Breaking News: Bruno Sammartino Set For WWE HOF

WD Stalker Number of posts : 11345 Registration date : 2008-08-24

Legendary pro wrestler Bruno Sammartino will be announced as the next inductee into the Class of 2013 WWE Hall of Fame tonight during RAW. ESPN's Jon Robinson already has a story up covering the big and quite unexpected news for those who have kept tabs on Sammartino's comments in recent years.

Sammartino added, "Being inducted into the Hall of Fame at Madison Square Gardens is the biggest thing in my life,” Sammartino said in an exclusive interview for ESPN Playbook. “Any time that people feel that you accomplished enough to enter into a Hall of Fame, of course this is a tremendous, tremendous thrill for me. I had a lot of my success due to appearing at the Garden. I wrestled there over 200 times, it’s where I won the title, and it’s where I picked up 630-plus pounds of Haystacks Calhoun."

Paul "Triple H" Levesque is a big reason Sammartino is accepting the invite according to the ESPN article. It had been made public that Triple H had made numerous attempts to get Sammartino as part of the Class of 2013 with the ceremony taking place at Madison Square Garden. Sammartino added, "Paul explained to me, WWE made a lot of other changes. There’s no more profanity, there’s no vulgarity in the current product, and that stuff had bothered me as well. When Paul first spoke to me and told me all the changes, I started watching it again and I was very convinced that they are doing amazing things. I see the wrestlers and all the changes they made. There’s no profanity, there’s no vulgarity, and it’s a family-friendly program. That’s what it used to be, and that’s a huge role in the whole factor."

This is great news to hear.I have never watch any of his matches but I have heard of him and the only thing I know about him is that he's had the longest WWE Champion reign.So congrats to him.

Its just a shame that he wasn't inducted earlier. Sammartino probably had the greatest career of any pro wrestler.

That is great news.

This class is really great so far.

See how I didn't make a new thread for this information..? JR is talking about Bruno's impending HOF induction so there is NO need to clutter up the section with two threads about Bruno in the HOF..

As announced on Raw Monday, the longest-reigning WWE Champion of all time, Bruno Sammartino, will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before WrestleMania 29 at Madison Square Garden. Jim Ross offered his thoughts via Jrsbarbq.com on the "Living Legend" taking his place in the Hall.

Ross wrote, "The Bruno Sammartino video package, as I tweeted earlier in the day @JRsBBQ, I expected to be heavy duty and it was. Bruno's career IE body of work will never be replicated in today's marketplace within the genre. An eight YEAR run ON TOP in the #1 territory in the world is unfathomable if one gives that accomplishment any serious, intelligent thought. Students of the game 'get it' while squeaky wheel, attention seeking, Keyboard Warriors simply want to be defiant while refusing to acknowledge the career of a man like Bruno. Instead of celebrating a legit legend getting a WWE HOF nod after years of waiting by his long suffering fans and who, just recently, overcame philosophical differences with WWE, many who follow me on Twitter used Bruno's induction announcement as another vehicle to drive ad nauseam the Macho Man HOF questions of the day.

"Really?

"I realize that there is a generation gap as it relates to many fans between Bruno and Savage, even though their careers actually overlapped, but these are two separate entities with two, separate agendas. Older fans and fans especially those who had family growing up in the Northeast United States revere Bruno who was considered a "Sports God" to his fans. Bruno was just as big a celebrity as any professional athlete in the NE on any team during the Italian strongman's heyday....and still is to an entire generation of fans.

"I can simply tell you that when I got in the business in 1974 that the goal of virtually every wrestler that I knew was to get booked in WWWF aka WWE and if said wrestler was a villain the ONLY goal was to get your 'run' with Bruno which guaranteed that one would earn big money. A few months run with Sammartino in WWWF would be more money than most wrestlers would make in a year of territory wrestling.

