PITTSBURGH - Professional wrestling legend and Pittsburgh native Bruno Sammartino and his friend, former wrestling referee Izzy Moidel, witnessed a robbery this morning near the Orange Julius at Ross Park Mall when 23-year-old Terrence Flowers of Mount Lebanon pulled a gun on mall patron Lucy V. Zehmer.
Sammartino brought his wrestling skills to bear and quickly subdued Flowers.
"First, I put him in a head-lock," Sammartino explained. "Then, I took him down."
Within seconds, Sammartino had both of Flowers' shoulders pinned to the ground and Moidel immediately starting counting. "One, two, three" while slapping the floor. Then Moidel imitated the sound of a bell, "ding, ding, ding," and Sammartino instinctively released Flowers. Moidel held Sammartino's arm in the air to signify him as "the winner." Numerous witnesses to the encounter quickly swarmed Sammartino to congratulate him and obtain his autograph.
"I haven't seen that move since Bruno beat Gorilla Monsoon at the [Madison Square] Garden in '67," beamed Moidel.
But as soon as Sammartino released Flowers, Flowers dashed down the escalator and ran through Macy's department store out the door to the parking lot where he jumped in a car and sped off. Neither Sammartino nor anyone in the crowd of well-wishers noticed.
Police arrived on the scene to question Sammartino and Moidel, and they asked how Flowers had escaped. An indignant Moidel told them that "in 42 years, Bruno never held a man in a pinfall past the three count. Bruno is the greatest champion of them all and would never engage in such unsportsmanlike conduct."
The 69-year-old Sammartino used the incident to lend legitimacy to wrestling. "For all those people who say wrestling is a fraud, well, I like to say it's a pre-determined exhibition. And I guess we showed all those naysayers today," he said.
Two hours later, Flowers robbed a convenience store on Seventh Avenue downtown at gunpoint and is still at large.
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