italy.
Tough but humble
Born in 1935, Bruno lost four of his seven siblings while he was still young, and his father emigrated to the United States (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) when he was four. Unable to join his father until 1950, his mother had hidden him and his siblings from German soldiers occupying their town in the remote mountain top called Valla Rocca.
When he and his mother and siblings were able to join his father in Pittsburgh in 1950, he spoke no English and was sickly and thin from the scarce supplies they had thanks to the war. Because of this, he was an easy target for bullies. And because of them, he turned his attention to weightlifting and wrestling to build himself up so he could defend himself.
All of his hard work paid off as not only did the bully cease, but he almost earned a spot on the 1956 U.S Olympic team. Unfortunately, he fell just shy as the spot went to eventual gold medalist Paul Anderson.
Undaunted, he continued his weightlifting, setting a world record in the bench press with a lift of 565 pounds in 1959. Thanks to Bruno’s strongman stunts throughout Pittsburgh, sportscaster Bob Prince eventually brought him onto his television show where a local professional wrestling promoter, Rudy Miller, saw him and recruited Bruno to give it a shot in the ring.
Debut and legacy
Bruno’s professional wrestling debut came December 17, 1959 in Pittsburgh. In his first match, he pinned Dmitri Grabowski in 19 seconds. His first match in Madison Square Garden came on January 2, 1960. It was the first in many as the building would eventually resonate with chants of “BRUNO!” whenever he appeared for the rest of his life.
His career would eventually lead him to induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, which he accepted in 2013. He had declined several times previously, and only agreed when he was satisfied the promotion had addressed his concerns of rampant drug use and vulgarity.
He was inducted by Arnold Schwarzenegger, a lifelong professional wrestling fan and fellow immigrant that found the American Dream.
Considering he probably inspired more professional wrestlers than anyone else at one point, being honored in front of a new generation of fans that may never have seen him before was a fitting end to his wrestling legacy.
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