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carpetbeggar The Ayatollah Of Rock And Rolla 
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I always liked it when Bruno and Vince did commentating together back in the 80's. I was listening to one of the old WO radio shows from 2001 yesterday afternoon where Dave and Alvarez had Bruno on as a guest and it got me thinking about that time. I watched 'Superstars' every week then, but I can't remember for the life of me when Bruno's last week was doing color. I remember it was him, Jesse and Vince, but when was the last week he appeared? Also when was the first time they went from just Vince and Bruno to them and Jesse? Also did Bruno ever do any commentary on any of the televised house shows they did from various arenas? Did Bruno ever appear on 'Tuesday Night Titans?' Also in the 70's how was it handled when Rocca left the broadcast booth? Did they go with Rocca one week and then the next he was gone and Bruno was there, or was there a gap in between where it was just Vince? I'm a little foggy, but was the reason Rocca stopped appearing because of his death, or was he done well before then? How did The WWWF handle Rocca's death? Did they acknowledge it on their program? |
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DJP
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I think they went to a three man team of Vince, Jesse, and Bruno when they "relaunched" Championship Wrestling as Superstars in the fall of 1986. He was on the show up thru the first couple of months of 1988. I can't remember if he was gone before or after Wrestlemania IV, but I know he was still on the team in the first couple of episodes that aired after the Main Event screwjob in February because I have them on tape. After they added Jesse, Bruno basically just became a third wheel. From what I remember, Vince and Jesse would call the match and Bruno would usually stay quiet until the replay. I don't know if it was always like that. but that's how I remember it. |
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HarryG Hall Of Famer 
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carpetbeggar wrote:
I remember that period well. I was watching WWWF programming twice a week. Rocca left for a tour of the (then) new promotion WWC in Puerto Rico. Vince covered it by saying that Rocca was away on "special assignment". When Rocca didn't return for a while, Vince eventually announced his death at the start of the All Star Wrestling show. No reason was given for his death. It came as quite a shock to me. Vince carried on as a single for a period of time, and then in came Bruno, complete with his new afro toupee. LOL I liked Bruno's commentary a lot. he would often give some insights as to why mess ups were occurring. I particularly remember when a jobber kept slipping and sliding across the mat. Bruno let the audience know that the guy was wearing old style boots with leather soles, rather than the standard rubber soles. So the guy had no traction on the clean mat. |
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carpetbeggar The Ayatollah Of Rock And Rolla
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HarryG wrote: carpetbeggar wrote: So it was well after Rocca's death that Vince finally acknowledged it? |
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HarryG Hall Of Famer
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carpetbeggar wrote:HarryG wrote:carpetbeggar wrote: To the best of my recollection (which has been more and more inaccurate as of late). Rocca passed in March of 1977. I don't remember the announcement until late-April/early-May. Vince had been doing solo work for at least a month or longer by that point. |
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Papa Voo
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I did quick wiki search and it says that he died on March 15, 1977 in New York. He died of an infection. On 02/25/77, he was referee in boxing match between Andre and Monsoon. Was this a tune-up for the Wepner-Andre match? (How in the hell did this thing get promoted with two faces?) Last edited on Sun Jan 29th, 2012 10:44 pm by Papa Voo |
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Papa Voo
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Somebody said it was urinary infection and then the mighty CM clarifies that it was alcohol poisoning. http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=102196;p=0 Last edited on Sun Jan 29th, 2012 10:46 pm by Papa Voo |
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TerryWWWF
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carpetbeggar wrote:
Yes. |
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Frank
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Andre and Wepner fought 6-25-76. So the Andre-Monsoon fight was well after that. After Rocca died Vince went at it alone for sometime then around 78-79 Bruno started doing commentary. Then in the early 1980s Patterson started commentary. |
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Blazer Head Auditor, CPA 
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DJP wrote: I think they went to a three man team of Vince, Jesse, and Bruno when they "relaunched" Championship Wrestling as Superstars in the fall of 1986. Yep, you pretty much nailed. I also can't remember the exact point around Mania 4 when Bruno left. I want to say it was right afterwards. They went to the three-man team when the Superstars of Wrestling show began, which was around the first week of September in '86. I remember taping every single episode of Superstars from that first week to around May of 88 after Mania 4. Wish I would have saved those tapes. |
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beejmi THE BIG KAHUNA 
