EXCLUSIVE!



An Exculsive interview with Bruno Sammartino

Introduction by Robert Hanley

On December 8, 2000, former World Wrestling Federation champion Bruno Sammartino was in Italy because his hometown, a little city called Pizzoferrato in Abruzzo, honored him with a big day long ceremony.  

They built a monument for him, open a training facility and honored him in front of his father's house, the same the Sammartinos left when they came to America.  

During the day, the members of the Italian website, Wrestling Mania (a partner of mine at WrestleScene.com and we will continue our relationship here) had the privilege to conduct a seminar about wrestling and were fortunate enough to conduct and in-depth, hour long interview with Bruno.  

According to Wrestling Mania's reporters it is obvious that during the interview, Bruno has respected the kayfabe.  

Nevertheless the guys were able to steer Bruno into shoot territory, and he told some stories which are a must read.  

The interview, which was originally in Italian, was translated by Wrestling Mania's director Federico Di Stefano.  

Plus much thanks goes to the aforementioned Michele Posa, who has supplied this interview exculsivly to ProWrestlingRevolution.com for the American public.

You can check out Wrestling Mania at www.wrestlingmania.it or http://wm.gamersrevolt.com.  

I hope you enjoy the interview.  

Wrestling Mania: How did you enter the wrestling world?

Bruno Sammartino: After the war I left Italy and I arrived in the United States, we were very poor, I was quite slim, a little ill and I couldn't even talk in correct Italian.   

When I was arrived in Pittsburgh, I was unfortunate enough to stick with some bad guys of my neighborhood, who didn't lose the chances of beating me up some times.  

One day I saw some pictures on the cover of a wrestling magazine, so I decided to work in order to become big and strong like those wrestlers.  

I entered in the amateur wrestling team of my school, and I was in the weightlifting team just as long.  

In weightlifting I once became the American champion in the heavyweight division and it was back then when a promoter asked me if I was still willing to wrestle.  

Obviously I replied affirmatively, and they asked me if I was persuaded enough to enter in a tough wrestling training in order to become a serious pro wrestler.  

I accepted, and my first test was against an amateur who used to be a part of the Olympic team in amateur wrestling. I did a very good job, and I entered in an extremely tough training in New York that lasted 3 months.

  Before accepting to enter in a pro wrestling organization in the NY territory, I asked my family if it was okay for them. I remember that I worked 10 hours a day, while in the evening I trained for wrestling.

WM: What kind of training did you do?

BS: It was quite hard. I ran for 2 miles and then I had to do some athletic exercises in order to improve my agility, especially focusing on bridges as well as mat-wrestling exercises. That took me 2 hours a day, while I lifted weights for another 4 hours. Those hours of training helped me to increase my strength and my stamina, qualities that made me able to sustain long and hard fought battles that lasted more than an hour.

WM: Where did you start to wrestle?

BS: In my first years as a pro I wrestled in small organizations throughout the world, from Japan to Australia, passing to South America and obviously some of the small entities in the United States.

WM: While you where in Japan, did you have the chance of meeting the legendary Rikidozan?

BS: Yes, I've been in Japan numerous times and I was fortunate enough to meet Rikidozan. I would have know him better, but he was brutally stabbed to death outside his bar.

WM: Speaking about Japan, we know that you wrestled in some gigantic battles in the land of the rising sun. Could you tell us something more?

BS: Wrestling in Japan was very difficult, one of the major problem was the language, because I could not speak with the guys down there.

Another big problem was the distance.  

I remember that, after a match at MSG, I took a flight to Japan and I arrived just in time to wrestler Shoei Baba "The Giant". It was very hot, we wrestled to a one hour curfew draw.

WM: What's your opinion of the late Shoei Baba?

BS: Baba has been one of my biggest rivals down in Japan. He was a great wrestler, I beat him numerous times but it remains one of my thoughest opponents. I partecipated at the Baba memorial ceremony last year in Japan.

WM: You had a big amount of matches that lasted more than one hour, but what was your match that lasted the most?

