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Yeah, Bruno was as big a superstar as you could get in the 1960s and 1970s when it came to wrestling on the East Coast in general and in WWWF/WWF history in particular. Vince Sr. didn't give him two lengthy-rear end title reigns for no reason, after all.
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Jul 4, 2012 22:58
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:What did Bruno do that he now has a nest egg? Surely wrestling in the 60's and 70's didn't pay out that much? Property? Who knows. Knowing Bruno, he probably lives in a house he paid off like 40 years ago.
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Jul 4, 2012 22:58
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OneThousandMonkeys posted:What did Bruno do that he now has a nest egg? Surely wrestling in the 60's and 70's didn't pay out that much? He doesn't live extravagantly. It didn't pay close to what it pays now, but from 1963-1978 he was easily one of the top 10 earners among athletes over that period. Remember, he's working the WWWF as champion for that period, as well as touring All Japan and in demand elsewhere. Add in another few years in the 80s where he came back on his own terms and you are looking at a guy who made good money during his career and basically stopped working in his mid 50s. I think some things about Bruno get overstated. I don't think he's actually bemused by his fame or the fact people remember him, I think that's more the kind of modesty you hear from grandfathers when you mention something great they did. I bet he understands why people love him, but I think it makes him slightly embarrassed.
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Jul 4, 2012 22:59
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Bruno also has lived in the same house for fifty years, didn't have the typical drug and women vices, etc.
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Jul 4, 2012 22:59
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Bruno Sammartino is basically a really awesome old dude.
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Jul 4, 2012 23:01
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And unlike some retired guys who have gripes about the business, he's not a huge hypocrite.
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Jul 4, 2012 23:31
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Maybe Vince McMahon should send Mark Henry to try to convince Bruno to come back, to remind him that not everyone in the modern wrestling world is scummy or hypocritical 
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Jul 5, 2012 00:52
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Quarex posted:Maybe Vince McMahon should send Mark Henry to try to convince Bruno to come back, to remind him that not everyone in the modern wrestling world is scummy or hypocritical Sexual Chocolate 
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Jul 5, 2012 02:00
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MassRayPer posted:The other thing is, Bruno isn't a wrestling fan. He was born in Italy, got into bodybuilding when he was bullied as a child and was later introduced to wrestling as a means of making money. He says how he loves the fans, loves his memories of the business, and loves the friends he made, but when he was done he was done. He likes doing appearances now and then to meet the fans, honor his friends and talk about his memories, but he doesn't need it in his life.
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Jul 5, 2012 02:33
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MassRayPer posted:There's about a million reasons. If I remember right, he's also a pretty staunch Catholic and it's partially a moral thing with his disgust with the state wrestling is in.
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Jul 5, 2012 04:29
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The wrestling my dad grew up watching was Channel 11's Studio Wrestling broadcast by a local Pittsburgh station in the 60's and early 70's. Back in those days, how exactly did the relationship between an independent production like that and the WWWF work? It was apparently booked by a local promoter and not Vince Sr. Bruno was definitely their featured guy, and according to the wiki article was simply billed as the "World Champ" with no mention of the WWWF. The WWWF also definitely directly ran shows in Pittsburgh as well in those days, so was there any sort of conflict due to overlapping territory?
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Jul 5, 2012 04:42
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achillesforever6 posted:Didn't he nearly die of disease and starvation in Italy since you know he was living as a kid in the late 30s-early 40s Italy. It was when he moved to Pittsburgh that I think he started bodybuilding and getting into wrestling at Pitt. He really does deserve a statue in this city, he is one of the icons of Pittsburgh sports. Such a cool dude, I hear he still works out today! He had rheumatic fever while living on a mountain hiding from the Nazis and that actually kept his family from moving to the US for a year or two. It also caused the heart condition that 70 years later required him to have surgery! When he was in Pittsburgh he was a pipsqueak because of the years of illness and got picked on, hung out at the Y and did a lot of bodybuilding. He still lifts an insane amount for his age.
