Larry Zbyszko Helped WWE Get Bruno Sammartino For Hall of Fame Induction

Bruno Sammartino was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013, and Larry Zbyszko recently recalled helping WWE land the induction. Sammartino famously had issues with WWE for years over the company’s turn into more provocative content but eventually agreed to the induction, and Zbyszko recalled helping WWE talk to his mentor about it while doing a signing for Captain’s Corner. You can check out a couple of highlights below, per Wrestling Inc:

On talking to Sammartino for the company: “I was kind of instrumental in talking to Bruno. WWE approached me in 2012 because they always wanted Bruno in the Hall of Fame, and Bruno said he would never go in the Hall of Fame years before. But then, you know, they came to me and they asked me if I could talk to him … I wanted Bruno in the Hall of Fame and [Madison Square] Garden was perfect, and then Bruno, I talked to him for some months and then he talked to some other people and he realized the WWE became a great company.”

On Sammartino’s concerns about an induction: “His only thing was, ‘I don’t want people to think that I’m a hypocrite’. I said, ‘A what?’ He said some years before that he would never do it. I said, ‘Well, Bruno, no one will think you’re a hypocrite. Everyone wants you in the Hall of Fame’ … Bruno said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it’. So it all worked out great and it was a happy ending for everybody.”