When a former WWE Champion suffered a heart attack but was still forced to wrestle and lose his title in 48 seconds
The history of the WWE Championship is long and hallowed. Some of the top stars in the world have held it at different points and defended it in unique situations. One such instance is when Buddy Rogers was allegedly forced to defend the title (then known as the WWWF Championship) against Bruno Sammartino after having suffered a heart attack only six weeks before the contest.
He would be forced to wrestle a young Bruno Sammartino and lose in just 48 seconds.
Buddy Rogers thoughts on Vince McMahon - RingMaster by Abraham Riesman
Rogers would be awarded the WWWF title after Vince Sr and Mondt split from the NWA. Rogers would suffer a career ending heart attack not long into his reign.
Sammartino would pin Rogers in 48 secs at MSG… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/0nDWH01pho
This kicked off the incredible seven-year reign of Sammartino that's still a WWE record as of today and one that even Roman Reigns is unlikely to break.
Speaking of the incident, Rogers said that he had signed for the match against Sammartino. However, six weeks before the match, he suffered a heart attack. He was in the hospital until five days before the bout.
"I had already signed for my match with Sammartino… then six weeks before, I went into Georgetown University hospital with a heart attack. I was in that hospital for up to 5 days before I wrestled. But I made sure I kept my word, and I went through with the match. Any fifteen-year-old kid coulda beat me that night. Believe me; I had pains in my chest just walking to the ring…"
Bruno Sammartino had a different version of the story, saying that at the time, the company was not doing too well with attendance, when Rogers saw how few people were present, he claimed to have pains in his chest. This led to him being put in a hospital, where despite being examined repeatedly, nothing wrong was found with him.
There are a lot of versions of the story out there. One states that Rogers had to be forced by the promoters to come and wrestle, although those are not confirmed.
@atomic_elbow "April 19th, 1963: Buddy Rogers has a "heart episode" and failed a physical prior to a match against Dory Dixon. Aldolph Von Hess replaces him and loses. Buddy is admitted to a Cleveland hospital and is later listed as suffering a heart attack and seizure while at the hospital."
Rogers himself, on the other hand, felt that he had defeated Sammartino 11 times in the previous two years, so didn't feel the young star had a chance against him. He said that he still kept his word and went to the ring. He had told himself that he was done with wrestling overall.
Sammartino told him, once he got to the ring, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Forty-eight seconds later, he was the WWE Champion (then known as the WWWF Championship). He went down in WWE history as one of the biggest names to have held the belt ever.
How was the relationship between Buddy Rogers and Bruno Sammartino after the WWE Title match?
Sammartino said that after the match was done, there were a lot of bad feelings and that he never spoke to Rogers again. Meanwhile, Rogers, with the exception of a few matches, retired soon after.
On May 17, 1963 Bruno Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers at Madison Square Garden in New York to win the WWWF championship https://t.co/MpJPa5reQb
The legend would return twice and later come back as a manager. He eventually passed away in 1992 at the age of 71.
They would even appear in a photograph together later, but they never shared a word with each other. The history of the WWE Title is forever linked to this event.