Punxsutawney High School
Punxsutawney, PA
January 21, 1971
We're in the dawn of a new era in the WWWF as Ivan Koloff is the new WWWF Heavyweight Champion. 3 days after Koloff defeated Bruno Sammartino at Madison Square Garden, he would have his first title defense at the Punxsutawney High School in PA. His challenger? None other than....Tony Marino. Yes, the ex-Battman would get the first crack at the new champion. Other matches include Bruno himself taking on Jos LeDuc in a comeback match after losing to Koloff, Dominic DeNucci against Baron Mikel Scicluna and a novelty tag match between ladies and lady midget partners. Sounds like a party so let's get right to it.
Match 1
"Jumpin" Johnny DeFazio vs John L Sullivan
DeFazio's Junior Heavyweight title wasn't on the line as he battles Sullivan in the opening contest. As per norm, the bout ended in a 20 minute draw. Weren't fans sick of opening match draws by then?
Winner: No one (draw)
Match 2
Sharon Joy and Little Darling Dagmar vs WWWF Women's Champion Fabulous Moolah and Diamond Lil
Remember the women's midget match in Bangor where there were four prominent lady midgets? Well we saw Cuddles Anderson and Celine Fontaine then but now we have Little Darling Dagmar and Diamond Lil. Dagmar was basically a fun-sized Marylin Monroe who was the midget version of popular 50's women's wrestler Darling Dagmar. Midget women really haven't been an attraction since the 70's which is peculiar since men's midget wrestling continues today. Sharon Joy was another Moolah girl from the early 70's. Diamond Lil was born Katie Glass, moved in with Moolah when she was 17 and was her lifelong friend. She even lived with Mae Young when Mae came around creating the dynamic we knew in the late 90's. As for the main attraction, what can be said about Fabulous Moolah? Born Lillian Ellison in 1923, she unfortunately lost her mother to cancer when she was eight years old. She had to work on a cotton farm to make money to make up for the lost income but her father brought her to see women's champion Mildred Burke which inspired her to take up wrestling. Moolah then became one of the biggest draws in wrestling from the women's side starting in 1949. In 1956, she won a battle royal to become the Capitol Wrestling women's champion which later morphed into the World Wide Wrestling Federation where she's still the champ 15 years later. Not surprising but Moolah's team won.
Winners: Moolah and Lil
Match 3
Baron Mikel Scicluna vs Dominic DeNucci
With Ivan Koloff as champion now, DeNucci needs a big win to be a future contender against the Baron. Koloff himself told Baron to take care of Dominic so he never becomes a contender. Fortunately for Ivan, Scicluna got the duke.
Winner: Scicluna
Match 4
Jos LeDuc vs Bruno Sammartino
After dropping the WWWF title to Koloff just 3 days earlier, Bruno begins his comeback trail against the dangerous LeDuc. Koloff sent LeDuc to take out Bruno so Bruno doesn't get a rematch. Unfortunately for the heels, Bruno wins the match.
Winner: Bruno
Match 5
Tony Marino vs "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff for the WWWF Heavyweight Champion
The new champ's first defense would be against the former Battman. It was a good move by Vince Sr to have Koloff go against a lower card babyface so when his next MSG opponent could be announced on Saturday, they didn't have to sacrifice anyone beforehand. Naturally Koloff got the win and kept the title.
Winner: Koloff (still WWWF Champion)
What a difference a week makes. When Bruno was champion all the talk was which heel would he be facing next after Ivan Koloff but the unthinkable happened, he lost. Now the question is who will be Koloff's first MSG defense going to be against? It sure as hell wouldn't be any of the heels since that was taboo back then and it wasn't going to be Tony Marino. Guess we'll have to just find out on Saturday. Still, it would have been nice to see the women's tag match just for the novelty of it. The next show would be the big Friday night show in North Attleboro, see you there.
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