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Bruno Sammartino has died


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Re the "sold out MSG 188 times deal" - that was a figure Georgiann Makropolous came up with. Dave crunched the numbers and that's more sellouts than the number of times he even worked the Garden. Rough breakdown follows:

Actual MSG matches (III & IV): 160
"True" MSG main events: 130
Verified MSG sellouts with him on top: 60

Garden shows were a tough draw in the late 60s, but that was during a period where they had literally no TV in NYC and drew entirely via newspaper ads and word of mouth.
 

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Truly sucks Bruno and David never reconciled. I remember reading the KDKA article in Pittsburgh that said Bruno died with his other two sons, Darryl and Dan by his bedside. I can't even imagine not wanting to be there if my father was ever in that position. Bruno deserved better in that aspect.

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The WWE Network will be honoring Bruno Sammartino on Monday night.

WWE announced today that a documentary on Sammartino would be airing on the Network immediately after Raw on Monday. The company noted that the special will include some of Sammartino's "greatest matches, moments, and more," but no other details have been revealed.

 

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No disrespect intended, but if anyone has any question about where the WWE style of punch-punch, kick-kick came from, they need look no further than Bruno's match with Randy Savage. That (and the bearhug) is pretty much what Bruno did in the ring, but damn he made it work and work for years. As a Westcoast guy, I didn't really get it, but I could sure appreciate the pops he would get from the crowd, they loved them some Bruno, that was for sure.

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20 hours ago, Pete said:

Re the "sold out MSG 188 times deal" - that was a figure Georgiann Makropolous came up with. Dave crunched the numbers and that's more sellouts than the number of times he even worked the Garden. Rough breakdown follows:

Actual MSG matches (III & IV): 160
"True" MSG main events: 130
Verified MSG sellouts with him on top: 60

Garden shows were a tough draw in the late 60s, but that was during a period where they had literally no TV in NYC and drew entirely via newspaper ads and word of mouth.
 

I wonder why the fake number? Sixty sellouts of Madison Square Garden is pretty damned impressive.

I grew up in Florida during Bruno's prime period and was always disappointed he never wrestled here, because the magazines made him seem godly. Like OSJ, once I saw him work, I scratched my head a little. But there's no questioning those molten crowds in MSG.

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4 hours ago, LP Steve said:

I wonder why the fake number? Sixty sellouts of Madison Square Garden is pretty damned impressive.

Probably because 60 is a realistic number but more than tripling that number makes him a mythological god

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On 4/20/2018 at 10:35 AM, (BP) said:

I wonder if Taker ever looks around the locker rooms where his old drinking buddies used to lace up their boots while the Clique would be nodding off on downers and be disgusted at all of the video gaming and vlogging. 

I would and I don't even drink or smoke. 

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On 4/18/2018 at 2:05 PM, Pete said:

Wrestling Data has it as:

 

If I recall correctly from hearing it years ago, I believe Phil Schneider missed out on an opportunity to see that Hogan/Bruno card from Baltimore.

Anyways, here's another 80s Bruno clip. The Bruno/Roddy Cage match from Boston Garden isn't on YouTube, due to certain 'difficulties' with uploading Coliseum matches in the Network era (the 12/7 Boston Garden match is online though). So, marvel at Bruno working on his home field with Piper.

 

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Jericho put up an ad free version of his interview with Bruno from last year. I always thought it was his best episode and Bruno comes off as such a humble, decent guy. He talks a bit about the documentary and it sounds like they went all out.

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My first hazy memories of wrestling revolve around Bruno and that's what really got me hooked. As a young kid he was the ultimate good guy, who would always do right and play fair, yet come out on top. Then in his later runs as a commentator and a wrestler he was a character that you really believed in and really trusted. It's great to read all the things around now to know the real life version completely backed up the character on television. Unfortunately, that's not how the world works anymore and it's really a damn shame. 

RIP.  

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On 4/20/2018 at 1:41 PM, Peck said:

Truly sucks Bruno and David never reconciled. I remember reading the KDKA article in Pittsburgh that said Bruno died with his other two sons, Darryl and Dan by his bedside. I can't even imagine not wanting to be there if my father was ever in that position. Bruno deserved better in that aspect.

I'm not going to be there when my father passes away. My plan is to donate his body to the mortuary program I attended. To borrow a line from Everclear singer and fellow Cretan, Art Alexakis, "Daddy gave me a name and then he walked away.".

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22 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

If I recall correctly from hearing it years ago, I believe Phil Schneider missed out on an opportunity to see that Hogan/Bruno card from Baltimore.

Anyways, here's another 80s Bruno clip. The Bruno/Roddy Cage match from Boston Garden isn't on YouTube, due to certain 'difficulties' with uploading Coliseum matches in the Network era (the 12/7 Boston Garden match is online though). So, marvel at Bruno working on his home field with Piper.

FWIW, that cage match is on the Network on the CHV Inside the Steel Cage tape.  Really fun match with Roddy selling like a motherfucker and Bruno just beating the shit out of him.

It also has one of my favorite Roddy Piper moments ever.  The Bears had just destroyed the Patriots in Super Bowl XX, so Roddy hangs posters of the Bears on the cage before the match even starts.

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14 hours ago, Godfrey said:

Jericho put up an ad free version of his interview with Bruno from last year. I always thought it was his best episode and Bruno comes off as such a humble, decent guy. He talks a bit about the documentary and it sounds like they went all out.

And Wrestling Observer has his interviews grouped together in the Classics section.  Those are certainly worth a listen if anybody hasn't checked them out yet.  If anything before really checking out his matches it was his interviews that made me a huge fan of him.  He sounded like a really great guy and made it easy to see why he was so beloved.

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This is the one Meltzer linked too earlier this week in an update. He called this the "Philadelphia" documentary. Meltzer described it as being "good but not as good as the WWE one"

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Definitely is. That’s the Larry Richert I mentioned on page 3 introducing the documentary. During the radio interview with him the day of Bruno’s passing he said it was almost complete. I’m going to assume he meant it was done and perhaps they’re now looking at ways to distribute it widely.

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15 hours ago, RolandTHTG said:

Watched the WWE doco last night. Weird contrast to how history views the Bruno/Rogers screwjob in such a different light to Bret/Shawn.

FWIW, Rogers always denied that version of events and said he knew exactly what was gonna happen. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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