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Jul 5, 2012 04:43
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MassRayPer posted:When he was in Pittsburgh he was a pipsqueak because of the years of illness and got picked on, hung out at the Y and did a lot of bodybuilding. He still lifts an insane amount for his age. My dad and a friend of his met Bruno at a local Y when they were kids. He did pushups with both of them sitting on his back, regaled them with the virtues of "Scientific Wrestling" and told them to stay away from steroids.
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Jul 5, 2012 04:47
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Thauros posted:The wrestling my dad grew up watching was Channel 11's Studio Wrestling broadcast by a local Pittsburgh station in the 60's and early 70's. I have no idea. I can only imagine the promoter and Vince Sr. were friends and stayed out of each other's way, but that is interesting.
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Jul 5, 2012 05:04
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Thauros posted:My dad and a friend of his met Bruno at a local Y when they were kids. He did pushups with both of them sitting on his back, regaled them with the virtues of "Scientific Wrestling" and told them to stay away from steroids. That's not as awesome as Terry Funk telling kids to stay out of jail, but it's close. Bruno is awesome.
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Jul 5, 2012 06:58
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Quarex posted:Maybe Vince McMahon should send Mark Henry to try to convince Bruno to come back, to remind him that not everyone in the modern wrestling world is scummy or hypocritical I wonder if Triple H wants to at least help Vince and Bruno bury the hatchet, Hall of Fame or not. Perigryn fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Jul 5, 2012 |
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Jul 5, 2012 09:25
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CombineThresher posted:That's not as awesome as Terry Funk telling kids to stay out of jail, but it's close. Bruno is awesome. YOU STAYED OUT OF JAIL! 
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Jul 5, 2012 10:32
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Anyone know the wrestler alter-egos of some of Kaiju Big Battel's characters?
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Jul 5, 2012 11:36
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Quarex posted:Maybe Vince McMahon should send Mark Henry to try to convince Bruno to come back, to remind him that not everyone in the modern wrestling world is scummy or hypocritical "Aren't you the guy who gave birth to a hand on RAW?"
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Jul 5, 2012 19:25
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Perigryn posted:It'll be the proverbial "two samurai meet in the middle of a rope bridge, stare each other down and both walk back from where they come from with respect for each others' strengths 'cause they know neither will be able to make the other man budge". Haha I find it hilarious if true that Triple H garners any reasonable amount of respect from Bruno since he exhumes 4+ reasons Bruno soured on the WWF/E.
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Jul 5, 2012 20:03
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CombineThresher posted:He sold out every building in the biggest US territory for the best-paying promoter for at least a decade, plus he promoted a few towns himself and probably had some endorsements and other business ventures along the way. He owns a gym or two as well, right? Plus whatever convention appearances he still makes. Seems like he was also smart with the money he did make in his hey day as well.
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Jul 5, 2012 20:05
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maniacripper posted:Haha I find it hilarious if true that Triple H garners any reasonable amount of respect from Bruno since he exhumes 4+ reasons Bruno soured on the WWF/E. What was the story of how back in 2004 or so, they were doing a show in Pittsburgh and they were (again) making a REALLY strong reach to Bruno at coming to the show and patching up with Vince, and Bruno said he would only come if Benoit was facing Angle, and then turned it down because he was facing HHH, who Bruno didn't have the slightest clue about?
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Jul 6, 2012 06:58
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Shiki Dan posted:What was the story of how back in 2004 or so, they were doing a show in Pittsburgh and they were (again) making a REALLY strong reach to Bruno at coming to the show and patching up with Vince, and Bruno said he would only come if Benoit was facing Angle, and then turned it down because he was facing HHH, who Bruno didn't have the slightest clue about?
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Jul 6, 2012 07:26
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maniacripper posted:Haha I find it hilarious if true that Triple H garners any reasonable amount of respect from Bruno since he exhumes 4+ reasons Bruno soured on the WWF/E. I think that HHH's work ethic combined with his training may give Bruno a bit more respect for him than you would think.
