10.08.2003, 23:41
On December 10th, 1973 you won the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship one more time with a victory over Stan Stasiak in Madison Square Garden. What are your thoughts on that night?
"I didn't want any part of it. This had been going on for quite a while. After losing the belt to Ivan Koloff, I really started to love the business again because Sam Muchnick would call me to come to St. Louis, and I wouldn't accept any other matches for that week. I teamed up Dick The Bruiser in the Midwest, and we would go to Chicago, Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana, and I would take those two days with him, and nothing else. I would go to Japan for ten days, and then I wouldn't take any bookings for ten days after I got back. At times my body felt good and I loved the business, but when Vince McMahon, Sr. approached me about taking that position again that I wanted no part of, and Vince McMahon, Sr. said, 'All I am asking for is one year so we can get someone really ready to take over that position.' I told Vince McMahon, Sr. one year, but one year went to two, and they were still searching, and two went to three, and then I broke my neck in a match with Stan Hansen. I then told Vince McMahon, Sr. that if he didn't get someone real quick that I was retiring. In 1977 Superstar Billy Graham came into the picture."
On April 26th, 1976 you lost to Stan Hansen in a match where he ended up breaking your neck in Madison Square Garden. What are your thoughts on that?
"It was kinda frightening. If I remember right then sixth and seventh cervical vertebras were damaged, and I came within a millimeter of being paralyzed from the neck down. That was a very frightening situation, and to make things worse while I am in the hospital, Vince McMahon, Sr. got involved in the match between Antonio Inoki and Muhammad Ali. I was supposed to be in that match with Muhammad Ali, but Vince McMahon, Sr. couldn't raise the six million dollars, and the Japanese sure did so that's how it ended being Antonio Inoki. That match was a box office disaster. Vince McMahon, Sr. at this time had committed so much to the Northeast as well. Vince McMahon, Sr. contacted me in the hospital and said, 'If I don't make the match between you and Stan Hansen, we will be going into bankruptcy.' I said, 'How can I do that when I have this gadget on my head?' He said, 'The match is three months away, and by that time you will be a lot better.' After I left the hospital and went home he called me and said, 'You don't have to do anything. We will make the match real short, and it will save the company. Without this match the company is going to go under.' The closed circuits made great business on the match, but everywhere else worldwide they died with that match."
On April 30th, 1977 in Baltimore, Maryland you lost the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship to Superstar Billy Graham. What were your thoughts on that match as it ended your last run as the world champion?
"I was glad because I didn't want part of one year much less four years. Some people thought I retired, but I never retired like people thought the first time. I just wanted to go at my pace, and I wanted to choose where I wanted to go in the territories. I went where I wanted to go at my own pace, and now I was going to the same thing here. But then came 1980 when my neck went was bothering me, and I was having some back problems for quite some time. I stayed around long enough in 1981 to wrestle in Meadowlands against George Steele on October 4th, and October 5th I boarded a plane, and for the next ten days I did a tour of Japan, and I was done and retired."
What are your thoughts on the cage match at Showdown at Shea Stadium on August 9th, 1980 when you defeated one of your former protégés, Larry Zbyszko?
"It was a good match, but it wasn't as good as the matches I had with Ivan Koloff. I had my first cage match with Ivan Koloff in Madison Square Garden, and I thought that was the best cage match I was ever in, but the one in Shea Stadium was great because we had over 44,000 to 45,000 people there. The reaction from the people was awesome. I have to say it was a great cage match, but it was at the end of my career. I hope it was as good as I thought it was, but I never thought it was good as the Ivan Koloff match."
What are your thoughts on your son David Sammartino as a wrestler?
"Well, as a wrestler I thought his mechanics in the ring were very good. For one thing I think it is fair to say that I don't think he was given the full opportunity to see how far he could go. Would he have gone far? I really don't know. David was good in the ring as far as his mechanics, but as far as his interviews, which are very important, he wasn't the best at, and wrestling was changing drastically. It became more important than just to be a wrestler. You have to be more of a gimmick, and I don't know if he could have played in that part. I don't think he would have done well as a character playing something than he already had been. I think he would have had a better chance to make it my days than in the new era day."