What if Bruno Sammartino vs Hulk Hogan was Wrestlemania 3?

[thebarber]

I know this will upset alot of purists, but this is a what if scenarion.

We all know the back story by now of Andre being in poor physical condition and Vince having to beg Andre to return for the Mania 3 match against Hogan which has tood the test of time as being an iconic moment.
But what if Vince had been able to have Bruno Sammartino vs Hulk Hogan headline Wrestlemania 3?
The story writes itself. Vinces golden goose, well his father's who had monster title reign in 1963-1971 and again in the latter 70s for another 3 years, vs Vinces current golden goose, current three year champion and the face of his new rock n wrestling push into the mainstream. 12 months earlier Bruno wrestled in Mania 2 battle royal and appeared to be in pretty good shape for his age at the time. And he was still having matches with Randy Savage in January 1987 on the house show circuit so he could clearly still wrestle to an acceptable level. Hell Im sure he was in better shape than Andre.
I guess the questions are:
1. Does anybody buy Bruno returning at all?
2. Does anybody think Bruno could have pulled off the disgruntled former hero now heel character?
3. With his hatred for non-collegiate, non amateur wrestlers, would he have ever agreed to get in the ring with Hogan in the first place?

I dont mind if people think this is shit, uits just something I thought of after recently watching the Greatest Rivalries episoed on the network and thought what options did Vince have if Andre point blank refused? I thought the Hogan vs Orndorff had legs in it still, but doubt 93000 would have paid to see it. But Hogan vs Sammartino..............I see that selling out the Silverdome.

Thoughts?

 

[BuriedByCena]

I know this will upset older fans, but the truth is...Bruno was never mainstream or a draw. He was on top of the WWF(or WWWF/whatever) for many years, but no one cared outside of that territory. No one outside of WWF land knew who the guy was.

It wasn't until Hulk Hogan exploded and wrestling became mainstream. By that point, Bruno became a old no name loser no cared about or ever heard of for that matter. The TV audience never heard of him. So I think Bruno Vs Hulk would have stunk up the joint hard. Vince was smart to go with Hulk Vs Andre.

 

[RicSpade]

Here is the thing, could it have headlined a WM? Yes because you had Hogan vs. Bundy at WM 2, but would it have drawn 90,000 to the Silverdome? No... Sammartino and Hogan even if they built it as the longest wwf champions of their time gimmick or anything to that matter their names alone weren't drawing power there is no spectacle, the reason people wanted Hogan/Andre is because you have a 500 or 600 pound 7 foot 3 giant who was never pinned in his professional career and put against the first mega face, who many wondered if Hogan could get him down like he did guys like Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy Sammartino vs. Hogan just doesn't have the big feel to it IMHO

 

[Goldie]

1. Does anybody buy Bruno returning at all?
Bruno would have been 51 at the time of WM3... Though he still wrestled sporadically, would fans treat him as a serious threat to Hogans title? Probably not at this stage.
Andre though well past his best, was still on a full time schedule and had an unbeaten streak (in the WWE that is) going back over a decade.
Fans clearly bought Andre as a serious threat to Hogans belt given the fanfare, the PPV buy of 8% and the live gate, and of course his size!

2. Does anybody think Bruno could have pulled off the disgruntled former hero now heel character?
Bruno actually wasn't that great on the mic. He was the beloved softly spoken hero (but then again Bob Backlund was pretty convincing in 1994 as an untested heel)
Personally he may have had too much pride to actually turn heel.

3. With his hatred for non-collegiate, non amateur wrestlers, would he have ever agreed to get in the ring with Hogan in the first place?
Interesting point. There are additional storys that Bruno was already at loggerheads with Vince Jnr at the time, and was mainly working for the WWE to help further the career of his son David.
Bruno may not have respected Hogans background... and the cartoon show that wrestling was becoming at the time.

 

[HeyYo]

@BuriedByCena...... Check your facts. Bruno was an incredible, sold out draw consistently not only in Boston, New York, Philly, Pittsburgh, and Toronto, but he was also a top draw whenever he wrestled outside the East Coast area, including St.Louis and Japan.

 

[FromGlasgow]

It wasn't a secret of Sammartinos feelings towards Hogan and the WWF at the time so I couldn't see Sammartino ever agreeing to turning heel and putting Hogan over in this way, I would think he would need to do a full heel turn as Hogan vs Sammartino both as fan favourites during this time sounds boring. Bruno Sammartino in his peak was a little before my time but I enjoy watching his matches on DVD's or youtube and seems such a different style to Hogans.
Even if he did agree to everything Andre the Giant seemed such a huge unbeatable character at the time and Hogan was so over as the hero world champion that I don't think anyone would of been as successful as Andre against Hogan, Maybe Wrestlemania 4 would have been better than just having an uneventfull Hogan vs Andre rematch that went to a draw.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I know this will upset older fans, but the truth is...Bruno was never mainstream or a draw.

Wrestling was a different animal in those days. All they had were the regional territories, and with no social media & all that stuff, there's no way to compare Bruno's impact against Hogan's, although it sure would have been interesting to see how Bruno might have been regarded if he had the tools available to Hogan.

But to claim Bruno wasn't mainstream isn't right. In the northeastern portion of the US, everyone knew who he was....little old Italian grandmothers in Brooklyn who had never seen wrestling match in their lives knew the name Bruno Sammartino.

