Bruno Sammartino WWWF 60's Timeline

[andrew8798]

New release from KM



Bruno still acting like the Rogers title match was a shoot

[lildude8218]

who the hell does Tony Dungy think he is to talk about the WWWF in the 1960s like this?

[Phil Parent]

I have it. It's interesting. Obviously very clean, no profanity or dirt here at all.

Gave me some insight into a period that is well before my time. I wish they did one on the 70's with Harley Race or something.

[thegame415]

I really have no interest in this shoot. Ill have even less interest when they do the ICP youshoot.

Come KF Commentaries, you can do better!

[Chip]

Nov 26, 2013 1:10:26 GMT -5 Phil Parent said:

Gave me some insight into a period that is well before my time. I wish they did one on the 70's with Harley Race or something.

They have one that's 77-78 with Billy Graham which I'm somewhat interested in.

[Boo!]

Why was it even called the WWWF? Worldwide is one word

[Deleted]

Bruno always come off as completely full of himself. He might not be, but that's how I always see him.

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2013 11:32:57 GMT -5 @torgaddon said:

Bruno always come off as completely full of himself. He might not be, but that's how I always see him.

I see it as more of a great sense of pride in himself and his accomplishments. Mixed with a love/hate relationship with the business that made him a star.

[Professor Chaos]

Wrestling one night a month in Madison Square Garden was easy. You never saw Bruno wrestle a superstar like Ryback in a TLC match on free Television.

[Deleted]

Nov 26, 2013 14:13:27 GMT -5 Professor Chaos said:

Wrestling one night a month in Madison Square Garden was easy. You never saw Bruno wrestle a superstar like Ryback in a TLC match on free Television.

This.

[Chairman of the Board]

Bruno is the man.

He's not some steriod injecting phony like the rest of your heroes. Bruno is all business. I bet he can still kick the shit out of half the WWE roster.

[NOwave]

Bruno still acting like the Rogers title match was a shoot

Like many legendary stories in wrestling, there is a grain of truth to it. Rogers almost certainly did not want to drop the title and lose out on the high-paying Northeast market, which the WWWF represented. He was by multiple accounts as arrogant and scheming backstage as he was in his wrestling persona. It's very possible that he threatened not to cooperate.

Bruno, in contrast, was fully determined to take the WWWF title and remake the position of champion as he envisioned it. I'm sure he told Buddy that. When Buddy hesitated, it also seems reasonable that Bruno would threaten to shoot on him. Bruno was much larger, and Buddy was far from his prime. They both knew Bruno could take him if it came to that. In that circumstance, Buddy went along with it, but refused to put on a long match, taking the fall at only 48 seconds. So it wasn't really a shoot in the sense that the finish wasn't scripted. However, it was easy for anybody in the business to assume it was a shoot, as a 48 second title match would have been highly unusual. And Bruno was disinclined to confirm or deny it, which allowed the legend to grow.

[rnrk supports BLM]

Nov 26, 2013 11:32:57 GMT -5 @torgaddon said:

Bruno always come off as completely full of himself. He might not be, but that's how I always see him.

I remember watching one interview with Bruno from several years ago, before he reconciled with WWE, where he pointed out that he's sold out Madison Square Garden more times than Austin or Rock.

Which is... true, but so far removed from any standard of success that WWF/E has measured itself by in decades that it really felt like he was reaching for any excuse to buy into his own hype.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

I love hearing Bruno talk wrestling.

I've never got the idea that he's conceited. He's even addressed the "Living Legend" moniker, stating that he doesn't call himself that but if the fans consider him to be a living legend, he's very grateful. I think he is proud of his career and what he was able to make of his life, and I can't blame him for that.

I actually like the lack of profanity and dirt. It's a change of pace from a lot of of the shoots out there.

[Chairman of the Board]

Nov 27, 2013 11:47:37 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

I love hearing Bruno talk wrestling.

I've never got the idea that he's conceited. He's even addressed the "Living Legend" moniker, stating that he doesn't call himself that but if the fans consider him to be a living legend, he's very grateful. I think he is proud of his career and what he was able to make of his life, and I can't blame him for that.

I actually like the lack of profanity and dirt. It's a change of pace from a lot of of the shoots out there.

