Pro-wrestling legend Sammartino dead at 82

Bruno Sammartino, professional wrestling ’s “Living Legend” and one of its longest-reigning champions, has died. Sammartino was 82. Family friend and former announcer Christopher Cruise said Sammartino died Wednesday and had been hospitalized for two months. Sammartino was wrestling ’s biggest box office draw in the 1960s and ’70s and held the World Wide Wrestling Federation championship for more than 11 years (4,040 days) during two title runs. He was born in Italy and his family immigrated when he was a child to Pittsburgh, where he learned how to be a pro wrestler. The promotion now known as WWE said Sammartino sold out Madison Square Garden 187 times. Sammartino became a WWE broadcaster in the 1980s and later became outspoken about the company’s evolving philosophy that put the emphasis on entertainment.