Legendary Ross Wrestler Bruno Sammartino to be Inducted at Madison Square Garden

Wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino is returning Saturday to Madison Square Garden—a venue he sold out more than 100 times—to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Sammartino of Ross Township ruled the ring in the 1950s and '60s and has sold out the New York City venue more times than any other celebrity then and now, according to KDKA.

His inclusion into the WWE Hall of Fame will end a 25-year feud with WWE owner Vince McMahon.The Associated Press reports that Sammartino and McMahon have not spoken since a short phone call in 1988, when Sammartino quit.

In his prime, the AP says Sammartino weighed 270 pounds and bench-pressed more than double his weight. He worked out with other celebrity body builders, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who will deliver Sammartino's induction speech.

"My God, Madison Square Garden. I keep thinking of all the things that happened to me there," said Sammartino, who recently spoke to the AP in his North Hills home. "Fifty years ago I became champion there for the first time. I picked up Haystacks Calhoun and thought the roof was going to pop off, it was so loud. I lost my championship there and I regained it there. I broke my back fighting in Madison Square Garden.

"So much history. And to think, at this stage of my life, that I get to make one more appearance there. How great is that?"

Sammartino is widely known for the 1960 match, in which he famously lifted 640-pound Calhoun above his head before dropping him to the mat. At age 77, Sammartino still works out six times a week, the AP said.

He survived the Nazi occupation of Italy before his family came to America. As a sickly child of 84 pounds with an thick Italian accent, he was bullied by his peers, but grew up to become one of the strongest men in the world. He won the world wrestling title 50 years ago this May.

As his legend grew, KDKA says so did his distaste for steroid use. For decades, Sammartino refused induction into wrestling’s Hall of Fame until he was convinced the game he loved had finally come clean.

The AP says McMahon's persistent son-in-law, Paul Levesque, who wrestles under the ring name Triple H, was able to convince Sammartino that the organization has changed, including a strict drug testing policy now in place.

Sammartino told the AP that as critical as he's been, he now has to give them credit.

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