Ok. First off, the WWWF was not a 'regional' promotion. When Capitol Wrestling split from the NWA it took with it the NWA's large territory. McMahon Sr wanted his new company too garner the same kind of respected that at the time was afforded to the AWA and NWA so once he established Sammartino as champ he sent him out to defend the title and represent the company all over the country and world.
The WWWF absolutely was a regional promotion... just like every other territory in the territory days. Why do you think it was such a big deal when Vince JR went National in the 80's, and why do you think Junior waited until after his father had died to do it? Because Vince Sr was a traditionalist and honored the territorial lines.
Also, the WWWF actually returned to the NWA in the 70's in case you weren't aware, and judging by your comment on taking the NWA's 'large territory', I don't believe you are. The NWA was a collection of multiple territories, each of which had their own defined area where they could promote exclusively. The WWWF had the large and lucrative North East. That's it.
Yes you are right that Senior would send his champ out to other promoters shows as an attraction... just like he would bring in others champs as his own attractions. Part of the benefit of being in the NWA. I checked though, and I only ever saw one Bruno match in Florida. A 1975 battle with Professor Toru Tanaka. I wouldn't doubt there were more... but obviously not a lot more. Bruno was most likely to be working on the WEST coast or Japan when he wasn't doing WWWF dates. Florida simply wasn't a place he went to.
Sammartino would defend in the northeast from Maryland up to New England. He then would wrestle in Eastern Canada for Frank Tunney. He wrestled in the Midwest for Bruiser's WWA and in Gagne's AWA. He wrestled in Mexico, up into western Canada, over to Australia, then onto Japan and finally back home to start the process again. It is true he did not hit as many smaller territories as Race, but to call the WWWF WORLD Championship a regional title is just ignorant.
But he rarely ever went to Florida... and in a match where there has to be a winner, and his opponent is someone that will come back on a regular basis, and is important to the territory... it only makes sense to book Bruno to lose.
And yes, while it was one of the most important titles because the WWWF was one of the richest territories... the simple truth is that it was really just a regional title. PWI actually even stripped them of their 'World title' status for years at one point.
Second, ever one keeps mentioning Sammartinos first run but fail to remember he had a second run that last 3 1/2 years. His second run almost matches all 8 of Race's runs.
I wouldn't really compare the two. If Bruno had to do the type of travel that Race did as NWA champ, he'd have had a lot of shorter reigns as well.
Third, Sammartino did brawl a lot but he was also a good holds wrestler. He held the title for 11 years. you cannot say with a straight face that for that time he phoned it in and wrestled lazy matches. He often wrestled 60 minute matches and had a 73 minute curfew draw against Pedro Moralas. He sold out Madison Square Garden more then any man ever. He was so over and in demand that in 1965 he was picked to go over Thesz to win the NWA Title. That means the NWA wanted him bad enough to let another promotions champ go over their own. [/quote]
Yes they did and rightfully so. Bruno was a huge star and the NWA recognized that. Funny thing about you bringing up 1965 and the NWA title... is a couple of things:
A) The agreement wasn't that Bruno would be a permanent champion. He would flip the title back to Thesz at a later date. It was more a case of Bruno being Kerry Von Erich to Thesz's Ric Flair
B) The idea was born as much from the fact that the NWA wanted a piece of New York again. They wanted the WWWF back in the fold, which they eventually got anyways
C) The reason Bruno changed his mind on it was that he saw the type of schedule he'd have to work as NWA champ... the same schedule that Race did for most of the 70's, and said no. He knew he wouldn't be able to handle that type of schedule
Lets talk about his one loss. he lost to Billy Graham in Philadelphia. In the match Sammartino dominated and bloodied Graham. He kicked Graham so hard that Graham flew threw the ropes into the door and fell all the way to the floor. That was Sammartino's loss. Know how he won all but one cage match? He beat his opponent so badly they could not get up, slowly walked to the door, played to the crowd, turned and flipped his opponent off and then left calmly through the door. And while he may have never wrestled in Florida, are you really going to say that location trumps total domination of a match type? That's silly.
Sammartino wins, and if you are honest it is really not even close.
Yeah I do say match location matters most, because the match type is meaningless. If you're looking at this from a kayfabe, marks perspective, then sure a cage match against Bruno is a hard win, but that's not how I'm looking at it.
As I've already said, Bruno wasn't going to be back in Florida later on to capitalize on this win. Race however will be. Normally if I have these two, I book them to a draw (which is exactly what happened when they did meet up). But I can't do that here, so I have to think about what's best for my territory going forward.
Do I let Bruno go over? Which I can't capitalize on since he's a one and done deal? Or do I let Race get the big win, which I can use to draw a full house when Race does come back a short while later?
The fact that it's in a cage does mean I can make a bigger deal of Bruno losing, and build Race stronger for the future because Race beats Bruno in his signature match. It's a golden opportunity for a booker and one I take in a second.
Race wins, and if you look at everything from a promoters perspective (the guy actually deciding the wins and losses), and not a kayfabe marks perspective... it isn't even close.
