The Sammartino Invitational (by MLW)

[stephenvegas]

Major League Wrestling (MLW) Presents the Sammartino Invitational!
May 26-28 @ Thomas & Mack in Las Vegas, NV.

Major League Wrestling owner and General Manager Bruno Sammartino has announced plans to hold a major tag team tournament in Las Vegas called the Sammartino Invitational over the course of three days on Memorial Day weekend for a $1 million prize! Of the 40 tag teams set to compete in the Sammartino Invitational, 25 of the teams are made up of wrestlers form the roster of Major League Wrestling (MLW). The 15 other teams are tag team champions from other territories both inside the United States and around the globe. How will MLW teams such as the World Tag Team Champions Midnight Express and the Road Warriors fare in this major tournament?

Here are the team set to compete.

25 MLW teams:

World Tag Team Champions Midnight Express
Road Warriors
United States Tag Team Champions Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff
World Champions Nick Bockwinkel and Harley Race
Antonino Rocca and Frank Gotch
United States Champion Buddy Rogers and Gorgeous George
Bobo Brazil and Mil Mascaras
Flying Redheads
Heart Thrashers (Bagwell and Beefcake)
Valiants
Killer Bees
Regulators (Orton Jr and Hutton)
Valentines
Ox Baker and King Kong Bundy
Giant Baba and Dan Severn
Yukon Eric and Splatter
Killer Kowalski and the Missing Link
Jimmy Snuka and S.D. Jones
Danny Hodge and Playboy Buddy Rose
Sandman and "Precious" Paul Ellering
War Chief Omega and Karah the Jungle Lord
Virgil and Tom "The Natural" Mann
The Country Rangers (Dirty Black Bart and Austin Turk)
Scimitar and Dark Knight
Major Ursa and Johnny Rocket

15 outside teams:

Japan Tag Team Champions Antonino Inoki and Rikidozan
Mongolia Tag Team Champions Eastern Dynasty
Australian Tag Team Champions The Demons (Demons of Hydra)
Mexico Tag Team Champions Konnan and Steve Corino
Florida Tag Team Champions The Vachons
Georgia Tag Team Champions The Jacobins (Executioner and Marcel De Sade)
Northeast Tag Team Champions Masked Marauders (Destroyer and Masked Superstar)
Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions The Gladiators (Brute and Massacre)
Great Lakes Tag Team Champions Stars and Stripes (managed by Commander Sam)
Central States Tag Team Champions The Heavy Hitters (K.O. Keller and Billy Jo Boxer)
Memphis Tag Team Champions Danny Doring and Chris Candido
St. Louis Tag Team Champions Awesome Studs
Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champions Generation X
Stampede Tag Team Champions Durango Sundown (COTG's Durado Sundown)
European Tag Team Champions Greek Gods

The four brackets of ten teams each will be posted in the upcoming days ahead!

[gwffantrav]

Hodge and Rose...now that is interesting! As well as Baba and Severn.

[daytondave]

Brazil and Mascaras catches my eye as a team to watch with contrasting styles.

[stephenvegas]

GWFfanTrav,

Yeah, I wish I had an interesting story about why I put Rose and Hodge together as a tag team but the truth is that I just needed more tag teams for the Sammartino Invitational from wrestlers in Major League Wrestling (MLW) and those two did not already have partners. They looked really good today on my MLW: All Stars show that I just posted by defeating the visiting Memphis Tag Team Champions Chris Candido and Danny Doring. But I also noticed during the match that Hodge was helped somewhat because both Candido and Doring are junior weights which allowed Hodge to use his better PIN and finisher rating and he indeed used his OKLAHOMA SIDEROLL (with the enhanced finisher rating) to pin Doring.

Giant Baba and Severn are teaming together in the Sammartino Invitational mainly because they each have a feud with members of the Heenan Family - Baba is feuding with Ox Baker and Severn is feuding with King Kong Bundy. I had a tag team match on my Friday night MLW: Showtime show last night in which Ox Baker and Bundy defeated Severn and Baba when Baker pinned Severn via a HEARTPUNCH.

