WWWF at Pittsburgh Civic Arena (1/15/71)

Pittsburgh Civic Arena

Pittsburgh, PA

January 15, 1971

While half the WWWF roster was performing at Witchi's Sports Arena in North Attleboro, MA.....the other half was at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena for a great card of wrestling three days before Madison Square Garden. WWWF and adopted hometown hero Bruno Sammartino teams with Dominic DeNucci against the dastardly Baron Mikel Scicluna and George "The Animal" Steele in the main event. Other matches include a young John L Sullivan taking on Jim Dillon, Gorilla Monsoon teaming with Victor Rivera against number one contender Ivan Koloff and the insane Jos Le Duc, and "Nobleman" Joe Turco taking on Bobby Hunt. Let's get to the matches.

Match 1

Frank Holtz vs Mike Conrad

Check it out, its Frank Holtz! I said this before but he was a local Pennsylvania police officer who was booked when the WWWF came to Pittsburgh from the 60's all the way to 1976. As per norm, this was a 15 minute time limit draw.

Time of match: 15:00

Winner: No one (Draw)

Match 2

Jim Dillon vs John L Sullivan

Talk about two guys who would go on to greatness. For those that don't know, Jim Dillon is none other than James J Dillon the future architect of the Four Horseman in the NWA. Back then he was a 28 year old "rookie" just getting into the business. He was doubling as referee and enhancement talent. John L Sullivan would later become Luscious Johnny Valiant. He was born Thomas Sullivan and was good friends with Bruno Sammartino in the Pittsburgh area in the late 60's. It was Bruno that helped Johnny get into the business in Detroit, being trained by Al Costello and working for The Sheik. In 1969, he came to New York as the babyface John L Sullivan basing his name off 19th century boxing champion John L Sullivan. Seeing these two great managers in their prime would have been fun to see. Sullivan got the duke when Dillon was counted out.

Time of match: 11:40

Winner: Sullivan by count-out

Match 3

Victor Rivera and Gorilla Monsoon vs Jos Le Duc and Ivan Koloff

This is an interesting matchup as Koloff was three days away from challenging Bruno Sammartino for the heavyweight crown and here he is teaming with the lunatic Jos Le Duc against Rivera and Monsoon. The heels got themselves disqualified.

Time of match: 13:08

Winners: Rivera and Monsoon by pinfall

Match 4

"Nobleman" Joe Turco vs Bobby "Hurricane" Hunt

Hurricane Hunt was a local Pittsburgh wrestler and he had the hometown advantage against the dastardly Turco. Hunt pinned Turco to win the match.

Time of match: 10:33

Winner: Hunt by pinfall

Match 5

Jim Grabmire vs WWWF Junior Heavyweight Champion "Jumpin" Johnny DeFazio

What's that you ask? Believe it or not the WWWF did have a rarely used Junior Heavyweight title for the smaller guys of the time.  This would be a non-title match as Jim Grabmire was 6 foot 6 and 242 pounds. DeFazio pinned Grabmire to win the match.

Time of match: 13:19

Winner: DeFazio by pinfall

Match 6

Baron Mikel Scicluna and George "The Animal" Steele vs Dominic DeNucci and WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino in a 2 out of 3 falls match

The champ is here and he's teaming with DeNucci to take on Scicluna and the insane George Steele. The first fall went to the faces as Sammartino pinned Steele but George got mad and belted Bruno with a chair rendering him unable to continue in the second fall. The third fall went to the faces when Scicluna and Steele were disqualified for doubleteaming Bruno. Back then house shows weren't really talked about on TV but these days they could play up Bruno taking a beating at the hands of Steele & Scicluna just days away from his battle with Koloff. Still, the Pittsburgh Italians win it.

Winners: Bruno & Dominic 2 falls to 1

We're just days away from the big MSG showdown and both the Heavyweight and US champion took beatings at the hands of the heels tonight. Once again, WWWF had only local syndication on the weekends so Friday night Smackdown didn't exist in 1971, otherwise you could play up Morales and Sammartino getting beat up days before their title defenses. Still there was a lot going on that's been lost to time. A younger JJ Dillon duking it out with the future Johnny Valiant and the Junior Heavyweight Champion Jumpin Johnny. There's only one house show left before MSG so we'll see you in Philadelphia.

WWWF at Hubbard Junior High (1/3/70)

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.