Rant #2,127: Simply the Best

Bruno Sammartino died earlier this week. He was 82 years old.

Even if you are not a fan of professional wrestling, you probably know who Bruno was.

He was probably the greatest professional wrestler ever, and his success and popularity certainly helped pave the way for professional wrestling to be the mainstream, global phenomenon it is today.

He virtually carried professional wrestling on his very broad back during the late 1950s through the mid 1970s, and even through all the catcalls and finger pointing related to a "sport" that was considered questionable, everyone knew that he was the real deal.

His WWWF (predecessor to WWE) championship reign of nearly eight years (May 1963 to January 1971) will never be equaled, and he was the headliner on cards at Madison Square Garden that were total sellouts--187 of them (so Billy Joel does have a ways to go to equal Bruno!).

Anyway, that is all I am going to talk about related to his statistics. I am now going to talk about Bruno (he was never Sammartino to me, or to any of his fans) from my own unique perspective.

I got into professional wrestling when I was about eight or nine years old. My friend, Howie, actually had probably the first TV I ever saw with UHF capacity, and in those early years, we would watch wrestling together up in his room or wherever the TV was, and it came in--barely--on the Spanish TV stations that had popped up in the New York City area in the early to mid 1960s.

So looking at the very grainy picture with no lights on in the room--that was the only way to see the images--we watched hours and hours of pro wrestling together. We would even act out the moves, and one time, I fell on Howie's parents' end table and scratched my ear, with the blood cascading out, just like on the wrestling show we were watching.

Howie told me that his mom still has the washcloth she used to try to get the bleeding to stop, and yes, it was tainted red with my blood still ingrained in it!

Anyway, during those early years, Bruno was the star attraction on the shows that we watched. There simply was no one like him in pro wrestling back then, and he was a living and breathing icon in the sport.

He was truly the Babe Ruth of professional wrestling.

Born in Abruzzi, Italy, Bruno came here as a young man, settled in Pittsburgh, and became enamored with body builders and those who worked out incessantly, and the simple story goes that one day, he was approached by a promoter who saw the young man's physique and thought he would be perfect for professional wrestling.

He originally turned the man down, but one thing led to another, and he became a pro wrestler.

Back then, Gorgeous George was pretty much the main attraction, but his reign was short. Once Bruno stepped into the ring, promoters knew that he was the real deal.

And during his career, I would say that he was the only wrestler to be considered "legit" by the public. He became a celebrity, was on mainstream television--like "The Tonight Show"--and pretty much everyone knew who he was.

I saw him in Madison Square Garden live a few times, and he was an incredible athlete. And the crowd, including the fabled hat pin lady, loved him.

He was a working class guy, like most of the crowd. He was a legal immigrant who made it good, someone who loved his adopted country. He personified the American Dream back then.

He gave his heart and soul and body to professional wrestling, and probably broke every bone in his body doing so.

And when it came time for him to move over for other wrestlers to pick up where he left off, he did so, allowing the next generation of athletes--including Hulk Hogan--to take over the perch he was on for so many years.

He became an announcer, and supposedly had some type of falling out with WWE owner and CEO Vince McMahon, a rift that took decades to heal.

He had pretty much faded from the public eye in recent years, but when that rift was healed, the WWE heralded him by naming Bruno to its Hall of Fame.

Bruno came back, made a wonderful speech, and that was pretty much that. He faded from view again for the past several years, but his named popped up again when he passed away.

And the tributes came pouring in from current WWE wrestlers, from Vince McMahon, and from the fans.

Everybody loved Bruno.

He is and was my favorite wrestler of all time, and like I said about Chuck McCann's passing a few days ago, with Bruno gone, another piece of my childhood is, too.

Bruno's exploits got me into pro wrestling, and with my son head over heels enamored with the sport, I have passed the torch over to the next generation.

If you want to see Bruno at work, there are a multitude of matches on the WWE Network, and I am sure there is plenty to see about him on YouTube too.

Every pro wrestler owes a debt to this guy, and for fans, his loss is a great one.

There can never be another wrestler like Bruno Sammartino, never, ever again.

R.I.P. Bruno. You done good.