I agree!

I honestly didn't really know too much about Bruno's personal life until his old ROH shoot/appearance.

He lived the American dream. Bruno is cut from a different cloth. Honestly, out of all the wrestlers in the world physically and mentally Bruno is the most impressive to me. He always stayed in great shape. He always stood up for what he believed.



I can't seem to find the original Larry King interview. Bruno haters just watch this. Watch Vince Mcmahon LIE and look directly into the camera. Bruno is a stand up guy and I have lots and lots of respect for him.

[Crusty Ruffles]

This is one of those release to just sit back, watch, and enjoy. I'm really glad Bruno was willing to do this.

[skulldouggory]

Nov 27, 2013 16:49:16 GMT -5 Chairman of the Board said:

Nov 27, 2013 11:47:37 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

I love hearing Bruno talk wrestling.

I've never got the idea that he's conceited. He's even addressed the "Living Legend" moniker, stating that he doesn't call himself that but if the fans consider him to be a living legend, he's very grateful. I think he is proud of his career and what he was able to make of his life, and I can't blame him for that.

I actually like the lack of profanity and dirt. It's a change of pace from a lot of of the shoots out there.

I agree!

I honestly didn't really know too much about Bruno's personal life until his old ROH shoot/appearance.

He lived the American dream. Bruno is cut from a different cloth. Honestly, out of all the wrestlers in the world physically and mentally Bruno is the most impressive to me. He always stayed in great shape. He always stood up for what he believed.



I can't seem to find the original Larry King interview. Bruno haters just watch this. Watch Vince Mcmahon LIE and look directly into the camera. Bruno is a stand up guy and I have lots and lots of respect for him.

I just watched his ROH shoot a few weeks ago, and it was really enjoyable. For a guy who is always picked as hating McMahon and the WWF, he wasn't negative at all and you could tell was really grateful for his time in the business.

I think why Bruno comes across to some as egotistical or having bizarre views on modern wrestling is that the guy got out of the business at the right time, and really had no interest in returning and was truly grateful for his run that he was one of the few legends who was able to distance himself from the business and enjoy life with his wife and children. So his knowledge and understanding of wrestling after his retirement is limited since he was able to have a happy life afterwards.

You can't expect a guy like Bruno to understand PPV Buy rates and merchandise revenue/royalties, when all he knew or had to do in his day was make sure his filled MSG every single month.

[NOwave]

You can't expect a guy like Bruno to understand PPV Buy rates and merchandise revenue/royalties, when all he knew or had to do in his day was make sure his filled MSG every single month.

This is part of the point. You can't directly compare Bruno's success to that of Hogan, Austin, or Rock. They were in different eras and there were different measures of success. You have to compare them against others in their own era. From that point of view, the appropriate question to ask is: How big was Bruno in comparison to the other top guys of his era? Did anybody else sell out MSG as many times as he did? Were there wrestlers who sold as many tickets in other territories as he did? What percentage of the business at the time was Bruno responsible for?

In that context, I think Bruno was not as big a star as Hogan in the original Hulkamania era. Hogan was not only the biggest star by far in WWF, his presence expanded the business dramatically. Within a few years, his promotion (WWF) controlled a much larger % of the business than any other promotion ever had. Even Austin doesn't compare in that context. He made more money and was seen by more people on TV and PPV, but the business as a whole was much bigger then. The NWO and WCW were as big as WWF at least for part of Austin's tenure. And, he competed with the Rock (and arguably DX) as the top guy in WWF.

Bruno, on the other hand, was almost unheard of outside the Northeast. Yes, he sold out MSG once a month many times. But Jerry Lawler sold out the Mid South Coliseum, (12,000) almost every week between about 1980-1984. The Von Erichs were huge stars in Texas. Harley Race sold out Kiel Auditorium in St Louis (10,000) many times in that era. In other words, the market was not national then and WWWF controlled a much smaller % of the total.

[johnnytightlips]

Thought it would be longer than the 2 hours, 25 minutes time length inscribed on the back, considering 7 years worth of wrestling is being discussed.

Will there be upcoming parts to this release or were there simply just certain years in that range where Bruno didn't have much material to discuss?