WWE Championship: Bruno Sammartino (2nd Reign)

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

 

WWE Championship: Bruno Sammartino

Today I am going to continue the series on WWE Championship title reigns. The next title reign on the list involves the longest title reign to date for the WWE Championship and it is held by Bruno Sammartino. I am changing my formula for this time and all future posts in this series. I will instead give the history of their title reign and then I will give my thoughts at the end on the score and then I will score them.

Bruno Sammartino: May 17, 1963-January 18, 1971

Bruno Sammartino beat Buddy Rogers on May 17, 1963 in a match that lasted 48 seconds. The rumor was that Buddy Rogers was tricked into the match and did not know he was going to lose until he was already in the ring. This started a real feud between Sammartino and Rogers. The next time the two were in a ring together was two months later in a tag team match. This match pitted Bruno Sammartino and Bobo Brazil against Buddy Rogers and Handsome Johnny Barend. Rogers and Barend won the match, but Sammartino and Rogers were not in the ring very much because of their grudge against each other. 

Sammartino eventually was suppose to have a rematch against Buddy Rogers on October 4, 1963, but Rogers retired before the match could take place. Instead he faced the new #1 contender, Gorilla Monsoon. Monsoon ended up winning the match due to a disqualification. 

In 1965, Sammartino was picked to be in a match against Lou Thesz that would put both the WWWF title and NWA title on the line. Sammartino, who already had a hectic schedule decided to opt out of the match. On September 28, 1965 he had a match with Tarzan Tyler. When he went back to his car that night he found his window smashed and somebody stole his championship belt. 

Bruno Sammartino defended his belt all over the world in Australia, United States, Spain, and Japan. He defeated such opponents as Killer Kowalski, Gene Kiniski, Gorilla Monsoon, George "The Animal" Steele, and many others. He was even presented with a private audience with the Pope. 

On January 18, 1971 he lost the championship to Ivan Koloff. After he was pinned the crowd was so shocked that they stayed perfectly silent. Fearing a riot, the referee did not even hand Koloff the belt. Sammartino stayed in the ring to try and draw the attention from Koloff. People were crying as Bruno Sammartino left the ring. 

Scores:

Strength: He retained the title all around the world and against the greatest wrestlers of that time period. 10/10 

Length: He held the title for seven years, eight months, and one day. 10/10

Opponents: Bruno Sammartino defeated some of the greatest wrestlers of that day. 10/10

Matches: He performed great in his matches while he was the champion. 10/10

Final Score: 40/40=100% A+