Daytondave,

I agree that the team of Mil Mascaras and Bobo Brazil should be an interesting entry in next weekend's Sammartino Invitational. Last night on my MLW: Showtime show, Brazil and Mascaras looked really good together by easily defeating the tag team of United States Champion Buddy Rogers and Gorgeous George. I am currently looking at giving Brazil and Mascaras a #3 or #4 seed in one of my four brackets of ten teams each in the Sammartino Invitational.

I should post my brackets soon for the Sammartino Invitational. I am mainly just waiting to see how the visiting Europe Tag Team Champions the Greek Gods do against MLW's World Tag Team Champions the Midnight Express on my Saturday Night's Main Event card tonight.

[stephenvegas]

BREAKING NEWS!

The brackets for the Sammartino Invitational have been finalized and are posted below!

But first,
The office of Major League Wrestling (MLW) owner and GM Bruno Sammartino has announced a slight adjustment in the format for the Sammartino Invitational coming this Memorial Day Weekend in Las Vegas! The length of the tournament has actually been extended from 3 to 4 days (Friday May 26-Monday May 29). The fourth and final day will feature the semifinals and final rounds of the tournament plus 3 Major League Wrestling championship matches. Major League Wrestling's current champions who get eliminated from the Sammartino Invitational during the first three days will have to defend their titles on the fourth day of the tournament against opponents from Major League Wrestling to be determined by Bruno Sammartino.

Here are the brackets and their seedings. There are 25 tag teams made up of wrestlers on the current roster of MLW and the remaining 15 teams are tag team champions from outside territories that they are representing.

Bracket A
1. Road Warriors
2. Europe Tag Team Champions Greek Gods
3. MLW's United States Tag Team Champions Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff
4. Florida Tag Team Champions the Vachons
5. MLW's United States Champion Buddy Rogers and Gorgeous George
6. The Regulators (Bob Orton Jr and Richard Hutton)
7. Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champions Generation X
8. Danny Hodge and Playboy Buddy Rose
9. War Chief Omega and Karah the Jungle Lad
10. Major Ursa and Johnny Rocket

Bracket B
1. Mid Atlantic Tag Team Champions the Gladiators
2. Antonino Rocca and Frank Gotch
3. Bobo Brazil and Mil Mascaras
4. Northeast Tag Team Champions Masked Marauders
5. Heart Thrashers (Buff Bagwell and Brutus Beefcake)
6. King Kong Bundy and Ox Baker
7. Yukon Eric and Splatter
8. Jimmy Snuka and S.D. Jones
9. Georgia Tag Team Champions the Jacobins (COTG's Executioner and Marcel De Sade)
10. Country Rangers (Dirty Black Bart and Austin Turk)

Bracket C
1. MLW's World Tag Team Champions Midnight Express
2. MLW's World Champion Nick Bockwinkel and Harley Race
3. Japan Tag Team Champions Rikidozan and Antonio Inoki
4. Australia's Tag Team Champions the Demons (COTG's Demons of Hydra)
5. Flying Redheads
6. Mexico's Tag Team Champions Konnan and Steve Corino
7. Killer Kowalski and the Missing Link
8. Mongolia's Tag Team Champions Eastern Dynasty
9. St. Louis Tag Team Champions Awesome Studs (COTG's Awesome Studs)
10. Virgil and Tom "The Natural" Mann

Bracket D
1. Stampede Tag Team Champions Durango Sundown
(COTG's Dorado Sundown)
2. Great Lakes Tag Team Champions Stars and Stripes (managed by Commander Sam)
3. Killer Bees
4. The Valentines
5. The Valiants
6. Giant Baba and Dan Severn
7. Central States Tag Team Champions Heavy Hitters (COTG's KO Keller and Billy Jo Boxer)
8. Memphis Tag Team Champions Danny Doring and Chris Candido (managed by Sunny)
9. Sandman and "Precious" Paul Ellering
10. Scimitar and Dark Knight (COTG's Death Knight).

In each bracket, seeds 7-10 will wrestle in Friday's Preliminary Round while seeds 1-6 of each bracket receive an automatic bye into Saturday's First Round.
The winner of Bracket A will face the winner of Bracket B and the winner of Bracket C will face the winner of Bracket D in the Semifinal round on Monday May 29.

