Bruno Sammartino Quotes

Stan Hansen was a different ballgame. I broke my neck wrestling him in Madison Square Garden. I spent a month in the hospital and for a while it was touch and go because the doctors told me I came within a millimeter of being paralyzed from the neck down.

She was absolutely my hero. She would do without if she could help somebody else. My mom showed the courage of the lion to keep her kids alive, and the sacrifices she made were incredible. I don’t know if I would have been man enough to do what she did.

I never had a gimmick. All I had was a pair of boots and a pair of tights.

I am not a guy who can write speeches and when I speak I speak from the heart, I just say what I feel and what I believe in.

Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, I saw many operas in New York and Philadelphia. When people found out about that, they were always shocked, because I was a professional wrestler. Why are athletes any different than any other profession? People have many other interests.

We didn’t have shoes until we came over to America.

There were promises made to me as far as if I became a professional wrestler, that I was going to be given every opportunity to be a headliner… and that’s the only reason why I accepted.

Wrestling is how I made my living and supported my family, but it’s over. I don’t want anything to do with it anymore.

The greatest gift a man can have is to have an operatic voice.

In my day, I, myself, in my prime, in the late-’50s-mid-’70s I was about 270-275. After I broke my neck and I was in the hospital for a month or so, I dropped the weight to about 250 and I kept that weight until I retired.

I was never going to do anything that would have brought shame to my family. I owed too much, and I wanted them to be proud to say that they were Bruno Sammartino’s mother and father.

I held the title for almost eight years the first time and then I lost it at the Garden. But, then I came back and took it again for another four years.

In Argentina, in Brazil, I remember going to Australia, all the trips I did in Japan, you know how they’d advertise me? ‘From Madison Square Garden, Bruno Sammartino.’

I’m an old-school guy.

When you’re in sports, you have such a limited time and then, it’s all over with, finished.

Honestly, when I left the business, in time, some people might remember you and some might say they knew the name. But, people move on and there are new interests and all kinds of different things go on all the time. So, it surprised me how people have not forgotten.

Wrestling isn’t looked upon like the other sports of football, baseball, basketball and hockey.

I lost a brother and a sister, and I came down with rheumatic fever.

With Paul Levesque and the conversations we have had I’ve found him to be a straight shooter and everything he said with me he kept his word 100%.

I’m so grateful to America and my hometown of Pittsburgh. I love my city. I’m proud of being from here.

I complained about the gimmicks. All the nonsense and garbage. After a while I just said I would not wrestle with the guys wearing masks, or guys that had some get-up on. It was demeaning. I refuse to go onto the mat against a Christmas tree.

They call me ‘The Maniac‘ as far as training goes. I’m a fanatic. I run 10 miles every day and I train three hours every other day with barbells. Nobody trains that hard. And that’s not bragging.

The things that Billy Graham says, I really have no idea why he says them. He talks about things without really knowing all the facts. I just think there’s something wrong with the man.

In talking to Paul Levesque, I made it clear, I’ve had issues with WWE and wrestling in general, because there were other organizations. I didn’t like the direction they had taken. It was bothersome to me.

I never wrestled for the money or the fame. I just wanted to be able to take care of my family. I wanted to be able to educate my children. I wanted them to have it better than I did.

Anybody who sees me in person will see the worst cauliflower ears I think you have ever seen.

I would have loved to sing opera, but I have no voice. I used to sing along with records.

My father bought a house in Panther Hollow. We were the first Italians in the neighborhood.

I would be a fool to tell you that there was no fixing. You ask if wrestling is for real? Well, I think my own body answers that question.

They said Babe Ruth built Yankee Stadium and Bruno Sammartino built the Garden. It always was my favorite place.

I didn’t care for Steve Austin because of his mouth. He was a very, very vulgar individual and anybody who is like that I can never be a fan of. So, any of his positives were overshadowed by the negatives.

The only thing I like about doing autograph shows is that the people who used to be fans are so wonderful. They’ll come over and give such wonderful compliments.

I’ve had 10 major operations. Four back surgeries. A hip replacement. A broken neck… But I consider myself lucky. I keep thinking after all these surgeries, my luck is going to run out.

After I retired, I spent a quarter of a century in the business, and when I retired and a new regime took over, Vince McMahon Jr. and that, and in the beginning I went back to help out. I color commentated with him, but then I started to see things that were disturbing to me.

Ivan Koloff was great. I had a lot of great matches with him.

Buddy Rogers and I never liked each other to be honest, however I take nothing away from him.

We lived off the land in Italy.

I knew a little bit about training and what it took to transform your body into something impressive looking.

When it came to the Hall of Fame, I’ve been very critical of the direction they’ve taken and I’d feel like a hypocrite if I just accepted this Hall of Fame while I’m so against what they’re doing.

If I were to tell you that my day was all pure wrestling, I wouldn’t be honest with you. Because there were crooked promoters. There were a lot of guys that knew that they couldn’t even compete with other guys. But to suggest that every match was like that wouldn’t be true.

In every city, I had my favorite place. In Baltimore, it was Sabatino’s.

Franco Corelli is my favorite tenor.

I think people saw me as someone who was real, and not somebody subject to the criticism and ridicule given to my profession.

Wrestling was my way of making a living. I did the very best I could.