#5 Bruno Sammartino tries to protect Kayfabe
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It's 2017, so virtually every fan that is reading this will tell you that he or she realises that pro wrestling is a scripted form of entertainment.
Is this man the funniest man in wrestling?
That's what makes it mind-boggling to imagine a professional wrestler writing a "tell all" autobiography and portraying pro wrestling as a non-scripted sport on the same level as football or soccer. Yet, that's exactly what Bruno Sammartino, one of the greatest pro wrestlers and biggest draws of all-time, did in his autobiography.
Sammartino essentially wrote an entire book in which he maintained the illusion that pro wrestling is real, claiming that the outcomes of matches were not pre-determined and longtime traditions, such as blading, did not exist.
Perhaps in an effort to remain in character and protect kayfabe, Sammartino painted a picture of pro wrestling as everything most fans knew it wasn't.
Especially when you consider all of the fantastic autobiographies written by the likes of Chris Jericho, Mick Foley and others, it was extremely difficult for fans to react to Sammartino's book with anything but disbelief. Was he trying to protect the business? Was he confused? Maybe a bit of both?
No matter what Sammartino's motivation was, his autobiography is certainly a tremendous example of a pro-wrestler taking extreme measures in order not to expose the business. If only today's wrestlers would do the same.
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