WWWF at Philadelphia Arena (1/16/71)

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.

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 Pittsburgh Civic Arena (2/4/63)

Pittsburgh Civic Arena

Pittsburgh, PA

February 4, 1963

After Heavyweight champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers defeated Bobo Brazil in a Texas Death Match, former NWA Champion Eduoard Carpentier delivered a message from Toots Mondt that Rogers will face Bruno Sammartino in Bruno's hometown of Pittsburgh. Tonight's the night as Bruno faces Buddy in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Let's get to our first match.....but wait. All of a sudden Buddy himself comes to the ring with a special announcement. He says he's going to make an example out of Bruno later tonight but first he's got a warm up match for the crowd as a sneak preview.

Match 1

Frank Pickens vs "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers

Rogers brings out local jobber Frank Pickens for a tune-up match to begin the night. Rogers beats him in record time and Pickens has to be stretchered out. Rogers grabs the mic and says that's what's going to happen to Bruno later tonight.

Winner: Rogers

Match 2

TNT Napolitan vs Johnny DeFazio

 Johnny DeFazio was a local star in Pittsburgh mostly known for Studio Wrestling in Pennsylvania. He gets the win over TNT here with a dropkick.

Time of match: 9:51

Winner: DeFazio by pinfall

Match 3

Gene Kiniski vs Buddy Austin

If you think Vince McMahon Jr was notorious for taking other promotions' champions and jobbing them out, he learned it from his father. For whatever reason Vince Sr was booking former world champion Kiniski as a jobber. Austin won this one.

Time of match: 9:49

Winner: Austin

Match 4

Jim Grabmire vs Ace Freeman

Jim Grabmire was a veteran working for Jim Crockett Sr at the time but was on loan to face Ace on this card. Freeman takes it with an inside cradle.

Time of match: 11:34

Winner: Freeman by pinfall

Match 5

Chico Santana and Pee Wee Lopez vs Marcel Sinard and Tiny Bell in a 2 out of 3 falls match

Oh boy, midget tag team wrestling. Tiny Bell was mostly know for AWA and WWA matches while Marcel was another from the French Canadian midget camp. Pee Wee was a Detroit/AWA mainstay and remember when Jesse Ventura used to call Tito Santana "Chico"? He was referencing midget wrestler Chico Santana all those years. Santana and Lopez got the duke.

Winners: Santana and Lopez

Match 6

Bobo Brazil vs Killer Kowalski

After failing to win the heavyweight title, Brazil took on the Killer just four days later. In the storyline, Brazil was weak because of the grueling Texas Death Match and Kowalski rendered him unconcious, causing the ref to stop the match.

Winner: Kowalski by stoppage

Match 7

Skull Murphy vs "Sailor" Art Thomas

Skull Murphy was Canadian born John Joseph Murphy who was one half of a heel tag team with Brute Bernard in the 1960's. Thomas made him submit to the bearhug.

Time of match: 12:33

Winner: Thomas by submission

Match 8

Bruno Sammartino vs "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers for the World Heavyweight Championship in a 2 out of 3 falls match

Under the orders of Toots Mondt, Bruno gets his long awaited title shot against the champion. Buddy got the advantage 11:39 into the match when he landed a running knee to the head and got the three count to take the first fall. Then 6:59 into the second fall, Bruno made Buddy submit to the bearhug. For some inane reason, Bruno thought he had won the title and started celebrating on the apron. Buddy ran up and knocked him into the steel barricade where Bruno was counted out to end the match. Fans were LIVID but Buddy was still the champion.

Time of match: 18:58

Winner: Rogers 2 falls to 1 (still World Heavyweight Champion)

After surviving a Texas Death Match just four days earlier, Buddy just beat Bruno Sammartino in his home town 2 falls to 1. Who's gonna stop Buddy now, Edouard Carpentier? Logically Gene Kiniski should get a title shot but he's being jobbed out for some inane reason. Its going to be interesting tomorrow on television what happens next. I'll see you in Bridgeport, CT for the next TV taping.