Sammartino Invitational Schedule:
Friday May 26: Preliminary Round
Saturday May 27: First Round
Sunday May 28: Second Round and Quarterfinals
Monday May 29: Semifinals and Final Round with three as of yet unannounced MLW championship matches!

[gwffantrav]

stephenvegas said:

BREAKING NEWS!

The brackets for the Sammartino Invitational have been finalized and are posted below!

But first,
The office of Major League Wrestling (MLW) owner and GM Bruno Sammartino has announced a slight adjustment in the format for the Sammartino Invitational coming this Memorial Day Weekend in Las Vegas! The length of the tournament has actually been extended from 3 to 4 days (Friday May 26-Monday May 29). The fourth and final day will feature the semifinals and final rounds of the tournament plus 3 Major League Wrestling championship matches. Major League Wrestling's current champions who get eliminated from the Sammartino Invitational during the first three days will have to defend their titles on the fourth day of the tournament against opponents from Major League Wrestling to be determined by Bruno Sammartino.

Here are the brackets and their seedings. There are 25 tag teams made up of wrestlers on the current roster of MLW and the remaining 15 teams are tag team champions from outside territories that they are representing.

Bracket A
1. Road Warriors
2. Europe Tag Team Champions Greek Gods
3. MLW's United States Tag Team Champions Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff
4. Florida Tag Team Champions the Vachons
5. MLW's United States Champion Buddy Rogers and Gorgeous George
6. The Regulators (Bob Orton Jr and Richard Hutton)
7. Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champions Generation X
8. Danny Hodge and Playboy Buddy Rose
9. War Chief Omega and Karah the Jungle Lad
10. Major Ursa and Johnny Rocket

Bracket B
1. Mid Atlantic Tag Team Champions the Gladiators
2. Antonino Rocca and Frank Gotch
3. Bobo Brazil and Mil Mascaras
4. Northeast Tag Team Champions Masked Marauders
5. Heart Thrashers (Buff Bagwell and Brutus Beefcake)
6. King Kong Bundy and Ox Baker
7. Yukon Eric and Splatter
8. Jimmy Snuka and S.D. Jones
9. Georgia Tag Team Champions the Jacobins (COTG's Executioner and Marcel De Sade)
10. Country Rangers (Dirty Black Bart and Austin Turk)

Bracket C
1. MLW's World Tag Team Champions Midnight Express
2. MLW's World Champion Nick Bockwinkel and Harley Race
3. Japan Tag Team Champions Rikidozan and Antonino Rocca
4. Australia's Tag Team Champions the Demons (COTG's Demons of Hydra)
5. Flying Redheads
6. Mexico's Tag Team Champions Konnan and Steve Corino
7. Killer Kowalski and the Missing Link
8. Mongolia's Tag team Champions Eastern Dynasty
9. St. Louis Tag Team Champions Awesome Studs (COTG's Awesome Studs)
10. Virgil and Tom "The Natural" Mann

Bracket D
1. Stampede Tag Team Champions Durango Sundown
(COTG's Dorado Sundown)
2. Great Lakes Tag Team Champions Stars and Stripes (managed by Commander Sam)
3. Killer Bees
4. The Valentines
5. The Valiants
6. Giant Baba and Dan Severn
7. Central States Tag Team Champions Heavy Hitters (COTG's KO Keller and Billy Jo Boxer)
8. Memphis Tag Team Champions Danny Doring and Chris Candido (managed by Sunny)
9. Sandman and "Precious" Paul Ellering
10. Scimitar and Dark Knight (COTG's Death Knight).

In each bracket, seeds 7-10 will wrestle in Friday's Preliminary Round while seeds 1-6 of each bracket receive an automatic bye into Saturday's First Round.
The winner of Bracket A will face the winner of Bracket B and the winner of Bracket C will face the winner of Bracket D in the Semifinal round on Monday May 29.

Sammartino Invitational Schedule:
Friday May 26: Preliminary Round
Saturday May 27: First Round
Sunday May 28: Second Round and Quarterfinals
Monday May 29: Semifinals and Final Round with three as of yet unannounced MLW championship matches!