"I recall how happy General Scandar Akbar was to get the WWWF call and leave the Oklahoma territory on occasion to go to the WWWF TV's and destroy some willing souls as Ak prepared for his title challenge against the Living Legend. Unfortunately, Bruno was severely injured against Stan Hansen and the Bruno vs. Akbar rivalry never happened.

"Cowboy Bill Watts career as a legit main eventer was validated by Watts tag teaming with Bruno in the WWWF and Watts subsequent turn on his partner which resulted in Cowboy Bill Watts headlining Madison Square Garden vs. Bruno in only Bill's third year in the business. Bruno liked Bill and they sold out MSG three times versus each other in the 60's which was unheard of at the time as usually a talent only got 1-2 shots vs Bruno in the Garden.

"It cannot be overstated how big it truly is for Bruno Sammartino to be inducted into the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame which makes this class, even if he was going in solo, the best WWE HOF class ever in my humble opinion and that includes my own class in 2007. I pray for good health so that I can join my Pittsburgh wife and attend the most special of nights, April 6, 2013 when the Steel City's own Bruno Sammartino once again sells out MSG but this time, I'm assuming, he will go on last which is something that the main eventers never did back in the day at MSG.

"The potential projects that Bruno can be involved with in the future with WWE are virtually limitless and his mere presence adds massive credibility to what ever project is being marketed. I hope that I get to work with the Living Legend on something in the future. It would be a great honor, I assure you, for this fan who grew up not seeing Bruno wrestle but instead by reading the monthly, pro wrestling magazines which allowed my imagination to carry me from Westville, Oklahoma to far away arenas thanks to the photos that were utilized and the intriguing copy that accompanied the memorable photos. Bruno Sammartino was to pro wrestling what John Wayne was to western movies...the ultimate hero who always overcame the odds by doing things the old school way."

Ross also offered his thoughts on Raw, including CM Punk claiming to be the rightful WWE Champion, Jack Swagger and the return of Mark Henry.

http://www.WrestlingInc.com/wi/news/2013/0205/560145/jim-ross-weighs-in-on-bruno-sammartino-induction-into-the-wwe/#ixzz2K5938UYZ

More info that doesn't need it's own thread:

Source: PWInsider

The deal to bring Bruno Sammartino into the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame was locked in two weeks ago after Triple H traveled to Bruno's home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. According to PWInsider, the contract was signed this past Friday, February 1st. There had been talk within WWE that the deal was done but sources close to Bruno wouldn't confirm it because he had not signed yet and they did not feel it was a done deal until he signed.

Bruno's deal with WWE is expected to be more than just the Hall of Fame induction as WWE wants to use him for commentary on DVD's, an appearance on TV and some other features. Bruno will likely be involved with the big 50th anniversary DVD that WWE has been planning.

Triple H is the one responsible for the deal. Bruno had turned Triple H's offer down before but word is that Triple H remained respectful but persistent. Triple H stayed in touch with Bruno over the phone and finally convinced him to change his mind. The negotiations went on altogether for about 7 months.

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_68531.shtml

2013 WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino revealed on the Busted Open satellite radio show that WWE has their own idea for who will induct him into the Hall of Fame. Sammartino said he would like for Larry Zbyszko to induct him, but he's leaving it in WWE's hands.

"Paul (Triple H) said to me that they usually let the person being inducted choose who they want. However, he asked me if I would allow them to think about it for a while," Sammartino said. "They want to bring someone who they think would be fitting for the occasion. Someone who is worldly known. I don’t know who they have in mind. But if it were me, there would be a number of people I would suggest."

Sammartino listed Dominic Denucci, Ivan Koloff, or Bill Watts as potential inductors. He then stressed Zbyszko as his top choice because he feuded with Larry when he was last on top of the wrestling business.

"Look at the history I had with Larry Zbyszko," Sammartino said. "I always wanted to go out on top, that was my dream. The last thing I did in this business was with Zbyszko. Look what we did at Shea Stadium. We sold out Shea Stadium and turned them away from every arena that we went into. What a way to go out. He would be pretty darn good at that as well. I’ll leave it up to them because they have their own idea."

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