David Sammartino
| David Sammartino | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | David Lugogo Sammartino |
| Born |
September 29, 1960 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Family | Bruno Sammartino (father) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bruno Sammartino, Jr. David Lugogo David Sammartino Dave Sammartino David Bruno Sammartino |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Billed weight | 252 lb (114 kg) |
| Trained by | Bruno Sammartino |
| Debut | 1980 |
David Lugogo Sammartino (born September 29, 1960) is an American personal trainer and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is the son of former WWWF/WWF World Heavyweight Champion, Bruno Sammartino.
Sammartino was initially not trained by his father, because Bruno did not want his son to go into wrestling and experience all the horrors he did when he started. He wanted him to get a college education and pursue a different career. Not taking his father's advice, David headed south and began training and wrestling with a few smaller independent wrestling companies. He debuted in 1980. Throughout 1981, Sammartino picked up where his father left off the year before, and feuded with Larry Zbyszko, his father's former protege, on the independent circuit.
Sammartino joined the World Wrestling Federation in September 1984, with his father as his manager. He received a big push while teaming with his father, he most notably was also pushed in singles matches, competing as a face, before converting to a preliminary wrestler. WWF's owner, Vince McMahon, was using David in order to get Bruno to wrestle, as he still drew huge crowds. His most notable appearance with the WWF was at the inaugural WrestleMania event in Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on March 31, 1985. Accompanied by Bruno, Sammartino wrestled Brutus Beefcake in the fourth match of the night. The match ended in a double disqualification after Sammartino was thrown out of the ring by Beefcake and slammed by Beefcake's manager Johnny Valiant, prompting Bruno Sammartino to assault Valiant. This led to a series of tag team matches that brought Bruno out of retirement in an effort to get David's career advanced. Bruno said later this was his least favorite time of his career.
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