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What’s the story?
Singer Bruno Mars revealed on Instagram that he was nicknamed after the legendary wrestler Bruno Sammartino. The singer and the wrestler had a meet in Pittsburgh recently and the former posted a picture from the meeting as you can see below.
In case you didn't know…
Bruno Sammartino is one of the most iconic names in the history of professional wrestling. His most prominent spell came with World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) which is now known as WWE.
During his run with the company, the WWE Hall of Famer had a championship reign of 2,803 days which still remains as the longest in the promotion’s history. Sammartino retired from active wrestling in 1987 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame back in 2013 by Hollywood star and his long-term friend Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The heart of the matter
Bruno Mars was born Peter Gene Hernandez. He was nick named by his father, who was a bandleader. As a toddler, Bruno apparently had a resemblance to Bruno Sammartino and this is what urged his father to name him after the legendary wrestler.
The Grammy Award winner met with Sammartino after a stop in Pittsburgh for the 24K Magic World Tour Stop at the PPG Paints Arena.
What’s next?
While Sammartino is not an active name when it comes to the mainstream wrestling business, he still does random appearances here and there. The relationship between him and WWE is not bad as well, so we might get to see him on WWE television somewhere in the future, perhaps in a Network special of some sort.
Author’s take
The reveal from Bruno Mars shows the impact that professional wrestling had on the lives of people. Even if people dismiss the art-form by saying it’s ‘fake’, it’s hard to ignore the fact that wrestling contributed so much to the pop-culture.
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