Bruno Sammartino: An Autobiography of Wrestling’s Living Legend Review

Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Bruno Sammartino: An Autobiography of Wrestling's Living Legend
By Bruno Sammartino with Bob Michelucci & Paul McCollough
Edited by Brian Thompson
Published by Rasslin Riot Online
Released on November 18, 2008
274 Pages (Paperback)
Available in Paperback

If you know your wrestling history, you know that Bruno Sammartino held the WWWF Championship from 1963 to 1971 and again from 1973 until 1977 and that he sold out Madison Square Garden an astounding 187 times. Unfortunately, many newer wrestling fans don't know much more than that about him. Sammartino grew up in a small Italian village ravaged by World War II. After the war, his family emigrated to the United States. From there, it would take a lot of hard work, but Bruno Sammartino would become one of the biggest stars wrestling has ever seen.

Bruno Sammartino: An Autobiography of Wrestling's Living Legend was originally published in 1990 and re-released in 2008, thus pre-dating the majority of the wrestling books on the market. It's filled with amazing stories about living through the war, being a sickly child, making it to the United States and growing up in Pittsburgh, weightlifting accomplishments, wrestling a monkey, starting out in wrestling and experiencing the politics, finally getting a chance with Frank Tunney in Toronto, how Vince McMahon Sr. took him back, winning the WWWF Championship and his career as a superstar as well as his retirement. Bruno is not known to be one to hold back on his opinions and this is no exception. He comes across meaning what he says. However, he does maintain some kayfabe in that he talks about wrestling as if it's a legitimate contest. He doesn't outright say it's all legit, but he doesn't break kayfabe either. Perhaps this is due to the book being written in an era where the business wasn't so open.

Bruno Sammartino: An Autobiography of Wrestling's Living Legend is not the best wrestling autobiography ever written, but then again, it had few standards to live up to for its time. That's not to say it's not worth reading - Bruno's stories are amazing to the point where you don't even need to be a wrestling fan to enjoy the book. It's one of the few wrestling books that would make an excellent movie as well.

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