Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
Buffalo, NY
January 6, 1971
This was a very interesting card with an important main event. The WWWF United States Championship had primarily been defended in Detroit by Bobo Brazil but the title had been declared vacant. There was a tournament to crown a new champion and the finals pit up and coming Pedro Morales against the grizzled, diabolical "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Other matches include two tag matches and Bobo himself facing the legendary Abdullah The Butcher. Let's get right to the action.
Match 1
The Love Brothers (Reginald and Hartford) vs Tony Marino and Chief White Owl
Who are these guys? The Love Brothers were an evil hippie tag team that wrestled mostly for Frank Tunney in Toronto and Buffalo so they were known in the Auditorium. George Dahmer became Chief White Owl because friendly Native Americans were always a draw. We already know Tony Marino. The Love Brothers got the duke.
Winners: The Love Brothers
Match 2
"Crazy" Luke Graham and Baron Mikel Scicluna vs Haystacks Calhoun and Dominic DeNucci
What a treat this match is, so many hall of famers. Born James Grady Johnson, the eventual Graham turned pro at 21 and got his start in the Nick Gulas territory. Popular wrestler at the time The Great Mephisto said Johnson looked like Dr. Jerry Graham and Jerry thought they'd make a great tag team. The Graham family was formed that would eventually include Wayne Coleman (Billy Graham) and Eddie Gossett (Eddie Graham). He was 30 years old now and back in New York. We all know Scicluna and DeNucci but Calhoun is an amazing story. The story goes back in 1955, legendary wrestler and promoter Orville Brown saw William Calhoun legitimately picking up cows and carrying them across the field. Orville instantly thought Calhoun would be a big attraction. Brown was right as Haystacks playing a big country hick drew a ton of money across the country. Calhoun's team got the win.
Winners: Calhoun and DeNucci
Match 3
Bobo Brazil vs Abdullah The Butcher
This would have been a main event in Detroit at the time but its a treat indeed. Abdullah's story is legendary and a brief synopsis would never do it justice. Lawrence Shreve was born in Windsor, Ontario the son of a black woman and a Blackfoot native man. He was brought into the business at 17 years old by Montreal promoter Jack Britton and he was originally called Pussycat Pickens. It wasn't until Lawrence himself came up with the character of an Arabian sadist that Abdullah The Butcher was born. His first victim was Jack's son Gino Brito who'd later be known as Louis Cerdan. Because he was such a beast in the ring, he drew a lot of money as an atrraction, hired gun, etc over the years. He was 30 years old and hitting his prime in 1971. Brazil got the victory here.
Winner: Brazil
Match 4
Tony Parisi vs Waldo Von Erich
This is an interesting contest for sure. Anthony Pugliese started wrestling in Detroit at the age of 20 but made his name working with Gino Brito aka Louis Cerdan. In 1966 he came to the WWWF as the kayfabe cousin of Bruno Sammartino and was a fan favorite in New York ever since. Waldo we all know and he got the victory here
Winner: Von Erich
Match 5
"Classy" Freddie Blassie vs Pedro Morales for the vacant WWWF United States Championship
Long story short, Bobo Brazil was the US Champion up until December 1970 when he suffered an injury and had to vacate the title.....which begs the question why he was working against Abdullah earlier. Anyway a tournament was held to crown a new champ and the finals pit Blassie against Pedro. Blassie is one of the greatest heels the wrestling business has ever seen. He started wrestling as a teenager in the late 30's before spending 3 1/2 years in the Navy during World War 2. When Gorgeous George became one of the first wrestling "characters", Blassie took it upon himself to come up with his own. Essentially the great grandfather of ECW, Blassie was a vicious heel that would consistently cause riots, get stabbed, shot at, threatened....and he loved every minute of it. He'd call fans anything he could think of to draw reactions, even going so far to say "To hell with you white trash, I want to to say hi to all my negro friends" in the pre-civil rights deep south. Blassie claims he found bullet holes in his car later that night after pulling over to take a leak. Pedro started wrestling when he was just 17 in New York after immigrating from Puerto Rico when he was in his early teens. He actually was apart of the initial World Wide Wrestling Federation roster when Vince McMahon Sr broke off from the NWA to form his own promotion. He was 21 years old in 1963 and worked with a lot of the talent that was there at the time including Captain Lou Albano. He started to hit his stride in the WWA in the late 60's He came back to the WWWF in 1970 as a tag team partner for Gorilla Monsoon and proved to be popular in New York. Pedro would win this match and the title.
Winner: Pedro Morales (New US Champion)
Pretty amazing show on paper, too bad it was lost to time. We got a new US Champion in Morales and a rare appearance by Abdullah The Butcher. Still, all eyes were on Bruno Sammartino vs Ivan Koloff coming up at Madison Square Garden 12 days from here. Ivan couldn't possibly dethrone the nearly 8 year run of Bruno could he??? As for now, Pedro is now the number 2 babyface behind Bruno.
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