Did he ever wrestle in the UK for any of the English promoters, only 1 night in Nottingham somebody said to me why does'nt Kendo take on Bruno Sanmartino after Kendo had given somebody a beating
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Unknown member
Apr 03, 2023
Then in 1988 the WWF special on ITV included Ultimate Warrior vs Harley Race with some blurb in TVTimes saying "Race, known as the King, is a former World champion..." You can bet Vince McMahon was DELIGHTED with this mention of the NWA World title in publicity for a WWF invasion of the UK.
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Unknown member
Apr 03, 2023
The AWA also got namechecked in Britain - Billy Robinson in his TV match with Lee Bronson in 1978 was called the leading contender to the World Heavyweight Title. No prizes for guessing which version of the title was inferred there.
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Unknown member
Apr 02, 2023
Most likely your man in Nottingham had either seen Bruno vs Stan Hansen (billed as Hors Hoffman for no good reason over here) on CCTV in summer '76 live from Shea Stadium while waiting for Ali vs Inoki to come on, or else some months later he bought TV Times from Jan 77 with an interview with George Kidd with a list of all the Wrestling Champions with Bruno listed as World Heavyweight Champion.
Or else maybe he had read some imported American mags or had a penpal. Who knows?
There is/was an interview with Bruno on Youtube which i have previously mentioned on another thread on "Heritage" where he stated that while wrestling in Japan against Antonio Inoki the Japanese star tried to shoot on him while wrestling in a bout for Giant Baba's promotion. Sammartino states he knew what Inoki was up to as Inoki was about to jump ship and form his own promotion with Karl Gotch. Bruno believed Inoki and Gotch had colluded to try and make him along with Baba's promotion look bad before leaving and forming their own organisation. This backfired as Sammartino realised what was happening in the ring and was too strong for Inoki. He states he never trusted Inoki or Gotch again.
There's definitely photos of him in Italy but not in wrestling garb, like you say a fundraiser would make perfect sense, an appearance without wrestling.
Sanmartino was a knock-off promoted by jack pfeiffer, he also promoted at various times, lou kesz(thesz), hobo(bobo) brazil and buddy roberts(rogers). The legitimate sammartino made some trips to japan, and possibly to italy. He was all show with no legitimate ability so McMahon kept him pretty close lest he was shot on and the title taken
Then in 1988 the WWF special on ITV included Ultimate Warrior vs Harley Race with some blurb in TVTimes saying "Race, known as the King, is a former World champion..." You can bet Vince McMahon was DELIGHTED with this mention of the NWA World title in publicity for a WWF invasion of the UK.
The AWA also got namechecked in Britain - Billy Robinson in his TV match with Lee Bronson in 1978 was called the leading contender to the World Heavyweight Title. No prizes for guessing which version of the title was inferred there.
Most likely your man in Nottingham had either seen Bruno vs Stan Hansen (billed as Hors Hoffman for no good reason over here) on CCTV in summer '76 live from Shea Stadium while waiting for Ali vs Inoki to come on, or else some months later he bought TV Times from Jan 77 with an interview with George Kidd with a list of all the Wrestling Champions with Bruno listed as World Heavyweight Champion.
Or else maybe he had read some imported American mags or had a penpal. Who knows?
There is/was an interview with Bruno on Youtube which i have previously mentioned on another thread on "Heritage" where he stated that while wrestling in Japan against Antonio Inoki the Japanese star tried to shoot on him while wrestling in a bout for Giant Baba's promotion. Sammartino states he knew what Inoki was up to as Inoki was about to jump ship and form his own promotion with Karl Gotch. Bruno believed Inoki and Gotch had colluded to try and make him along with Baba's promotion look bad before leaving and forming their own organisation. This backfired as Sammartino realised what was happening in the ring and was too strong for Inoki. He states he never trusted Inoki or Gotch again.
He did visit Japan late in his career around 1980ish but I cannot did any matches in Italy.
Sanmartino was a knock-off promoted by jack pfeiffer, he also promoted at various times, lou kesz(thesz), hobo(bobo) brazil and buddy roberts(rogers). The legitimate sammartino made some trips to japan, and possibly to italy. He was all show with no legitimate ability so McMahon kept him pretty close lest he was shot on and the title taken
Bruno Sammartino got more money for 1 nights work in the USA than he would have got in 1month over here.Hence he never came to Europe,or the UK
Bruno Sammartino never wrestled a match in this country or anywhere in Europe as far as I can see. His career kept him in the USA and Canada.