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Vince was working solo somewhere around 1978. Although he didn't have a "golden voice" Bruno did well for himself as a "color commentator" and made it feel like he was "taking you inside" when he talked about guys reputations or their experience levels. After Bruno left they tried guys like Tony Garea, Angelo Mosca and Pat Patterson in that "insider color commentary" role with only Patterson being passable at it. Never looked at the timeline that closely but I wonder if "Bruno in the broadcast booth" was advance planning to set up the Zbyszko turn. |
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stone2k
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HarryG wrote: carpetbeggar wrote: How far in advance were the tv tapings back then? |
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landy1987
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Bruno's final appearance was the March 12 Superstars, so he left just before Mania 4 |
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Count Grog Hall Of Famer 
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Bruno Sammartino As A Color Commentator? Was a bad idea |
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carpetbeggar The Ayatollah Of Rock And Rolla
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Count Grog wrote: Bruno Sammartino As A Color Commentator? I don't think it was. I liked him. |
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beejmi THE BIG KAHUNA
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Count Grog wrote: Bruno Sammartino As A Color Commentator? Doggone it Grog |
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the squared circle
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As a second generation wop, I loved Bruno, but man he was horrible as a commentator. Half the time you couldnt understand what he was saying. But, he was fun to listen to. Of course, when he attacked Macho, after Macho had attacked Steamboat....that was hilarious. |
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Taylor
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Patterson replaced Bruno until Jan 1984 so he had a pretty good run and was quite good from a nostalgic standpoint. |
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Papa Voo
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beejmi wrote: Count Grog wrote:Bruno Sammartino As A Color Commentator? I do not know if I was just used to him, but I did not mind Bruno doing commentary at all. Patterson made me nervous at times. |
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srossi Hall Of Famer
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Papa Voo wrote: beejmi wrote:Count Grog wrote:Bruno Sammartino As A Color Commentator? Why? Was he standing behind you? |
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HarryG Hall Of Famer
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Bruno > Patterson. Bruno made sense and often provided some nice insight to matches. I especially loved when Jay Strongbow would be doing his standards match (you know-opponent holds him in a "nerve hold" forever, until its time for the war dance), and Bruno would say: "I don't see why Strongbow doesn't get up and fight back, Vince. Grabbing the trapezium muscle doesn't hurt that much." Patterson? Couldn't understand him even *with* a Quebecois-English translator and subtitles. |
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carpetbeggar The Ayatollah Of Rock And Rolla
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Kinda funny eh that their color commentators all had an ethnic flair and accent to boot until Jesse came along. Rocca-Sammartino-Patterson-Sammartino then Ventura. **Edit* Actually I'm kinda surprised they didn't have Pedro Morales try it somewhere in there. "Vince, he's ready for any kind a action today." Last edited on Wed Feb 1st, 2012 01:13 am by carpetbeggar |
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TerryWWWF
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Nobody could ever make any sense out of anything Rocca said, and he kept calling Vince "General." Bruno was right for that time. They were still treating it like it was real, so that kind of bland Bruno approach fit. He would talk about guys' strengths and weaknesses like it was some kind of legit competition and, of course, he'd express his disgust with foul tactics being used. That style wouldn't fit now, but it was fine then. |
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LAF
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the squared circle wrote: Of course, when he attacked Macho, after Macho had attacked Steamboat....that was hilarious. "You piece of slime!" |
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Big Garea Fan
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Using guys such as Sammartino and Patterson as color commentators also provided a convenient means to kick off a feud. The heel could take offense to some of the comments made during his match, call out the commentator during a match (like Slaughter did with Patterson during his Cobra Clutch Challenge), attack the commentator during an interview (like Mosca did by clonking Patterson over the head with a water pitcher while Patterson was interviewing a referee who had disqualified Mosca during an earlier match), or the commentator could attack the heel after a cowardly / vicious beatdown of a babyface (like Sammartino did to Savage after the attack on Steamboat). |
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beejmi THE BIG KAHUNA
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LAF wrote: the squared circle wrote:Of course, when he attacked Macho, after Macho had attacked Steamboat....that was hilarious. I use this everyday |
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tofu_chipmunk
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beejmi wrote: LAF wrote:the squared circle wrote:Of course, when he attacked Macho, after Macho had attacked Steamboat....that was hilarious. I have the PMs to prove this. |
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