Bruno Sammartino and Madison Square Garden go hand in hand and the arena has paid tribute to the WWE Hall Of Famer following his passing.

Fans of professional wrestling will be all too familiar with the feeling you get when one of your heroes passes away. In wrestling, it happens far too often and a lot of the time, big names from the business are taken far too young. On Wednesday this week, news broke that The Living Legend Bruno Sammartino passed away, and while he may have lived to the age of 82, the news still will have hit a lot of fans hard.

Younger fans may not realize how influential Sammartino was in the business of professional wrestling. The Italian Superstar was the top guy in WWE long before Hulk Hogan or John Cena laid claim to that mantle, and to this day, he holds the record for the longest reign as WWE Champion. Sammartino held the championship twice, but combined those reigns totaled eleven years with the title. That's 20 percent of the championship's entire history.

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Naturally, that incredible record makes Sammartino synonymous with the WWE Championship, but that's not all. During his run with WWE, the promotion was a territory in the North East of the United States. Even back then, the company had a special relationship with Madison Square Garden and that was largely down to Sammartino. The Hall Of Famer claims that he sold out the world famous arena over 200 times during his career.

via reddit.com

What the number is exactly isn't clear, but it's probably fair to say that Sammartino has sold out MSG more than anyone in history, professional wrestler, or otherwise. That's why the iconic venue paid tribute to the '"Garden Legend' following his passing as you can see from the photo above that was posted on Reddit. He may not have wrestled at MSG for a while but it's touching to know that he has not been forgotten.

If you are a younger fan and you don't know too much about the life and career of Bruno Sammartino, then we urge you to take some time and get to know The Living Legend. From his incredible childhood growing up in Italy during the Second World War, being told as a child that he only had days to live, to becoming one of the biggest and most famous names in pro wrestling history, his story is inspiring. Bruno Sammartino may be gone, but he will never be forgotten.

NEXT: HOW BRUNO SAMMARTINO CHANGED THE WORLD OF WRESTLING