BS: I wrestled thousands of matches in my career, but perhaps my longest match was against a Indian opponent, that lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes. I also remember a 1 hour 25 minutes match against Gorilla Monsoon and a 1 hour 18 minutes match against Pedro Morales...it was an outdoor match, it rained heavily and it was very cold, but there where still 28000 screaming fans, who took with them blankets and so on. I could not even imagine how many people would attend if the weather was better!

WM: You talked about about Gorilla Monsoon, what are your thoughts about him?

BS: Gorilla was an outstanding wrestler, tall, quick and a scary opponent.

He didn't have an extraordinary force, but he was indeed a mat specialist. In wrestling it isn't all about muscles, and he was the living demonstration.

Other great opponent of mine were indeed Toru Tanaka (an excellent wrestler) and Killer Kowalski, who had an extraordinary physical conditions even if he was vegetarian.

WM: Another historic opponent of yours was Buddy Rogers, the Nature Boy...

BS: I beat the hell out of him to capture my first world championship without pinning him, but by making him submit to my backbreaker. It took me only 48 seconds to annihilate him, and he didn't appreciate it. He said ridiculous things in order to save his reputation, like that he suffered an heart attack 2 weeks prior our match and that he was not in condition to wrestle.

Obviously it was untrue, because the physical conditions of every wrestler where checked by doctors every time we had to step into the ring, and doctors would have not allowed him to wrestle me on that particular night.  I didn't like him, and I'm sure he didn't like me. We couldn't just get along.

WM: At this time we must talk about Stan Hansen and his famous Lariat.

BS: All the myths about his lariat are false, I injured my neck because of my sweat, that caused me to exit badly from a Hansen lock and to take a bad fall out of the ring. I had to stay at the hospital for many months, and during that time I watched him on tv, claiming he had finished my career, but I surely wasn't finished. Thanks to my determination, after a long rehab I stepped back into the ring to gain revenge on him. I destroyed him, making him bleed from the very first minutes, and he decided to run away from the ring. It has been the only time in my career that I entered in the squared circle only to hurt my opponent.

WM: Let's finish this trip on all your greatest opponents....what could you tell us about Larry Zbyszko?

BS: Larry lived near my home, he was a little boy that often tried to convince me to train him into the wrestling scene. I spoke with his father, and I promised him that I would train young Larry only after his graduation at high school. When he graduated, I talked to a promoter and I found him a little circuit where he would gain some experience. Larry was part of the amateur wrestling team in his school, so he had a good background.  

I took him to Puerto Rico and also in New York, and that's when he started to think about a brighter future for himself. He wanted me to lauch himself to the big time, but I said it was to early for him. He didn't like my advice, and he challenged me to a match. I first ignored his challenge, but then Vincent McMahon Sr. (a great promoter) convinced me because the people would have loved a confrontation between the two of us. Larry asked me to give my best because he wanted to prove me he was the better man.  

Our cage match at Shea Stadium (home of the New York Mets) was a battle.  

I started to dominate him in the early on, but then he started to cheat, he gave me a bad kneedrop that really took my breath away, and also he hurt one of my eyes. He's now billing himself as the "Living Legend", but it's not the people who gave him that name.

WM: How did you act in front of so many different styles of wrestling?

BS: Many years ago the Japanese and American styles of wrestling weren't so different, the first based itself more on martial arts background, but nothing else. I loved the technical matches, but when an opponent started to cheat, then I could become a savage, too.

WM: What was your sensation when you were stepping into the ring and what are the main differences between the Japanese and American crowds?

BS: I've wrestled 225 times at Madison Square Garden, and when I was walking down the aisle, all the people started to chant "Bruno! Bruno! Bruno!"

WM: Have you ever got in touch with Mil Mascaras?

BS: I've seen him 7 or 8 times in Mexico and Los Angeles. I didn't really get in touch with him, but we all knew he was a great athlete.

WM: You have worked for Vince McMahon Sr. , but what's your opinion of his son?

