Wrestling icon Bruno Sammartino has died at the age of 82, World Wrestling Entertainment announced on Wednesday.

Sammartino is recognized as the longest-reigning WWF/E Champion in history, holding the company's premier title for nearly eight years.

Born in Italy, Sammartino moved to Pittsburgh as a teen and began wrestling at 24, finding a large following in cities with large Italian populations.

Sammartino wrestled a number of famous bouts throughout the northeast, including matches with Buddy Rogers and Lou Thesz at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.

He captured the then-WWWF Title at Madison Square Garden in 1963 from Rogers and would hold onto the strap until 1971 when he was defeated by Montreal-born Ivan Koloff.

Sammartino won the title for a second time in 1973, defeating another Canadian, Arvida, Que.’s Stan Stasiak. His second title reign was also lengthy, but cut short due to injury. In a 1976 match at MSG against Stan Hansen, a body slam went awry and Sammartino broke his neck. Sammartino and Vince McMahon Sr. decided that the time was right to drop the title and Sammartino was defeated in April 1977 by Superstar Billy Graham.

With his in-ring career winding down, Sammartino was involved in a memorable feud in 1980 when his former protégé, Larry Zbyszko turned on Sammartino. Their enmity culminated in the main event of “Showdown at Shea” in the summer of 1980, when Sammartino defeated Zbyszko in a cage match at Shea Stadium in Queens.

Upon retiring in 1981, Sammartino sued McMahon after a former employee told Sammartino that McMahon had been skimming the profits promised to him from house show gates. The lawsuit was settled out of court by Vince McMahon Jr. (his father had passed away) and as part of the deal, Sammartino returned to the WWF as a colour commentator.

Sammartino seconded his son, David, at the inaugural WrestleMania in 1985 for his match with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. He became physically involved with Beefcake’s manager, Johnny Valiant, with the match ending in a disqualification. Sammartino ended his retirement to begin tagging with his son and eventually returned to singles action, as well. In his post-retirement run, Sammartino feuded with “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff and The Honky Tonk Man.

He wrestled his last match for the WWF in late 1987, teaming with Hulk Hogan to defeat The One Man Gang and King Kong Bundy.

After leaving the company in 1988, Sammartino had a lengthy falling out with the WWF/E over McMahon’s tawdry direction for the company, as well as the prevalence of steroids and recreational drugs. Eventually the sides would reconcile with Sammartino inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.

Tributes for Sammartino poured in on Wednesday.

"I will always have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for Bruno Sammartino," wrote The New Day's Big E. "I can't thank him enough for always being kind to me and taking to have a genuine conversation. Condolences to his family and loved ones."

"Devastating news for the wrestling world," tweeted "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. "An icon amongst icons, Bruno Sammartino has passed away. RIP Bruno. My thoughts and prayers are with his family today."

"Growing up, my grandfather Stu Hart would ALWAYS talk about Bruno Sammartino and what an incredible wrestler he was," tweeted Calgary's Nattie Neidhart. "I'm so grateful I had the chance to meet Bruno and tell him how much he meant to my grandfather and the entire Hart family. We will all miss you, Bruno."

Sammartino is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Carol, and three sons, David, Darryl and Danny.