Bruno Sammartino: December 10, 1973-April 30, 1977
Bruno defeated Stan Stasiak after he held the title for nine days. He faced many people during his second reign. One famous instance was in Japan in a tag match versus Antonio Inoki. Inoki tried to put a real submission hold on the champion, but Sammartino powered out of it. Inoki tried to stay way from Sammartino the rest of the match. Years later Inoki left NJPW and joined the WWWF, but Bruno Sammartino refused to wrestle him.
On April 26, 1976 Sammartino was in a match against Stan Hansen. Hansen botched a body slam and ended up dropping Sammartino on his head. He fractured his vertebrae during this match. Sammartino had a rematch against Hansen two months later on June 25, 1976. The rumor for the quick recovery was that Vince McMahon Sr. thought the WWWF was going under, so he had Bruno return from injury early.
After suffering a broken neck, Sammartino informed McMahon that he wanted to be done with holding the title. McMahon scheduled a fight with Superstar Billy Graham where Graham won the title in controversial fashion after he had both feet on the ropes during the pin.
Scores:
Strength: Sammartino became the first person to hold the WWWF championship twice. 10/10
Length: He held the title for 1237 days, almost three and a half years. With this reign he has held the championship for more than a decade. 10/10
Opponents: Sammartino faced many of the all time greats. These include Ivan Koloff, Freddie Blassie, Nikolai Volkoff, and Superstar Billy Graham. 10/10
Matches: He also had many memorable matches including a cage match against Ivan Koloff and a Sicilian Stretcher Match against Stan Stasiak. 10/10
Final Score: 40/40=100% A
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