5 WWE icons who had heat with another wrestler

#4 WWE legends Bruno Sammartino and Ric Flair

Bruno Sammartino and Ric Flair are icons of the wrestling business

Bruno Sammartino had two spells as WWE Champion between 1963-1971 and 1973-1977. In total, he held the title for a combined 4,040 days – a record that will almost certainly never be broken.

Towards the end of his career, Sammartino headlined the same Madison Square Garden events that featured an up-and-coming Ric Flair further down the card.

The real-life heat between the two men began when Flair wrote in his book that he was not impressed by Sammartino’s in-ring work and he did not believe the two-time WWE Champion could draw money outside of the Northeast.

Speaking in an RF Video shoot interview, Sammartino acknowledged that Flair worked hard but questioned his versatility as an in-ring performer.

“He is a hard worker – I would never take that away from Flair. He was a hard worker and he took a lot of bumps in that ring. But you saw Ric Flair wrestle once, you seen him a hundred times. Ric Flair was the same match every time he went into the ring. Same match.”

The two men also had a disagreement over who snubbed who when they were both present backstage at a WWE show. While Flair claimed that Sammartino ignored him, the Italian-American called Flair a “liar” and said he saw the two-time WWE Hall of Famer walk away from him.

Thankfully, the WWE icons reconciled before Sammartino passed away at the age of 82 in 2018. They even appeared together on an episode of WWE Network show Table For 3 alongside current WWE Superstar Randy Orton.