Madison Square Garden
New York City, NY
January 19, 1970
Here we go, its the showdown people wanted. "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff takes on Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship. Tony Marino and Victor Rivera put the WWWF International Tag Team titles on the line against Waldo Von Erich and Killer Kowalski. The rising star Mario Milano goes after the mad Hungarian Willie Farkas. "Krippler" Karl Kovacs puts his hot streak on the line against Jean Dubois and we got some midgets too! Let's get right to the action.
Match 1
Cowboy Bradley and Little Beaver vs Little Brutus and Sky Low Low in a 2 out of 3 falls match.
Oh great, midgets! Who are they? Cowboy Bradley was a Texas midget who began wrestling in 1954 at the age of 19. Little Beaver was Canadian Lionel Giroux who started wrestling in 1949 at the age of 15. He and Sky Low Low are often considered on the Mount Rushmore for midget wrestlers. Speaking of Low Low, he was a legit badass. Marcel Gauthier was working as a mechanic for the Canadian Royal Airforce during World War 2 and started wrestling as an attraction after the war. He was 41 years old at the time of this match and he'd be around well into the 80's including being one of the standouts on the Tuesday Night Titans broadcast of Butcher Vachon's wedding. Little Brutus aka Jean Jacques Girard not only was a successful wrestler but he became a trainer as well. He trained Little Beaver's brother Claude aka Tiger Jackson and Dink The Clown. Bradley and Beaver won the match.
Winners: Bradley and Beaver
Match 2
Jack Vansky vs Eric The Red
Jack Vansky was a long time ring veteran who worked for the NWA in the 1940's and 50's before becoming a mainstay of WWWF in the 1960's. By now he was 41 years old and had to go up against Eric The Red. Red won the match.
Time of match: 9:25
Winner: Eric The Red
Match 3
Willie Farkas vs Mario Milano
The mad Hungarian goes one on one with rising star Mario Milano. Mikano pinned Farkas to win the match.
Time of match: 10:20
Winner: Milano by pinfall
Match 4
Professor Toru Tanaka vs "Cowboy" Bob Ellis
"Cowboy" Bob Ellis was a 40 year old veteran of the ring who was known for inventing the bulldog. He was also former NWA tag champs with Johnny Valentine and frequent opponent of "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers in his heyday. Now he's on the downside of his career but he still beats Tanaka in this one.
Time of match: 3:00
Winner: Ellis by pinfall
Match 5
Jean Dubois vs "Krippler" Karl Kovacs
Kovacs wanted Bruno badly but it would be Ivan Koloff's turn on this night. Kovacs had to settle on beating Dubois here.
Time of match: 4:25
Winner: Kovacs by pinfall
Match 6
"Big Cat" Ernie Ladd vs Gorilla Monsoon
Two big men going at it with the 6 foot 9 Ladd taking on the 400 pound Monsoon. This went the time limit draw.
Time of match: 20:00
Winner: No one (Draw)
Match 7
Waldo Von Erich and Killer Kowalski vs Tony Marino and Victor Rivera for the WWWF International Tag Team Championship in a 2 out of 3 falls match.
The heels have been on a roll lately but Marino and Rivera retain.
Winners: Marino and Rivera (still Tag Team Champions)
Match 8
"Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff vs Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship
The one we've been waiting for. Koloff got the title shot over Karl Kovacs against Bruno at the Garden. Bruno wins it with a german suplex.
Time of match: 18:37
Winner: Sammartino by pinfall (still Heavyweight Champion)
Bruno is still the champ after all of that. Now with Ivan Koloff dispatched, the clear number one contender is "Krippler" Karl Kovacs. Karl should be making his presence felt very shortly. Tony Marino and Victor Rivera are still the tag team champions as well so they may have new contenders soon. Tomorrow night we head to Portland, Maine at the Expo Building. I'll see you there.
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