"It was like a funeral" - Bill Apter recalls the moment when Bruno Sammartino lost the WWE Championship

Bruno Sammartino is the longest-reigning World Champion in the history of WWE.

Sammartino is considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. The legendary Italian sold out the Madison Square Garden a record 188 times. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.

Bill Apter sat down with Michael Morales of Lucha Libre Online to talk about the Sportskeeda Wrestling Awards. You can vote too! Click here!

Wrestling journalist Bill Apter spoke about the time when Sammartino lost the Championship to The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff. Koloff shocked the world when he dethroned Sammartino at Madison Square Garden on January 18, 1971.

Apter mentioned that despite the heartbreak for fans, Bruno was relieved to let go of the title. He spent very little time with his family during his reign and wanted to take some time off to recuperate.

Here's what Apter had to say about the WWE Hall of Famer losing the World Championship:

"It was the first time I had ever been to a match where someone lost the match and 21,000 people in the arena were silent. It was like a funeral. It was a very heartbreaking night but Bruno was relieved when he lost the title because he had not been with his family for years. He was on the road all the time, went home a couple of days if he could. His body was aching, you could see the cauliflower ear. He needed time to rest up and figure out whether he really wanted to come back. But just like Pedro, Bruno was an absolute gentleman." said Apter. (from 5:39 onwards)

You can watch the full video here.

Bruno Sammartino is the longest reigning WWE Champion in history

The legendary Sammartino once held the WWWF Championship for 2803 consecutive days. During his reign, he defended the title against renowned competitors like Gorilla Monsoon, Killer Kowalski and Ernie Ladd.

He then became the first ever two-time WWE Champion when he beat Stan Stasiak. During his second reign, Bruno Sammartino held the title for 1237 days. He finally lost the title to Superstar Billy Graham in 1977 bringing his total time as Champion to a staggering 4,040 days.

The Hall of Famer retired from in-ring competition in 1987, marking the end of an illustrious career.

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