Is Rocca in 2 teams? I might have misread something

I would love to see the Road Warriors and Greek Gods square off. Would be like day one in the GWF!!!

Gladiators easy pick for B

I've had Race/Bockwinkel face the Midnights in a short feud in my fed! Awesome matches!! Race/Bockwinkel (by win % based on at least 35 times teaming together) are far ahead of the Road Warriors.

[stephenvegas]

Good eye GWFfanTrav!
I meant to type Antonio Inoki instead of Antonino Rocca as Rikidozan's tag team partner. I just modified it. Thanks!

[Stu]

I'm highly interested to see how Inoki and Riki do. I'm not looking at Riki's card at the moment, and can't remember how good of a tag wrestler he is, but that has the potential to be one great team.

As do many of the teams in this tournament. Rogers and George should be fun, if nothing else, and if Rogers can carry the bulk of the heavy lifting, they could also go far. Although, the team of George and Buddy Rose did well for me in the NWA at one point, so guess I shouldn't undersell ol' Gorgeous. Brilliant idea Stephen, I'll be following along!

-Stu

[gwffantrav]

George and Rose had a pretty solid mid card team for me as well. I think I put in another post I've never had George and Rogers face each other...and never teamed up either. I'd like to try both

[stephenvegas]

The ODDS for the Sammartino Invitational have been posted!

Following today's release of the brackets for the Sammartino Invitational, Nevada sports book writers immediately set to work formulating these odds for each of the 40 tag teams to win this weekend's tournament here in Las Vegas sponsored by Major League Wrestling (MLW):

Road Warriors 6-5
Mid Atlantic Tag Team Champions the Gladiators 8-5
MLW's World Tag Team Champions Midnight Express 9-5
MLW's World Champion Nick Bockwinkel and Harley Race 9-5
Stampede Tag Team Champions Durango Sundown (COTG's Durado Sundown ) 2-1
Frank Gotch and Antonino Rocca 3-1
Europe Tag Team Champions Greek Gods 5-1
Great Lakes Tag Team Champions Stars and Stripes 10-1
Japan Tag Team Champions Rikidozan and Antonio Inoki 12-1
Bobo Brazil and Mil Mascaras 12-1
MLW's United States Tag Team Champions Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff 14-1
Killer Bees 15-1
The Valentines 20-1
The Valiants 20-1
Australia Tag Team Champions the Demons (COTG's Demons of Hydra) 25-1
Northeast Tag Team Champions Masked Marauders (Masked Superstar and the Destroyer) 30-1
Florida Tag Team Champions the Vachons 30-1
Flying Redheads 30-1
Heart Thrashers (Bagwell and Beefcake) 40-1
MLW's United States Champion Buddy Rogers and Gorgeous George 50-1
Mexico Tag Team Champions Konnan and Steve Corino 50-1
Giant Baba and Dan Severn 50-1
Central States Tag Team Champions Heavy Hitters (COTG's KO Keller and Billy Jo Boxer) 50-1
Regulators (Bob Orton Jr and Richard Hutton) 60-1
Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champions Generation X 75-1
King Kong Bundy and Ox Baker 100-1
Yukon Eric and Splatter 100-1
Jimmy Snuka and S.D. Jones 100-1
Danny Hodge and Playboy Buddy Rose 100-1
Killer Kowalski and the Missing Link 100-1
Mongolia's Tag Team Champions Eastern Dynasty 100-1
St. Louis Tag Team Champions Awesome Studs 100-1
Memphis Tag Team Champions Chris Candido and Danny Doring 100-1
Georgia Tag Team Champions The Jacobins (COTG's Executioner and Marcel De Sade) 125-1
Sandman and "Precious" Paul Ellering 135-1
War Chief Omega and Karah the Jungle Lad 250-1
Scimitar and Dark Knight (COTG's Death Knight ) 300-1
Virgil and Tom "The Natural" Mann 350-1
Country Rangers (Dirty Black Bart and Austin Turk) 500-1
Major Ursa and Johnny Rocket 700-1

Ok, so who wants to take Yukon Eric and Splatter at 100-1?