That said, with his refusal to bend his straight-laced beliefs in whom he should be portraying as a pro wrestling character, I can't see Bruno ever agreeing to play the bad guy against Hogan at WMIII. Some pro wrestlers talk about not being role models for people; Bruno sure wasn't one of them. He saw himself as a hero and lived the lifestyle to the fullest; you had to admire his convictions even while scorning the stubbornness that made him turn away from the "sport" that made him famous.....and I mourn for all the lost years he could have been a legend/ambassador for pro wrestling while maintaining an honored spot in WWE, which is something that came about only in the past couple years. What a shame.

But at WMIII, you needed a bad guy vs. good guy for the main event; it's been the tried & true course of pro wrestling for decades and decades. Hogan had to be the good guy; he was as protective of his own image as anyone who ever performed in the ring.....and Bruno wasn't about to disappoint the kiddies by playing the heel against Hogan. I don't know what Bruno thought of Hogan's ring persona, but I just can't see how the whole thing would translate to a match between the two at the biggest venue in sports entertainment.

It's too bad, though....even at that time, Bruno was in better shape than Andre, and it would have been amazing to see the biggest icon of the 60's and 70's go up against the man of the 80's.

 

[bioshock]

It could of worked but Bruno would of had to turn heel, and been built up as a major face in the company at least 3-6 months prior to turning heel in 1987 like Andre did. I think Bruno would of had to of been pushed in the NY market where most of his fan base was, so I think it all could of worked out. Lets not forget WM2 might of been some what of a mess, but the WWF then drew about 60,000 I think total for the 3 events and that was 3 different cards, so imagine putting all that talent on one big show like they did for WM3 and WM3 was at a time of huge growth for WWF. They were nothing but on the up and up, so I think WWF would of drew for WM3 no matter.

Lets not forget Michigan was good market for wrestling, it still is a strong wrestling market in the Detroit area, and its not a long drive for the NY, Chicago area either.

 

[thebarber]

good discussion, I was actually expecting to cop abuse over this topic.

 

[FlairFan2003]

To say Bruno was a "territorial" talent was misleading. Fact is, before Cable became common in US homes and TBS was beaming WCW Sat Night into the majority of living rooms nationwide EVERYONE was a "territorial" talent. Likewise, WWE was the first one actively promoting their product via syndication on local TV in markets outside it's core area. 1984-1986 was when guys like Hogan, Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Paul Orndorff, all "territorial" talents finally became "NATIONAL DRAWS".

Andre was a territorial talent, although he had stints in both the NWA & WWE at various times he was well known in WWE territories. He wasn't as well known outside the WWE core areas. INSIDE WWE's core Bruno wasn't just a draw, he was legendary. He was the guy who they basically built the entire company around, he didn't last as World Champ, the centerpiece of the promotion, for seven straight years at one point without being extremely successful.

WWE's promotion of Andre heading into WM III, particularly his 20 year undefeated streak, educated fans watching OUSTIDE WWE about just who he was, making him a bigger star. Likewise, WWE could have done a similar thing with Bruno, showing film clips of his lengthy title runs and dominant matches. Fans outside WWE would have seen Bruno as "WWE's GREATEST CHAMPION" and remember, he was still wrestling sporadically in the early days of the national expansion and in fact had headlined and helped draw a huge crowd to Shea Stadium in just a few years earlier in 1981 vs Larry Zybysko in his teacher vs student feud. I have no doubt that WWE easily could have educated their non core fans they were gaining through expansion about the legend of Sammartino and his importance to the creation of the company and pro wrestling at large, just as they educated them about the legend of Andre and his undefeated streak.

Would Sammartino have been willing to turn heel and align himself storyline wise with Hogan's arch nemesis Bobby Heenan ? Probably not. Some guys dot change characters because they simply cant play the other side very well. Ricky Steamboat couldn't play a heel, he didn't have the charisma for it. Likewise Tullly Blanchard was too effective as the cowardly heel to ever play a hero. Others resist changing because they don't want to play the other character. Bruno was in that camp. I doubt even the promise of a huge payday would have been enough to change that.

Also, by 1987 Bruno had his falling out with Vince Jr and was already starting his lengthy series of outspoken, critical interviews about Hogan's lack of talent and Vince Jr's business practices. I think I read tone of the earliest ones in Pro Wrestling Illustrated circa 1987 or 1988. He was making appearances for WCW (at the time still the NWA, but owned by Turner, not The Crocketts) in 1989.

Therefore the question isn't whether WWE could have built a feud between Hogan & Sammartino that would have been as appealing as Hogan-Andre, I believe they easily could have (Andre essentially felt overlooked by WWE and Hogan in the World Title scene, Sammartino easily would have been upset at being replaced by Hogan as #1 guy and wanting his due respect). The question is whether Sammartino in 1987 would have been willing to work with WWE at all, especially in such a high profile capacity, making a huge pay day for Vince Jr & Hogan in the process. Assuming all of the other aspects of Bruno's career played out as they did, including his falling out with WWE and Vince Jr, then no, I don't think Bruno vs Hogan could have happened.

HOWEVER, if it had, I see no reason why promoting the most dominant champion of all time, the man who built the company, going against the most dominant star of the time, the only man potentially who could replace him as the #1 guy, wouldn't have been huge for WWE.