The following match is scheduled for one fall. The match is held in Los Angeles, California and is a Round of 32 matchup. All seeds represent overall tournament seeding.
#13 "Macho Man" Randy Savage vs. #20 Bruno Sammartino
The discussion period will last for two days, followed by two days for voting. You may vote for whomever you feel deserves to win this match. Please post your reasons below if you wish.
This is a tough match to call, because both of these men have had very different careers. On the one hand, you have a pop culture icon like Randy Savage, who you could always rely on to sell a great match, both with his promo work and in the ring. On the other, you have the man who had not one, but two of the greatest reigns with the WWF championship in a time period where the WWF was not mainstream, but growing in popularity, in large part because of Bruno's work, consistently selling out Madison Square Garden and beating virtually every top bad guy in the industry at the time. When he lost the title the first time to Koloff, it brought the audience to not only tears, but to a near riotous state.
Savage has his advantages over Bruno, like mainstream appeal, promos and in-ring work, but to me, those are superficial in determining either which one would win a match against one another in their respective primes. Savage, even during his own great title run, always played second fiddle to Hulk Hogan. Of course, being second to Hulk Hogan is worthy of huge praise in of itself, but Bruno was the top dog, and the man who established the baseplate for the WWF to explode into the 80's, was a dominant performer, and his status as top dog during his prime was never in question. Both men are legends, but Bruno really is in the same league as Hogan, Thesz and Austin, my personal wrestling Rushmore.
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I think this is a pretty easy victory for Bruno. Vince coerced Bruno back for another run during the 1980's, because Bruno could still draw sell out crowds in places like New York, Boston, and Pittsburgh. Randy Savage was one of the guys he feuded with. Over the IC title no less. Randy never got a pin fall victory over Bruno. Bruno won just about all their matches via DQ. Like this one...
Bruno was 52 years old at that point, and was 7 months away from retirement. Savage was in his prime, and was just over a year from winning the world title. And Bruno spent more time on the offensive than defensive. At times he completely dominated. To the point where Savage had to force a DQ. Here's another.
Same thing. Savage got his ass beat. And likely would have lost if Bundy hadn't of intervened. Now again, these matches happened against old man Bruno at the end of his career. Can you imagine Savage going up against a prime Bruno during the 1960's, when he was in much better shape and rarely ever lost?
Success wise, Bruno had everything over Savage. He was champion longer, drew more money, was more important to the growth and prosperity of the WWE. And wrestling as a whole. He was one of the reasons why the WWE was so financially successful back then. Of course, Savage was flashier, but Bruno didn't need to be flashy. Fans liked him because he was a badass and an asskicker. And that's all he needed to be.
Vote Sammartino.
I can completely understand why people would vote for Sammartino - he was a monster of his day and by far the most important person in getting what is now the biggest wrestling company in history off the ground. However, he was still a territorial wrestler and the fact he was a megastar in the north east is completely irrelevant when he's wrestling in California. Savage wrestled for the first truly global company and was a world champion there. He then went and wrestled for the second truly global company and was a champion there too. Sammartino exploiting his popularity with a local audience in order to progress the career of his son (which is what the matches and runs that Echelon is referring too were really about) and ultimately fail to win the title is not relevant when comparing their careers. Sammartino may be the biggest regional star ever, Savage was one of the biggest stars in the world. In California, Savage would win.
Your comment would have more merit Tasty, if Sammartino hadn't wrestled the globe and all over the United States. Which he did. Bruno wrestled in San Francisco and Los Angeles a number of times, and was quite well known there. In fact the whole reason why Vince Sr. blackballed him is that Bruno chose to honor an agreement that he had with Roy Shire, who promoted out of San Francisco. Location really doesn't make a difference.Originally Posted by Gazprom
Savage was a lot more interesting, more charismatic and more fun to watch. He was faster, more athletic and a better technician who I think would give Sammartino a hard bout but I still think he loses to Sammartino.
Sammartino was THE guy in the WWE during the 60s and much of the 70s. Sammartino's 1st run as WWE Champion, or WWWF Champion or whatever name you wish to use, is the longest undisputed World Championship run in pro wrestling history and he defeated many of the biggest stars of his day to remain champion. Savage, while a mega star, was always playing second fiddle to Hulk Hogan whether it was in the WWE or WCW, even during the times Savage was running around with a World Championship around his waist. Sammartino was also a freakish powerhouse, even among most notable wrestling powerhouses; Sammartino set the world record for the bench press in 1959 with 565 lbs. and this was without the benefit of any sort of special equipment or performance enhancing drugs. Even today, without the use of said equipment, there are, comparatively speaking, only a handful of people in the world who can lift more than that even juiced outta their minds.
I can't gripe at anyone who picks Savage, especially if you're voting with your heart instead of your head, but I just don't see it happening.
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Bruno Sammartino is dull. He was a people's champion in the North East who was chosen based on his look and ethnic background and was the king there, wrestling once a month and holding onto what is now the biggest world's championship in wrestling. His legacy is well known and explored because he was the top star in the federation that went on to become the modern-day WWE.
Randy Savage is exciting. He was clearly the second-biggest star in his day, but was unquestionably the best all-round performer of his generation. His reach exceeded Sammartino's at his peak and his capacity to compete (on a much heavier schedule) was no doubt greater. Five star matches in front of 93,000 people and lengthy reigns with championships that became a hot potatoes during his era cement him as an utter legend, not to mention the emotional impact of his separation and reunion with Elizabeth, or indeed his (sometimes) stellar work in WCW.
Yaz liked this post
Have to go with Savage here. Savage quite possibly is the most complete wrestler of all time. Size, speed, agility, charisma...he was the prototype for a professional wrestler.
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