LAW
LAW Feb. 4 Update - Bruno Sammartino Going into WWE HOF
John Pollock / February 4, 2013 - 5:06pm
**The major news of the day is the confirmation that Bruno Sammartino will be going into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6th with a press release sent out by the WWE and comments from Sammartino and Paul “Triple H” Levesque to ESPN on the deal being finalized. This was largely a Triple H initiative and he was the key to the deal being made as he reached out to Sammartino last summer and at the time it was believed there was no deal to be made. As their relationship continued Sammartino warmed to the idea and eventually agreed. Sammartino has had a long standing feud with Vince McMahon dating back to the mid-80’s when he returned as a color commentator and had issues with the cartoonish nature of the product as well as the rampant drug use in the locker room and on the road and removed himself from the environment. Sammartino continued to be critical of the content during the Attitude Era and publicly battled McMahon in the early 90’s during the sex and drug scandals the company had from 1991-1994.
Ever since the WWE re-introduced the Hall of Fame and made it a part of WrestleMania weekend in March 2004 they have attempted to induct Sammartino and he has been cold to the idea. It was in the summer of 2004 that Sammartino was invited to meet with company officials Pittsburgh at a Raw taping and wasn’t even interested in staying around for the show and went home before the tapings began.
The accolades are indisputable as Sammartino is either the most deserving of a WWE Hall of Fame induction or at worst is #2 behind Hulk Hogan. Sammartino is responsible for more sellouts at Madison Square Garden than any other performer and was the corner stone of the WWWF from 1963 when he defeated Buddy Rogers for the WWWF championship and right through until dropping the title for the second time in 1977 to Superstar Billy Graham (done in Baltimore to avoid a potential riot in New York).
**Last night’s edition of The LAW is up on the website with Dan “The Mouth” Lovranski and Jason Agnew chatting lots of different news and taking your phone calls at http://fightnetwork.com/news/36213:feb.-3-edition-of-the-law-w-alex-greenfield-and-court-bauer/. We were also joined by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter discussing WrestleMania plans, TNA going on the road and a bit of a tease regarding the above announcement at the end of the segment.
**The round table returned on The LAW last night and the full near hour long chat I had with Alex Greenfield and Court Bauer is also up on the site at http://fightnetwork.com/news/36221:law-roundtable-w-alex-greenfield-and-court-bauer/ and also available on iTunes by subscribing to Live Audio Wrestling.
**Tonight Raw is in Atlanta, Georgia at the Philips Arena with Brock Lesnar scheduled for the show but The Rock will not be on the show tonight. The only segment advertised for the show thus far is Paul Heyman appearing on Miz TV.
**We will be back with Review-A-Raw tonight with Wai Ting and I chatting the show and taking your feedback. We will also announce the winner of the Wai Ting caption contest and you can submit your entries at http://lawradio.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=shows&action=display&thread=2449.
**There is a concerted effort to push the WWE app as they have integrated the app into their live programming by offering content during commercial breaks and they are expected to experiment tonight by having an extra five-minute of Raw air on the app when the show ends. Of course if you live in Canada where Raw airs on a 15-minute delay it’s impossible to follow in real time.
**There was tons of discussion last night within wrestling over the power outage at the Super Bowl last night in New Orleans at the Superdome. The tie-in is that the stadium and city are the front runner for WrestleMania 30 next year and would obviously be a cautionary warning a year out from the show. CBS had 62 cameras set up for the Super Bowl and only 11 of them were working during the power outage, which lasted 34-minutes.
**The Hart Legacy Wrestling group has officially cancelled their February 22nd event that was scheduled for Edmonton and were advertising John Morrison for the show. There were lots of issues coming out of the inaugural show last month as even though it got great reviews there were numerous issues regarding talent being paid on time.
**Terry Funk was scheduled to appear at the two Pro Wrestling Syndicate shows over WrestleMania weekend but has been pulled from those appearances leading to speculation that he will be working with the WWE that weekend and likely inducting Mick Foley into the Hall of Fame.
**Stacy Keibler and David Otunga were both at the Super Bowl last night. Keibler is a former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader while O
**Kevin Keirnan and John Philipavage have announced that the title of their ECW documentary will be “Barbed Wire City” and the first screening of the film will be on Saturday April 20th in Philadelphia. The two have been working on this documentary for over a decade and have some incredible and unreleased footage and interviews with just about every player from the promotion and was funded through Kickstarter.
**World Series of Fighting announced a three-year agreement with NBC Sports Network earlier today and will call for six live events per year. WSOF debuted last November with their inaugural show coming from Las Vegas and will hold their second event on March 23rd.
*****
THE LAW ROUND TABLE
(John Pollock chats with former WWE creative team members Alex Greenfield and Court Bauer for close to an hour)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/36221.mp3
*****
THE LAW – February 3rd 2013
(Dan Lovranski and Jason Agnew welcome Dave Meltzer, your phone calls and the return of the roundtable)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/36213.mp3
****
THE MMA REPORT – UFC 156 POST SHOW
(John Pollock and Jason Agnew recap the UFC 156 card and take your phone calls)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/36200.mp3
*****
REVIEW-AN-IMPACT – February 1st 2013
(John Pollock, Wai Ting and Nate Milton chat Impact in the U.K., TNA on the road, Superior Spiderman #2 and more)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/36173.mp3
*****
THE MMA REPORT W/ JOHN POLLOCK – January 31st 2013
(Featuring: MFC president Mark Pavelich, Loretta Hunt of SI.com, UFC 156 Picks)
http://iphone.tsn.ca/tsnpodcasts/THE-MMA-REPORT-JAN-31-2013.mp3
*****
REVIEW-A-WAI – WWE Royal Rumble 2008
(John Pollock and Wai Ting review the Rumble from Madison Square Garden plus Dave Meltzer from The LAW that night in 2008)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/36096.mp3
*****
REVIEW-A-RAW - January 29th 2013
(John Pollock and Wai Ting review Raw from Las Vegas with guest Arda Ocal chatting Brock Lesnar's return and more)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/36079.mp3
*****
Contact John Pollock - john@fightnetwork.com / @LAWradio / @iamjohnpollock
Subscribe to The LAW on iTunes / The MMA Report on iTunes
Join The LAW Message Board
