Hubbard Junior High School
Hubbard, Ohio
January 3, 1970
Yesterday half of the World Wide Wrestling Federation were at the Witchi's Sports Arena in North Attleboro, Massachusetts. Tonight Captain Lou Albano joins the other half of the crew in Hubbard, Ohio for tonight's spot show. Frank Holtz goes one on one with the lunatic George "The Animal" Steele, The Battman takes on Baron Mikel Scicluna, Dominic DeNucci and Johnny DeFazio take on The Sicillians and WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino defends against the vile Killer Kowalski. Let's get to the action.
Match 1
Frank Holtz vs George "The Animal" Steele
Believe it or not, Holtz was a local Pennsylvania police officer who was booked when the WWWF came to Pittsburgh/Ohio area from the 60's all the way to 1976. If you don't know who Steele was, he was born Jim Myers and was a high school teacher & wrestling coach in his native Michigan. To supplement his income, he became a masked wrestler under the moniker "The Student". Eventually his future rival Bruno Sammartino saw his potential and told him to take the mask off. In the era before internet and national television, he could be the rabid "George The Animal Steele" wrestling in the summer but go home and be plain old Coach/Mr. Myers in the fall. Well its Saturday night so Mr. Myers can transform into Steele for tonight's show before heading back home to Michigan. Steele got the victory here.
Winner: Steele by pinfall
Match 2
The Battman vs Baron Mikel Scicluna
Believe it or not, if you've ever seen pictures of someone dressed as Adam West's Batman in a wrestling ring, that was Tony Marino. Barely avoiding being sued by DC Comics, Marino's The Battman was a fixture in Pittsburgh and other parts of the country in the late 60's and early 70's until the bottom dropped out on the 60's Batman craze. One last fun fact, current women's wrestler Lady Frost is his granddaughter. Mikel Scicluna was actually born in Malta before he broke into the business as Mike Valentino in the 1950's in Canada. In 1965, he went to New York and became the evil Baron wearing a flowing blue cape. Scicluna got the win here.
Winner: Scicluna
Match 3
The Sicilians (Tony Altomare and Captain Lou Albano) vs Johnny DeFazio and Dominic DeNucci
Oh boy, its the Sicilians, one of the most infamous tag teams of the 1960's. We all know Albano but who was his partner? Tony Altomare served 2 years in the Air Force before becoming a defacto professional lifeguard. Remember David Hasselhoff in Baywatch? Altomare was the real deal. Because of his great physique and an appearance in The Horror of Party Beach, he caught the eye of wrestling promoters. When he was 32 he got paired with Lou Albano as The Sicilians, a play on Italian gangsters.Dominic DeNucci was born Domenico Nucciarone in Italy before immigrating to Pennsylvania. He made his debut in Montreal in 1958 and formed a tag team called The Bravos with the original Dino Bravo (not the one we know). He was a well traveled veteran making his New York debut in 1968. He was a fan favorite in the WWWF ever since and later became a wrestling trainer. In one class DeNucci trained Mick Foley, "The Franchise" Shane Douglas and Brian "Mark Curtis" Hildebrand....that's quite a team. The Sicilians won this one.
Winner: The Sicilians
Match 4
Killer Kowalski vs Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship
Killer was the perfect opponent for the fan favorite Sammartino throughout the decades. These two fought to a draw when they both committed enough mayhem for the local police to have to separate them.
Winner: No one (Draw)
Standard spot show card the day after another spot show. The 1970's were a lot different from today when they ran local arenas in the territory without crossing borders. Unless Dick The Bruiser put up a stink about doing a show in Ohio, Vince Sr might have been fine running this venue. Bruno is still the champ....whoopie. This Tuesday night the WWWF comes back to Lewiston, Maine at the Armory for the next show. I'll see you there.
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