Bruno Sammartino's Funeral Service Held In Pittsburgh [Video]

TheSportster

By Jesse Singer

Published Apr 25, 2018

Bruno Sammartino's funeral service was officially held. Here is some footage from the event.

On Monday morning the world said a final farewell to wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino. The funeral service was held in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh - the city that Bruno loved. The city he called home. Bruno passed away last week at the age of 82 - having battled health issues for the last few months. Sammartino leaves behind a wife and two children.

Bruno Sammartino was born in Italy but when he was four his father emigrated to Pittsburgh and after the Second World War, Bruno came to America with his mother and siblings. Not speaking any English, Sammartino was an easy target for bullies, which lead to him turning to wrestling and weightlifting in order to bulk up (which he most definitely did!).

In the 1960s and 1970s, Sammartino was the most famous wrestler in the United States and he still holds the record for the longest WWE title reign. A record that will almost surely never be broken at over 2,800 days! And across two separate reigns as champion Sammartino held the title for over 11 years. That's longer than many Superstars' careers in the WWE.

While he was still alive he was even known as "The Living Legend" and will always have a place in any discussion of the greatest professional wrestlers in history. And he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame back in 2013.

It only makes sense that the service would be held in Bruno's home city of Pittsburgh. He loved the city and the people of Pittsburgh loved him. As reported by KDKA CBS Pittsburgh, the mayor of the city called Sammartino, "the greatest ambassador the city ever had."

The service was attended by everyone from friends and family to a former teacher of Bruno and the Chairman and CEO of the WWE himself, Vince McMahon. The respect everyone had for Sammartino was tremendous. As one friend said in the report: there were two things you didn't do. "You didn't curse in church and you didn't bad mouth Bruno Sammartino!"