The Night The Crowd Went Dead Silent: MannyG After a reign of nearly eight years, The Living Legend Bruno Sammartino leaves the ring without the WWWF World Championship. January 18, 1971, Bruno puts his title on the line against the Russian Bear Ivan Koloff. Bruno had handled Koloff before and this was thought to be another win for the champ who had years of successful title defenses and sell outs at Madison Square Garden. The match went back and forth, after Bruno whipped Koloff in the turnbuckle, Bruno charged in and was met with a kick to the chest and quickly followed up with a body slam, from there, Ivan hurriedly climbed up to the top rope and came down with a leg on Brunos midsection followed by a pin attempt, the referee counted one, two, three and it was over. The normally boisterous crowd went deadly silent, stunned, not believing their eyes to what just happened. Tears was in many eyes and some cried. The referee raised the hand of the new champion Ivan Koloff, while Brunos manager Arnold Skaaland tended to his fallen titan, Koloff was led out of the ring as some feared the stunned silence could turn to anger if Koloff celebrated in the ring. The silence reminded some of a funeral, it was of sorts, it was the death of a long championship reign. But not the end of Bruno Sammartino, who would come back and regain the belt in December 1973 and hold it until 1977.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 11:57:10 +0000
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