Houston Region, Montreal Subregion:Second Round:(10)Bruno Sammartinovs.(7)Harley Race

[klunderbunker]

The following contest is a Montreal round match in the Houston Region.

This match takes place in the Bell Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

#10 Bruno Sammartino

Vs.

#7 Harley Race

This contest is one fall with a 20 minute time limit. The match will take place in a 16 x 16 ring with no ramp leading to it. Any traditional managers for either competitor will be allowed at ringside.

As for voting, vote for who you think would win this match based on the criteria you choose. Some suggestions would be (not limited to): in ring ability, overall skill, their level of influence at the highest point in their career, ability to connect with the crowd, experience in major matches or simply personal preference etc.

The most votes in the voting period wins and in the case of a tie, the most written votes wins. There is one written vote per user, meaning if a poster make ten posts saying Bret should win that will count as a single vote. In the event of a second tie, both men are ELIMINATED, no questions asked. Only winners advance.

Voting is open for four days and all posts must be non-spam.​

 

[8thwotwATG]

I so wanted Bruno to go on in this tourney, but I couldn't come up with enough reasons for him to get past Harley Race. As over as Bruno was during his prime years, and despite his importance and legacy to the WWE, This is the 7 time NWA champion he's facing, a legitimately dangerous shoot wrestler if need be and one of the toughest men ever to set foot in the ring. This would still be a fairly interesting matchup, with Bruno's unreal power matched up against the guile, technical ability and sheer toughness of Race. Kayfabe wise, this may have been booked w/Bruno knocking around Race with his brawling and power moves, but ultimately, Races' superior wrestling skill and ring smarts would get him the win here in a hard fought, but clean win that goes close to the time limit. Tough draw for the living legend here.

 

[Tastycles]

It's close, and it was hard to decide, but in the end I went with Race. A win either way here would be fair, but my justification is this: Race's organisation was much more far reaching than Sammartino's. Sammartino's popularity in the North Eastern United States was far greater than Race's anywhere, but over the whole country, and beyond. On that basis, I think he'd win a match between the two that happened outside of the old WWWF territory.

 

[jmt225]

Wow... this is like the ultimate 1970's dream match, huh?

Impossible to pick. I respect both to the absolute fullest, and have zero clue who would win a kayfabe match, especially with Montreal as the setting. If the match were in a place like New York or Pittsburgh, then Sammartino would have the edge, and if the match took place in an NWA town, then Race would have an advantage. But in Montreal? Talk about a neutral setting.

My vote is leaning more towards Race since I've seen more of his work, and since I think he was superior to Sammartino when it came to promos, but meh.. I'm still unsure. I think I'm just going to withhold my vote for now and wait and see what post can persuade me.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Two old school legends and both of them huge stars.

Bruno Sammartino was a legit powerhouse. He wasn't much of a technical wrestler but the man was freakishly strong in his day. For a very long time, he was THE guy in Vince Sr.'s company and is the longest reigning World Champion in pro wrestling history.

Harley Race was a legit tough guy with fine technical ability. He was never really a great athlete or anything but you don't become an 8 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion by accident. Race had the goods and I don't think anybody can seriously dispute that.

Race's overall success in wrestling was more widespread than Sammartino's. While Sammartino did have success in other companies, the WWWF was where he truly shined. As one would imagine, Bruno was a huge draw in areas with a large Italian American population. To be NWA World Heavyweight Champion during the 60s and 70s, you were more or less accepted overall as THE best and you very much had to be passionate about it what with all the extensive traveling and touring that the NWA champ had to endure.

Outside of the WWWF territory, Race has a much better shot of winning against Sammartino. Witin that territory, however, it's just not happening. Race was better in the ring than Sammartino and I think he had the skill to eventually get past Sammartino's strength.

I'm giving the edge to Harley Race.

 

[Dark Horse]

My personal choice here has got to be Bruno Sammartino. He and Harley Race actually fought to a draw once, so you could go either way if you wanted.

Looking at Bruno's career, he was on another level. You could say he was the first Hulk Hogan in the WWWF and Capitol Wrestling. Not only that, he fought all the way into the late 80's to beat guys like Roddy Piper, Brutus Beefcake, Adrian Adonis, Hercules, Paul Orndorff, Honky Tonk Man, and Randy Savage.

Add to that list of legends: Buddy Rogers, Killer Kowalski, Larry Zbyszko, George Steele, Lou Thesz, Bill Watts, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik, Freddie Blassie, Waldo Von Erich, Ivan Koloff, Antonio Inoki, Bruiser Brody, Billy Graham, on and on and on you could go with different names and accomplishments. This is being modest.

I think Bruno may have had a bigger historical relevence looking at how broad his time spans, how strong he was at the gate during that time, how dominant he was in competition, length of reigns, etc.... This man just did it all it seems. He wrestled all over the world, completely ruled the north, and consistently sold out arenas everywhere he went.

If you want to keep it to strictly what each man brings to the ring physically, I think Bruno has the edge here as well. I think ol' Harley would be in for a big of a surprise when Bruno got a hold of him. Take into account as well that Bruno was no slouch as a technical wrestler either. He could mat wrestle with Race all day, and it could go all day with his level of stamina(not to count out the degree of Race's stamina which is at least on par). Noting however that Sammartino was known to be in great shape even in his 50's I think he edges this category out.The next thing to factor in is pure toughness and I don't see Race being TOUGHER than Sammartino either. This is a guy who people routinely would shoot on, and he was known to deal with that easily if Race wanted to go that route too.

When comparing the two I just don't see any area that where Race is ahead of Sammartino. He may have been a better speaker but that doesn't determine the outcome of the match. In all the areas where it counts you have to give Sammartino the edge.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Two old school legends and both of them huge stars.

Bruno Sammartino was a legit powerhouse. He wasn't much of a technical wrestler but the man was freakishly strong in his day. For a very long time, he was THE guy in Vince Sr.'s company and is the longest reigning World Champion in pro wrestling history.

Harley Race was a legit tough guy with fine technical ability. He was never really a great athlete or anything but you don't become an 8 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion by accident. Race had the goods and I don't think anybody can seriously dispute that.

Race's overall success in wrestling was more widespread than Sammartino's. While Sammartino did have success in other companies, the WWWF was where he truly shined. As one would imagine, Bruno was a huge draw in areas with a large Italian American population. To be NWA World Heavyweight Champion during the 60s and 70s, you were more or less accepted overall as THE best and you very much had to be passionate about it what with all the extensive traveling and touring that the NWA champ had to endure.

Outside of the WWWF territory, Race has a much better shot of winning against Sammartino. Witin that territory, however, it's just not happening. Race was better in the ring than Sammartino and I think he had the skill to eventually get past Sammartino's strength.

I'm giving the edge to Harley Race.

Thanks Jack, saves me some typing. When Race and Sammartino were dominating, the AWA, NWA and WWWF had a reasonable working relationship and it was an occasional occurrence that the Champions from these rivals would meet but, to my knowledge, these were always booked to make the companies they represented look equal.

Now when Vince Jnr took over the WWF, he raided top talent from the NWA and AWA and his company was regarded as the yard stick. In the '60s and '70s though, the NWA was regarded as the most prestigious.

As such, I've always given the legacy edge to Race despite (or possibly because) of Sammartino's two marathon reigns. In reality this one screamed time limit draw (20 minutes is way to short for these gladiators) but Harley just sneaks the 123 in as the klaxon sounds.