The Living Legend Returns

           

            Who do you think I’m referring to? It could be anybody, there are a lot of powerful guys who had their best days and now are returning to the place that gave them that glory but I’m referring to quite possibly the most popular Professional Wrestler of the 60’s and early 70’s and that’s Bruno Sammartino. He defied an era when pro wrestling still had colorful characters but also had a more mat based style to some of the guys who fought in the ring.

            His style of wrestling was some mat-based with a plenty of power moves and a brawler type style as well. Even though his wrestling isn’t as popular as his strength, he still can go the distance with some of the biggest names in the business at the time. His strength was the stuff of legends. One of his first tastes of glory was picking up 640 lb. Haystacks Calhoun in 1961 if I recall and it was a big deal at the time and still is a feat that no one did to him after. Bruno’s lifting power was just incredible, he was one of the first men to Bench Press over 560 lbs. At 5’10 and over 260 lb. he was a force not to be messed with.

            Back in the 60’s where the most popular stars had an ethnic background Bruno was at the top of the ladder because of his Italian background and his love with the fans especially at what might be called the house that Bruno Built Madison Square Garden in New York. No one guy before or since has headlined the World’s Most Famous Arena more times than anyone 211 headlines with 187 sell-outs. Color TV was very low and only less than a handful of shows had color the most popular being Batman so whenever you saw Pro Wrestling it was 99% in Black & White. You had guys like Nature Boy Buddy Rogers, Fritz Von Erich, Pat O’Connor, Lou Thesz, Walter ‘Killer” Kowalski, a young Harley Race and even Karl Gotch but nobody made the money like Bruno did.

            His training was legendary, picking up heavy weights, hundreds of squats and push-ups and had endurance like some of the other greats who can go do hour long marathons in the ring. Many guys couldn't keep up with him and he even wrote a short book on how to build the body from basic strength training and muscle building and he did this (hopefully I’m right) all without drugs, steroids or PEDs when it was the boom of its time. He was a man of hard work and will to become the very best and wrestled the very best.

            He had the longest reign of any champion in history going on nearly 8 years as the champ when he beat Buddy Rogers in 1963 till he lost to Ivan Koloff in 1971. He won it back in 1972 I think and lost again to Superstar Billy Graham in 1977. Nobody ever since held the world title for that long and that tells yeah how important the man was to the business at that time. He fiddled around a while longer before retiring and became a commentator for WWE.

            He ended up leaving the business for good because of what Vince McMahon was bringing to the business and Bruno would have none of it. He was bitter about the business for the longest time about its direction and what was changing with the business until recently a man who has a hold on the company in certain areas especially in Talent Development is Paul Levesque aka Triple H got to talking with Bruno and told him what was going on really. Because of this encounter, Bruno started learning to love some of the business again and finally broke down after turning down so many offers to be in their Hall Of Fame has finally come to an end. The Living Legend will be at Madison Square Garden one more time being the headline but not in the ring, not in an interview but on stage as a WWE Hall Of Famer.

            I've been watching wrestling ever since I was 11 years old and learned so much about the wrestlers that I wanted to learn more about the history and how it came to be and how we as fans can improve it. I like more of the mat style wrestling than the colorful antics of the wrestlers. My first glimpse of Bruno was in a Video Game, Legends Of Wrestling 2 where they did interviews with big names like Hulk Hogan, Jerry Lawler, Jimmy Hart, Jimmy Snuka, The Road Warriors, Eddie Guerrero and Paul Orndorff to name a few and I was fascinated with how they portrayed Bruno. The powerful man that he was and how he talked about his matches with Killer Kowalski was just great. It made me love the old-timers ever since then and I kept learning more about real style wrestling and pro wrestling.

            I don’t know if its because I’m of Italian descent or because of my love for wrestling but I felt connected to Bruno’s career and wanted to learn more about what he did, who he wrestled and how he trained. I’m glad one of the best finally gets the respect he’s deserved for so long and be enshrined for the test of time. I never got to see Bruno during his Career because he retired not too long after I was born give and take a couple years but at least I and others my age who are in love with wrestling get to see some of his work through youtube and some other wrestling sites and be in awe of what it would be like to be in that era. Welcome back Bruno and thank you. 

My Thoughts On WWE Tough Enough

Back in the old days (yes even the 80's) it wasn't easy getting into the wrestling business. It was mostly word of mouth or men and women who have met wrestlers in the gym and if the wrestlers felt like you wanted it bad enough they'd recommend a trainer to toughen you up. Some of the best wrestling trainers nearly took out a wanna-be wrestler and wanted to see how long it took him to quit and how long can he last in the ring doing conditioning drills and ring work. Some trainers were wrestlers themselves at one time or another and some were better as trainers and some were great wrestlers and trainers.

The conditioning is a very brutal process, one wrestler went through NFL camps and said wrestling training was far more brutal. Another wrestler quit the first day but then came back and began one of the greatest careers in the business, even one wrestler was a Navy SEAL and found training as a wrestler was worth the price. You see it takes much more then physical ability to bring something to the table in the ring, you need character, poise, charisma and you need a body that people want to see along with how you present yourself as a character.

Here are a few trainers that have helped pave the way for some of the greatest wrestlers in wrestling history:

Hiro Matsuda- Trained Hulk Hogan

Eddy Sharkey- Trained Road Warriors, Jesse Ventura and Bob Backlaund

Verne Gangne- Trained Iron Sheik, Ken Patera, Ric Flair, Verne's son Greg and Ricky Steamboat

Stu Hart- Trained the Hart Brothers (Bret & Owen), Greg Valentine, Superstar Billy Graham & Chris Benoit

These trainers took these men to limits most of us can't fathom and look where they are today (with the exception of the late Hawk, Owen & Benoit), they went on to have some of the greatest careers in wrestling. Nowadays on the internet you can find schools all over the country, in canada and abroad. Some schools cost way too much, some cost too little without ever stepping into a ring and some even cost when you don't train at all. Very very few schools give you hands on training and some even require experience as much as 2 years in the ring. To get to the WWE or TNA takes hundreds of matches, psychology in the ring, mic work and most of all a good character to sell as a product.

Back in the early 2000's WWE Tough Enough started a new trend of reality TV but began to show what training in the ring looks like when up-in-coming superstars are thrown into the ring and trainers will find out who stays and who doesn't. The first couple seasons were ok and had good trainers such as Al Snow who was trained by a couple of the Andersons (Ole & Greg). The winners went onto a moderate career but a couple didn't last long due to either injuries or wanted to persue other career oppertunities.

Now theres a new season with a new host and trainers in the names of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Booker T, Bill Demott & WWE Diva legend Trish Stratus. Austin as the host takes on 14 contestants including 1 Current Miss America and they all have one thing in common and thats being the next WWE superstar & Diva. I have a feeling this season aside from tensions, craziness and pissing off trainers these new contestants are in for the ride of your life. They will live together, eat together, train together and everything else inbetween (hopefully none of that Real World shit). After seeing the first episode I knew how great this show will be and plus you get to see Stars that have revolutionized the wrestling business and know a thing or 2 about getting their asses kicked in the ring so I don't see a whole lot of sympathy from Austin or Booker so it should be very interesting to watch.

If you feel you want to get in condition like an old scohool pro wrestler like early steamboat or Ric Flair back in his training days in minnesota or better yet like the great legends Karl Gotch & Billy Robinson then look here and if you find yourself on Tough Enough you'll pass the conditioning with flying colors and work on the other things. Also if you don't want to be a wrestler and just wanna get yourself in awesome shape then here are a few links to look at that I personally recommend.