Professional wrestling made headlines on multiple main stream media platforms and thankfully, it wasn’t a negative story, but rather news that many fans, including old school fans wanted to hear for years. One of the greatest legends of all time and the longest reigning WWE champion in history, Bruno Sammartino, agreed to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year at Madison Square Garden. I have to say, I was shocked and I didn’t think Bruno would be inducted because he refused the induction for the past few years, but finally fans will get to see him inducted into the hall of fame.
Bruno was very critical of the WWE product, including the steroid scandal of the early 90s and the edgy direction of the company during the attitude era. In some ways, Bruno was right, steroids led to some tragic deaths in wrestling and even some within the WWE have said that some of the content during the attitude era was too vulgar. That being said, wrestling evolved and while Bruno had a point, the success of Stone Cold, The Rock, Mick Foley, and others during the attitude era shouldn’t be discounted either because the WWE was only too vulgar with some of the segments, but not the entire product. Recently, the WWE has seemed to find a decent middle ground for the product, it’s not so PG based that it waters down the product like it did during Linda McMahon’s senate run, but it’s also not a vulgar show either. Quite frankly, the WWE doesn’t need the vulgarity in the product because again, wrestling has evolved from the “shock TV” era and they have enough talent on the roster that they don’t need to shock the audience to get them to tune in on a weekly basis. One of the things that some fans complained about when the WWE shifted the product to PG was the lack of blood on WWE TV, but let’s be honest here, blading isn’t something that a publicly traded company wants to publicize and if a wrestler can’t get over with the WWE audience without cutting their head then they probably won’t be on WWE TV anyway considering the WWE markets toward a main stream audience. However, if a wrestler bleeds hard way in a match, it’s ridiculous for the match to be stopped while the medical staff treats the cut, which is where things were too PG for a few years.
Bruno posted an interview on his website and was also interviewed for various media outlets following the hall of fame announcement, where he explained why he agreed to the hall of fame. Triple H worked on the deal with Bruno and he deserves a lot of credit for it because he knew how important it was for the company to get Bruno into the hall of fame. Bruno explained he watched the product and he saw some of the changes, which were more presentable for a younger audience. Bruno also said he approved of the wellness policy and that the WWE hired Dr. Maroon, who was one of his doctors a few years ago. Obviously, it’s great that the WWE has a wellness policy and that there isn’t as much steroid use in the WWE because nobody wants to see another tragic death in the wrestling industry.
Reportedly, Bruno received major money for the deal, which is a smart business decision because he knows he should be paid top money for the WWE hall of fame and he knows it adds credibility to it. It’s a win-win situation because Bruno gets paid and the WWE gets a legend inducted into the hall of fame. It also gives the WWE wellness policy more credibility because Bruno is giving it his stamp of approval. The bottom line is it’s good to see the Bruno/WWE situation get resolved and that Bruno will get the spot he deserves in the WWE Hall of Fame.
Until next week
That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It
Dr. Wrestling
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