Wrestling Star Bruno Sammartino Celebrated In New Documentary

BRADENTON, FL — A Pennsylvania-based radio celebrity who has covered the Pittsburgh Pirates spring training season in Manatee County for years recently brought his new documentary, “Bruno Sammartino,” an authorized biography of the wrestling champion, to the area.

Larry Richert, a radio host for KDKA in Pennsylvania, made his Florida debut with his film at the Manatee Performing Arts Center on Feb. 9.

The rags-to-riches story of Sammartino, a Pittsburgh legend and WWE icon who survived the Nazi invasion of his Italian hometown, resonated with the audience, Elliott Flacione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, told Patch.

About 80 percent of those who attended the screening were former Pittsburgh residents or those with ties to the area, he added.

“We became sister cities, Pittsburgh and Bradenton, a little over a decade ago and the synergy has been there with the Pittsburgh Pirates, now training here since 1969,” Falcione said.

Not only that, but Richert is keenly connected to Manatee County, even being named an ambassador to the city of Bradenton several years ago.

“And we’re the arts and cultural alliance for the county, as well, and to be able to bring his premiere down here, it just made sense,” Falcione said.

Richert told Patch that he first met Sammartino when the wrestling star was booked as a guest on a television show he hosted.

“Growing up here (in Pittsburgh), he was a huge star when I was a kid. I have three brothers. We wrecked a lot of furniture because of him, watching him on television,” he said. “I thought he was this wrestling guy everybody loved, then I learned his deeper story of escaping the Nazis.”

Sammartino, his siblings and mother lived in a small town several hours east of Rome during World War II.

After dictator Benito Mussolini was killed and Italy left its former Axis partners, the Nazis turned on the country, Richert said.

The SS came to Sammartino’s village in 1943, killing a third of the women and children there. His mother took him and his siblings and fled – with others from the town – deep into the mountains. They survived there for about 14 months before the Nazis caught up with them.

They were discovered in hiding by Germans on horseback who lined them up to be executed.

With guns pointed at them, their mother told them, “Don’t worry. You’ll never be cold or hungry again. We’ll be at peace,” Richert said.

Just before the SS officers pulled the trigger, resistance fighters who were following them shot and killed them.

“When I heard this, I wanted to hear the rest of the story,” the filmmaker said. “His mother’s toughness and love were so remarkable to me.”

It wasn’t an easy transition when Sammartino moved to the United States as a young teenager.

“He was 75 pounds, didn’t know the language and was bullied,” according to Richert.

Some guys interested in fitness took him under his wing, changing his life.

“He learned to take care of himself and took to lifting weights,” Richert said. “It was like someone flipped a switch and he became passionate about building up his body and taking care of himself.”

He exercised at a Young Men’s Hebrew Association in Pittsburgh and went on to set a world record in 1959 by bench pressing 565 pounds, according to his WWE profile.

Sammartino eventually caught the eye of the father of Vince McMahon, the owner of the WWE.

He was the organization’s first international superstore, traveling the world to perform and selling out Madison Square Garden 188 times as headliner, Reichert said.

The wrestler is also a celebrity to other well-known individuals. The filmmaker learned that musician Bruno Mars was named after Sammartino, and the documentary included comments from wrestler Tampa Bay resident John Cena and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who called him, “the star of all stars.”

Those who missed the Manatee County debut of “Bruno Sammartino” can watch the trailer here. It’s also available for streaming on Apple TV and other platforms.