BS: He has ruined the whole wrestling business. He has made it more popular with the birth of PPVs but he has erased all the purposes behind wrestling as we all liked it. Years ago we battled in that ring for the delight of the fans, but now it's all about sponsors. The arenas where once used a few times a year but now it's not about the fans who want to see the matches, and it's natural that the gates are decreasing. Vince Jr. has introducted the violence concept, the ring is filled with semi-naked women and a big amount of vulgarity, only to attract the younger people, but all this stuff seem to bore the fans in the long run.  

Now he's forced to lie about his economic gains in order to prevent the WWF NASDAQ stock market title to fall dramatically.

WM: What can you say about the steroids use and the Zahorian trial?

BS: In 1984 Vince McMahon Jr. gave me a phone call, asking me to cooperate in the succession of the property of the WWF from his father to him. I came back but when I arrived into the dressing rooms, I saw all the guys using a large amount of drugs which circulated freely. I couldn't stand the whole situation and therefore I went back home. I remember that at that time no one was speaking of the steroids abuse, as there were no specific laws against it.

Zahorian was rightfully interested by the scandal, but Vince saved himself.  

He said that he used steroids but that he didn't distribute them to any athlete. It was indeed true that he used steroids, when he was younger he was a tiny man, and he asked for him specific suits that would make him look bigger. Nowadays you can all see how he is physically.

WM: Therefore you have the same idea of Bret Hart, who attacked Vince McMahon a few years ago...

BS: No way! Bret was stuck into the drug abuse problem from the very first days in the WWF. He also used to take cocaine right before the matches, in order to add some energy to his body. Now that he has been kicked out from WCW he's launching critics to the whole wrestling world, but when I left the WWF he attacked me.

He's only a hypocrite.

WM:  Dynamite Kid admitted that he took drugs in the past, because the promoters used to told them that they were too little to wrestle.

BS: Dynamite Kid used drug, as well as Davey Boy Smith and all the other guys in the backstage.

Just think about ("Superstar" Billy) Graham, he was big and tough thanks to drugs but now he's a ruined person. There was a time when the wrestlers where smaller than today's guys.  

The promoter's excuse is just a false one and everyone can understand it.

WM: What's your opinion of Hulk Hogan?

BS: I'm definitely not in shape but I'm sure that if I have the chance to step in the ring against Hogan I can defeat him in 1 minute. He's not a wrestler, he can't wrestle, he has an excellent physique thanks only to drugs. Hogan is just a character, not a man at all.

WM: What do you remember about the relationship between Bruiser Brody and Vince McMahon Jr.?

BS: Brody didn't have a great techinique but he was indeed a great wrestler.  

He had a tremendous force. When Vince Jr. was working for his father, he had an altercation with Brody as of a matter of payments.  

Bruiser lost his head and launched him to a wall.  

Some guys stopped Brody.  

If it wasn't for them, Vinnie could have been injured seriously. After this episode, Bruiser Brody was kicked out of the WWF.

WM: What do you think of the Owen Hart tragedy?

BS: Now wrestling is only a theatre, nothing else. Characters like the Undertaker or matches with fire have nothing to do with wrestling.

Vince Jr. is a madman and it's understandable by the way he's using his daughter in his federation.  

He's self-destroying himself.

WM: Do you have an idea on how the Owen Hart incident occured?

BS: In the WCW Sting used to do the same kind of ring entrances, but he used 3 iron ropes. He hasn't ever had any kind of problem.  

In the WWF they thought that this kind of entrances were too slow, so they convinced Owen to use only one iron rope. It was indeed more spectacular, but with 3 iron ropes he would have saved his life.

WM: Do you watch wrestling on TV nowadays?

BS: No, some friends tell me of all the things happening in the WWF. Recently I had the chance to see some matches from All Japan, and I liked them a lot.

WM: In your opinion, is there still a way to bring back the old-style wrestling?

BS: Vince McMahon Jr. and WCW would destroy each other very soon. It will be a matter of years and wrestling could start from zero once again.

There are many people who thinks that wrestling should go back to its sport roots, instead of being just entertainment.

WM: What do you think of Bob Backlund?

BS: He was very talented but the fans didn't stand him at all. They called him "puppet" because he moved like a wood piece.


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