Tony Atlas has been a pro wrestler for 50 years, and he isn’t ready to step away from the squared circle anytime soon.

“Until I die,” Atlas said when asked how long he plans to wrestle. “I work out every day. I go to the (YMCA). I’m there just about every morning. It built my life. I don’t know how to do anything else. The only other thing other than wrestling I know how to do is personal training and draw.”

Atlas, a 2006 World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Famer whose real name is Anthony White, will be back in a ring in Lewiston on Saturday night, fighting Sidney Bakabella as part of Limitless Wrestling’s Vacationland Cup show at The Colisee. Atlas is part of a stacked card that also features Matt and Jeff Hardy, who teamed up to form one of professional wrestling’s most famous tag teams, the Hardy Boys; Tommy Dreamer, an Extreme Championship Wrestling legend; and Portland’s Curtis Hussey, who wrestles as Dango, are scheduled to wrestle. The Vacationland Cup begins at 7 p.m.

The 71-year-old Atlas is from Virginia but lives in Auburn. He met his now-wife, Monika, in downtown Lewiston in the late 1980s when he was homeless and fighting drug addiction after the WWF, now the WWE, released him. Atlas, who is now sober, and married Monika in 1990.

This is the second year in a row that Limitless, a Maine-based independent pro wrestling promotion, is holding its biggest event at The Colisee, and Atlas will be part of the show for the second straight year. He was a special guest at the 2024 Vacationland Cup but is excited to be in a match this time. He previously wrestled in Lewiston in the 1980s and early 1990s for International Championship Wrestling, which ran many of its events at the Lewiston Armory.

“I live in Auburn, so it just feels really good to be able to perform,” Atlas said. “I don’t think most of the people here have seen me wrestle, except for the last time I was on TV.”

Most of the matches Atlas participates in are benefit shows to help local schools, police and fire departments, mostly in New England.

Saturday’s match with Sidney Bakabella — real name Joey Eastman — is a throwback to how Atlas got his start in the business when wrestlers challenged more experienced opponents.

“See, I have a reputation,” Atlas said. “So, younger guys are going to shoot for that reputation. Harley Race was older than me, so I became famous for wrestling Harley Race. … Like all the guys, (they) wanted to wrestle Chief Jay Strongbow back in the day. Even though Chief was an older man in his 50s, he was wrestling guys in their 20s and 30s. But they wanted to wrestle Chief because they got a reputation.”

Atlas built up his career in the 1970s and 1980s, working for the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation. He also won the 1979 Mr. USA bodybuilding competition. His crowning moment in wrestling was when he teamed up with Rocky Johnson — the father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — to become the first Black duo to win the WWF Tag Team Titles in 1983.

The other moment Atlas said put his name on the map was when he faced Hulk Hogan a few years before Hogan became the face of professional wrestling. During a match in Madison Square Garden in 1981, Atlas press-slammed and defeated Hogan.

Friendship with Hogan

Atlas and Hogan became friends in 1977 and the two remained in contact before Hogan’s death two weeks ago because of a heart attack.

“He called me three months ago,” Atlas said. “You know the first question I asked him? I said, ‘How did you get my number? He said, ‘I always keep up with you.'”

The only time Hogan ever got mad at Atlas was when he didn’t tell Hogan he was homeless. Atlas said he didn’t tell Hogan because he didn’t have access to a phone.

Hogan helped Atlas return to the WWF in the late 1980s.

Some influential people in Hogan’s wrestling career attended a 10-bell salute following Hogan’s death at Raw or SmackDown — WWE’s two main weekly television shows. Atlas isn’t bothered that he wasn’t asked by WWE to participate.

“I’m kind of glad that they didn’t invite me because then I would only have been there for the money, not for him,” Atlas said.