8 things you did not know about Bruno Sammartino
Even at the age of 81, Bruno Sammartino is a presence. Former world champion JBL interviewed him for the latest edition of his fairly entertaining series (yes we used ‘fairly entertaining’ and ‘JBL’ in the same sentence) entitled Legends.
We could tell that even a man such as John Bradshaw Layfield was in awe of the charisma that Sammartino commands at his age. Perhaps the most famous American wrestler of all time, Sammartino was the face of wrestling when WWE was called the WWWF or the World Wide Wrestling Federation.
Through the insightful conversation, we found out many things that we’d only heard over the grapevine. Read on!
#8 Sammartino is a World War II survivor
Bruno Sammartino may be known as the most renowned American wrestler of all time, but he is actually an Italian who traveled to America after World War II.
Born in Pizzaferrato, Italy in October, 1935; Sammartino’s town was attacked by the Nazi German troops. and Sammartino would hide in a mountain called Valla Rocca for 14 months. In this tranquil town of horses and buggies, the first automobile he heard would be the sound of a tank.
Bruno Sammartino lost more than one sibling to the war! A tragic beginning to what would become a legendary career, very soon.