Philadelphia Arena
Philadelphia, PA
January 16, 1971
We are two days away from the Madison Square Garden showdown between Ivan Koloff and Bruno Sammartino but there's still business left to do in Pennsylvania. The day before Vince Sr pulled a double shot with half of the roster in North Attleboro and the other half in Pittsburgh. Today Philadelphia gets their turn to showcase the WWWF. We got the main roster on this one as Bruno defends the title against the red hot Bulldog Brower, The Mongols put the tag straps on the line against Chief Jay Strongbow and Tony Marino and Pedro Morales defends the US belt against The Black Demon. Morales and Sammartino took a beating yesterday so let's see if it affects them moving forward.
Match 1
Victor Rivera vs Jim Grabmire
We open the show with the rising star Rivera against the grizzled veteran Grabmire. For once the opening match wasn't a draw as Rivera got the victory
Winner: Rivera
Match 2
Baron Mikel Scicluna and George "The Animal" Steele vs Dominic DeNucci and WWWF Junior Heavyweight Champion "Jumpin" Johnny DeFazio
The duo that beat up Bruno yesterday take on the local Pennsylvania boys DeNucci and DeFazio. Unfortunately for the good guys, Steele and Scicluna got the victory.
Winners: Scicluna and Steele
Match 3
Vincente Pometti vs "Nobleman" Joe Turco
Gotta love when two curtain jerkers face each other for bragging rights. The Argentinian and the Italian face off and surprise, surprise....it ends in a draw.
Winner: No one (draw)
Match 4
Manuel Soto vs The Wolfman
Big match here as Soto wants to be a successor to Pedro Morales as US Champion while Wolfman is locked in to a US title shot against Morales in two days. Wolfman keeps his heat by getting the win, Morales awaits.
Winner: Wolfman
Match 5
Gorilla Monsoon vs "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff
Talk about a monster match before the big show at MSG. If Koloff wants to beat Bruno, he has to get by the big Monsoon first. Ivan gets the duke to have all the momentum going into MSG.
Winner: Koloff
Match 6
The Black Demon vs Pedro Morales for the WWWF United States Championship
The human punching bag Demon somehow gets a crack at the US title two days before Madison Square Garden. Bruno has to face Bulldog Brower on a hot streak while Morales faces the winless all month Demon. No surprise but Morales gets the win.
Winner: Morales
Match 7
Chief Jay Strongbow and Tony Marino vs The Mongols (Beppo & Geeto) in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the WWWF International Tag Team Championship
Strongbow has been chasing the Mongols all month with various tag team partners ranging from Gorilla Monsoon to the local peanut vendor in the arena so this time he chooses Tony Marino. As per norm, Strongbow gets the first fall, the Mongols got the second fall and Marino got counted out to end it. The Mongols retain the titles.
Winners: The Mongols (still Tag Team Champions)
Match 8
Bulldog Brower vs Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship
Brower has been on a hot streak since the month began and he gets Bruno two days before the big MSG show. Bruno got the crap kicked out of him by George Steele and Baron Scicluna the previous day and now he's got the vicious Bulldog on his tail. The match ended in a double disqualification when everyone in the back interfered and had a big brawl. That must have been fun to watch.
Winner: No one (Bruno retains)
That was a stacked card and it definitely served its purpose as a preview for Madison Square Garden coming up. Bruno & The Mongols have their work cut out for them moving forward while Pedro goes into the US title match with momentum. They kept Bulldog strong for a future match with Bruno so he was definitely getting another title shot down the road. All in all it was a good card that unfortunately has been lost to time. Next up is MSG, you don't want to miss it.
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