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Jul 6, 2012 07:59
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So what was the deal with Milano Collection A.T. and the WWE? I remember some stuff about him staying with Funaki in Texas and doing stuff for HBK's promotion, Gewirtz seeing him at an ROH show and being really impressed by him and then nothing ever came of it even though it seemed for a few months he was constantly on the verge of being signed.
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Jul 6, 2012 08:11
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MassRayPer posted:I think that HHH's work ethic combined with his training may give Bruno a bit more respect for him than you would think.
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Jul 6, 2012 08:57
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Perigryn posted:Plus Triple H is a Kowalski student. I think he and Sammartino were good friends. That's what I meant actually, I phrased that really poorly.
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Jul 6, 2012 09:18
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MassRayPer posted:That's what I meant actually, I phrased that really poorly.  Triple H may be a egotistical dick but he's shown that he does have a decent head on his shoulders for the business and that at least managed to impress Bruno enough to say that he got along well enough with Vince McMahon's son-in-law.
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Jul 6, 2012 10:46
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Suben posted:So what was the deal with Milano Collection A.T. and the WWE? I remember some stuff about him staying with Funaki in Texas and doing stuff for HBK's promotion, Gewirtz seeing him at an ROH show and being really impressed by him and then nothing ever came of it even though it seemed for a few months he was constantly on the verge of being signed. It could have been that New Japan had called him up first and had big plans for him such as winning best of the Super Juniors in 07.
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Jul 6, 2012 13:01
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Here's something I've been wondering about for a while... A few years ago, during one of the many overhauls of the WWE site, they decided to completely drop kayfabe and start reporting not only on WWE backstage news, but also other feds as well. Like TNA hiring someone new or Ring of Honor starting a tournament. I'm assuming they were trying to keep people from checking out sites like Observer, Bleacher Report, Cageside Seats, etc by providing them with all that insider information right now their own site. Does anyone else remember this?
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Jul 6, 2012 14:05
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Pope Corky the IX posted:Here's something I've been wondering about for a while... I remember it, everything was so weird about it. Then it disappeared as quickly as it showed up
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Jul 6, 2012 14:09
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I think that lasted literally like 48 hours or something. It was just before the Cole takeover, right?
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Jul 6, 2012 15:15
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It was there for a few weeks actually. Industry News
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Jul 6, 2012 15:32
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It's still up if you know where to look.
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Jul 6, 2012 17:03
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Lone Rogue posted:It's still up if you know where to look.
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Jul 6, 2012 17:40
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Wojtek posted:...okay. Where do you look? Sorry I was on my phone, but yeah: http://www.wwe.com/inside/industrynews/10085110
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Jul 6, 2012 18:23
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I love that WWE is crediting LordsOfPain.net 
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Jul 6, 2012 19:00
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I remember they had a blurb about King of Trios on loving WWE.com. poo poo was Cray-J.
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Jul 6, 2012 20:12
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Perigryn posted:Triple H may be a egotistical dick but he's shown that he does have a decent head on his shoulders for the business and that at least managed to impress Bruno enough to say that he got along well enough with Vince McMahon's son-in-law. I really hope this is true, and that his current hard-on for bodybuilders is more because Vince is looking over his shoulder and not because he's dumb enough to think that you can't be a star or a draw unless you're in perfect sync with Vince's preferred aesthetics.
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Jul 6, 2012 21:05
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CombineThresher posted:I really hope this is true, and that his current hard-on for bodybuilders is more because Vince is looking over his shoulder and not because he's dumb enough to think that you can't be a star or a draw unless you're in perfect sync with Vince's preferred aesthetics. I should hope he doesn't believe that, since his best bud HBK (and Bret) broke the ceiling for non-bodybuilders to be in the main event.
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Jul 6, 2012 21:22
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