GPWT Round 1: Steve Austin (3) -vs- Bruno Sammartino (14)

[Veritas]

Who is the Greatest Professional Wrestler of All Time?​

Round 1​

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin -vs- Bruno Sammartino

View attachment 995　​

Steve Austin
​

- 6x WWE World Heavyweight Champion
- 3x WWE Royal Rumble Winner
- 1996 WWE King of the Ring

The Texas Rattlesnake ranked 3rd in the IWF 50 Greatest Wrestling Superstars of All Time, finishing with a score of 369/450.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Cold_Steve_Austin
　
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View attachment 996
Bruno Sammartino
​

- 2x WWE World Heavyweight Champion
- Combined reigns equal 10+ years as Champion

Bruno Sammartino finished 14th in the IWF 50 Greatest Wrestling Superstars of All Time, scoring a 221/450.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Sammartino​

 

[Veritas]

I'm saying it now - Bruno Sammartino was a Regional Champion. Austin blows him out of the water. Who says I'm wrong?

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

You're completely right, except Bruno was the champ of the most important territory, the North East. And no NWA star, Gorgeous George and Buddy Rogers included, ever sold out the Garden, let alone however many consecutive times Bruno did. That being said, Austin is the biggest draw in the history of the industry. He made a nearly bankrupt millionaire a billionaire in ten months. Bruno, even in his hey day, was just atrocious. The ONLY reason he was champ so long was because of the insanely large Italian constituency in New York. There's no need to further lament on this.

 

[Luke Flywalker]

Respect to Bruno, but Austin is perhaps the biggest name to WWF/E... it's a landslide imo.

 

[Montana]

Austin. (Why didn't we just have all of the first round matches in one thread?)

 

[Veritas]

Because you can't create separate polls in each thread.

Thanks for the awesome explanations by the way.

 

[1chiban]

Was Bruno really that good of a worker? Haven't seen much of him so cannot comment further myself. Austin was the biggest star in wrestling during arguably it's greatest peak. Austin wins by a country mile.

 

[Veritas]

As far as the punch-kick-bearhug style of wrestling goes, yeah, I'd have to say Bruno was pretty good in the limited amount of material I've seen from him. That style was just never my cup of tea. Even if we're just talking straight brawling and pay no attention whatsoever to how good Austin was at other styles of wrestling, I'd still say he was better at that than Bruno.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

Austin is one of the greatest in ring workers, EVER. People talk about psychology and , again, hate to say this, but so few have actual grasp on the idea. Austin is up there with Flair, Steamer, Roberts, HBK and Ricky fuckin Morton on psychology. Bruno, even in his day, for his simple style was awful. Awful. Nothing short of awful. His only decent outings in his career were against Stan Hansen and Larry Zybysko. And that's it.

 

[Veritas]

LMAO - considering the only Bruno matches I've ever seen where ones against Hansen, Zbyszko, and his Buddy Rodgers squash, maybe that's why I thought he was good at his style.

I stand corrected, sir.

 

[Veritas]

This poll is closed, Austin advances.