Sammartino On Hogan & Flair Still Wrestling, Not Entering WWE Hall of Fame
By Daniel Pena
Mar 3, 2012 - 11:44:48 AM
"The Living Legend" Bruno Sammartino appeared on Busted Open with Doug Mortman and Dave LaGreca, which airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sirius 92 and XM 207. Highlights from his interview are as follows:
The WWE Hall of Fame and Vince McMahon: "Okay, first of all, lets talk about the Hall of Fame. You see what people dont understand about this Hall of Fame, they say that Im being stubborn now. Thats not true. The first year he came out with the Hall of Fame, they totally ignored me like I didnt exist. They named certain peopleI dont even remember who they inducted firstbut they got these people. I was never even mentioned because that was McMahonin my opinionthat was his way of showing me that you dont mean nothing to us or youre out, youre finished, youre a has-been. OK. But what happened was, it backfired on him because people called, wrote in, all kinds of stuff like how the heck could you call that Hall of Fame? Heres a guy whos World Champion for almost twelve years. Sold out the Garden more times than all these blah blah blah, and hes not in Hall of Fame It was because I guess he didnt expect that kind of reaction.
"And after that a few years later, his attorney contacted me (Jerry McDevitt) and tried to talk me to go into it, and I said no, that I was not interested in it. I said first of all because I dont believe I had part of that part of the wrestling. I was in the WWWF, not the WWF that he had which he transformed into something completely different from the wrestling that I had been involved with, number one. And I said so I dont want no part of that Hall of Fame. And then also because,, when people say to methe few, because most people understood mebut those who didnt, I would ask them, Id say If you re gonna go to this Hall of Fame, would you want to take your kids or whatever, tell me, where do you take them? I said, dont you get it? This is strictly a marketing gimmick; this is no Hall of Fame! Wheres the building? Wheres the place that people can go to and see, what? And where does a guy likeeh, whats his name[Drew] Carey, a show host belonging to a wrestling Hall of Fame, or Refrigerator Perry or Pete Rose or Bob Uecker These guys were all great guys and Im not against any of them. They were all great at what they did, but what do they have to do with wrestling? So to me, Id be embarrassed! I wouldnt want any part of that kind of a Hall of Fame. And as far as McMahon and I repairing our relationship, I dont think its possible. I made it myself very very clear from the beginning: I totally disagree and went against whats he done to wrestling. "
Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan still wrestling: "Nah, I find it almost disgusting. Let me tell you something real quickly: When I was wrestling, I made a promise to myself that I would get out of that and retire, regardless whether I could afford to or not. When I didnt feel that I could be on top anymore. In other words, where I wasnt getting the job done, where I wasnt drawing the crowds, and so forth. And I always paid close attention to every place I wrestled to see what the crowds wants and so forth. And I wanted to get out before it got bad, and I did. When I got out, we were selling out everywhere. Im sure youre familiar with the program I did with Larry Zbyszko; we sold out everything. And thats when I retired. I retired right after that, thats where I wanted to go out. This guy should have been out twenty years ago. To me its a shame, its a disgrace, no self-respect, no shame, no nothing, becausehe should be ashamed!because he looks like hell and he just dont belong! He just dont belong. [Hulk] Hogans the same thing for gods sakes! Recently in England he had the audacity to say that he drew the house in Shea Stadium where Zbyszko and I sold out! (Zybszko and I, we sell out everywhere!) He was on the card, he takes credit for that house. Yet, he and André [the Giant], right after that show they went to, uhwhats that arena in White Plains, New Yorkits holds four thousand, they only drew eleven hundred people. But as far as wrestling, like I said, he stunk then and he still has the audacity to go in the ring today once in a while. I dont understand it, why these guys do that. Im sure financially they must be okay cause they were in it when the big money came into it. So I dont know if they have no shame or what. But to watch these guys I never watch wrestling, but I watched a couple times because friends call me up and say, hey you wanna see Hogan hes gonna be in the ring, or Flair. And I look and I shake my head and I say, My god these people have no shame, no self-respect, no pride, nothing."
Kurt Angle: "Kurt Anglewe all know, right, he was an Olympian and a gold medalistbut even in the ring as he made the transition from amateur to professional, the guy can do some phenomenal, good, solid stuff. And hes got that background so nobody can question or deny that hes a wrestler. Yeah, I wish there were more Kurt Angles in there. And even if not in his caliber, in my day there were a lot of guys who were not Olympic champions or anything like that but they were great wrestlers in that ring. And its gone. They knewas we put itthey knew how to tell a story. They knew how to make this match, if theres gonna be a return match to where the people couldnt wait for that return match to come. Because these were great talent, they knew what they were doing in the ring, they looked good, they werent a bunch of steroid freaks, but they were genuinely big guys who knew how to wrestle who were athletic. And now its a completely different thing. Yeah, Kurt Angle is one of the greats and too bad there arent more of him."
http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/Sam..._Wrestling_Not_Entering_WWE_Hall_of_Fame.html
So Bruno tell me how you REALLY Feel??
