Sammartino: Hard to fake broken bones
Bruno Sammartino, a former heavyweight professional wrestling champion who died Wednesday at the age of 82, was once asked if professional wrestling matches were fixed. The Italian immigrant bristled at suggestions that he had ever taken a fall and that his injuries were all too real.
“I would be a fool to tell you that there was no fixing,” he told
The Washington Post in 1980 as his career wound down. “You ask if wrestling is for real? Well, I think my own body answers that question. I have broken more bones than any of the others — my neck, my collarbone, both arms, wrists, knuckles, all of my ribs, my back. A hairline fracture of the kneecap. My jaw has been wired and rewired. It’s incredible to think people would fake that.”
In 1959, Sammartino signed a $250-a-week contract with Capitol Pro Wrestling, owned by Vincent J. McMahon and Joseph Mondt, and wrestled in Pennsylvania, New York and other states. McMahon and Mondt later formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation and awarded its heavyweight title to “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers in April 1963.
A month later, Sammartino faced Rogers at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the title. Rogers was supposed to win. But in a story often told in wrestling circles, Sammartino broke the bad news to Rogers in the ring.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Sammartino said.
He pinned Rogers in 48 seconds.