[gwffantrav]

You people in Vegas...always with the odds!!! ;D

[gwffantrav]

You know...not everyone is a Vegas freak..lol. They may not know how odds work. I had to explain to my wife way back when.

I'd take Mascaras/Brazil and Inoki/Riki at 12-1. I think both teams have enough offense and star power that they could make some damage.

[stephenvegas]

gwffantrav said:

You know...not everyone is a Vegas freak..lol. They may not know how odds work. I had to explain to my wife way back when.

I'd take Mascaras/Brazil and Inoki/Riki at 12-1. I think both teams have enough offense and star power that they could make some damage.

\

Good idea.

This is a real basic explanation but the odds for a tournament such as this (every March the sports books here do something similar with the NCAA tournament in college basketball) work as a payout ratio for every dollar you wager. For example, you take Mil Mascaras and Bobo Brazil at 12-1 and bet $50 on them. If Mil Mascaras and Bobo Brazil indeed win the tournament with their 12-1 odds you would receive a payout of $650 (the $600 you won on your $50 wager at 12-1 plus your original $50 wager back). But if Mil Mascaras and Bobo Brazil do not win the tournament, then you are out your $50- even it they advance to the finals before being eliminated. In the end, the house always wins overall.

There are some formulas and things the sports books writers actually use to calculate the odds and I am not a real expert on that. For my Sammartino Invitational odds I just used as a reference things such as the success rate of these tag teams and wrestlers for me in the past.

[mwjergs]

This tag tournament looks fantastic. So are you taking any "action" on who will win?

[canadianpittbull]

Well this is going to be one heckuva show! I cannot wait to see who takes it. And the odds just adds another touch that really brings some life to this Invitational. So anyone placing their predictions who will win this one? Being a Road Warriors fan and regardless of their odds of winning I have to put my faith that the Road Warriors will win this one.

[stephenvegas]

mwjergs said:

This tag tournament looks fantastic. So are you taking any "action" on who will win?

Oh yeah, people have been lining up at the sports books here in Las Vegas ever since the odds for Major League Wrestling's (MLW's) Sammartino Invitational were posted. So far, one team that has really been "backed" (teams with lots of bets placed on them) is the visiting Japan Tag Team Champions Antonio Inoki and Rikidozan who at 12-1, since they are higher than 10-1, is technically considered a team with "long odds." People seeking to collect a big payout have been jumping on that with the theory that the sports book writers should have given them better odds but perhaps did not see enough of their matches in Japan.

Another team really being "backed" by the gamblers is the Road Warriors despite the fact they have the best odds in the Sammartino Invitational and thus the lowest possible payout. Apparently the Road Warriors just looked too impressive last weekend in defeating by pin fall two of the three other #1 seeds as they beat the visiting Stampede Tag Team Champions Durango Sundown last Friday on Showtime and then beat the visiting Mid Atlantic Tag Team Champions the Gladiators on MLW's Saturday Night's Main Event. The Road Warriors's tendency to get dqd (like they did at MLW's Backlash PPV) has made some experts wary but many fans nevertheless like them because they simply want a team from Major League Wrestling (based here in Las Vegas) to win the Sammartino Invitational.

So yeah, there is lots of action going on overall for the Sammartino Invitational. Some people are even placing nickel ($500) and dime ($1000) bets on teams such as the Country Rangers (Dirty Black Bart and Austin Turk) who have 500-1 odds, in order to collect big.

[gwffantrav]

Put it on Mascaras and Brazil!! High offense, both low PIN ratings....

Hey, I did get Florida right in the Final Four!!

[stephenvegas]

gwffantrav said:

Put it on Mascaras and Brazil!! High offense, both low PIN ratings....

Hey, I did get Florida right in the Final Four!!

Oh yeah, you got Florida right! I remember making some money off of your advice on that Final Four game the day before I watched Wrestlemania 22. Florida over George Mason easily at (-8)!

[canadianpittbull]

Well I did choose the Road Warriors as my first pick but for my second I am going to choose.....Japan Tag Team Champions Rikidozan and Antonio Inoki 12-1.

I have used these two together before and they are a solid team, Rikidozan is tough!

[gwffantrav]

So when is the tourny taking place?