Quotes from Bruno Sammartino

I always used to get goosebumps in Madison Square Garden, because as soon as I started making my entrance, people would be chanting my name. 'BRU-NO! BRU-NO!'

For my fans around the world, I am pleased to be joining the WWE Hall of Fame, especially at Madison Square Garden.

In 1959 I had broken the bench press record by lifting 565 pounds, and I could lift 715 pounds from a squat.

Stan Hansen was a different ballgame. I broke my neck wrestling him in Madison Square Garden. I spent a month in the hospital and for a while it was touch and go because the doctors told me I came within a millimeter of being paralyzed from the neck down.

People have no clue how demanding my schedule was back in the day. There were times when I might be home for just one or two days a month.

We lived in the mountains for 14 months without much food. People were dying from starvation.

Listen, when I was real young, I thought I was made out of steel. I didn't think anything could hurt me, I was so powerful. But as time goes on, you find out you are not made of steel.

I busted my nose 11 times. My fingers are all busted. My ribs. Both my arms. I can't straighten them out.

I would have loved to sing opera, but I have no voice. I used to sing along with records.

I'm an opera lover.

I never wrestled for the money or the fame. I just wanted to be able to take care of my family. I wanted to be able to educate my children. I wanted them to have it better than I did.

Inoki is nothing but a third rater in my estimation.

I was born in Pizzoferrato, a little village of 1000, in the Abruzzi region of Italy.

I'm very violent in the ring. I don't know if it's the Italian temper, I can get very nasty in there. But outside, I'm the easiest-going guy in the world.

Haystacks Calhoun has never been lifted because he has never been in the ring with Bruno Sammartino.

When you're in sports, you have such a limited time and then, it's all over with, finished.

Wrestling was my way of making a living. I did the very best I could.