WWWF at Jaffa Shrine Center (1/23/71)

Jaffa Shrine Center

Altoona, PA

January 23, 1971

The big news around the country was who was tapped to face Ivan Koloff at Madison Square Garden on February 8th. None other than the US Champion Pedro Morales would be facing Koloff in a champion vs champion, title vs title showdown. Talk about a monster match, but until then we still have business in Altoona PA. We got a pretty stacked card with former champion Bruno Sammartino taking on George "The Animal Steele", The tag champs The Mongols defend against US Champ Pedro Morales and Gorilla Monsoon, Ivan Koloff defends the Heavyweight crown against Chief Jay Strongbow and Bulldog Brower takes on Manuel Soto in a big contenders match. This is the opposite of North Attleboro so let's get to the action.

Match 1

"Jumpin" Johnny DeFazio vs Baron Mikel Scicluna

The Junior Heavyweight champion takes on the evil Baron from the Isle of Malta to open the show. DeFazio's title is not on the line as Baron is 6'3 and 250 pounds. The difference might have been the difference in the match as Baron CHEATS to pull out a victory! What a heel.

Winner: Scicluna by pinfall

Match 2

Dominic DeNucci vs Jos LeDuc

The insane LeDuc takes on DeNucci in a big grudge match for no apparent reason. DeNucci's tactics seemed to have angered LeDuc more than usual because LeDuc got himself disqualified for excessive violence. 

Winner: DeNucci by disqualification

Match 3

Manuel Soto vs Bulldog Brower

This match has big implications depending on who walks out of Madison Square Garden the Heavyweight Champion. If Morales pulls it off, Brower needs a win to get a title shot. If Koloff wins, Soto would move closer to another shot. Well Bulldog may be cheering for Pedro on the 8th because he won this match.

Winner: Brower by pinfall

Match 4

Bruno Sammartino vs George "The Animal" Steele

In match number 700 of 7,000 between the two of them, once again this has big implications depending on who walks out of MSG the champion. Bruno somehow didn't get a rematch and Pedro Morales was tabbed as the next one in line so he needs a big win. If Morales were to win, Steele would want a crack at him like he had chances against Bruno. Well the bad news was both men beat each other to a pulp and the ref threw the match out.

Winner: No one (Draw)

Match 5

WWWF United States Champion Pedro Morales & Gorilla Monsoon vs The Mongols (Beppo & Geeto) for the WWWF International Tag Team Championship in a 2 out of 3 falls match.

Now this was a monster match. Monsoon and Chief Jay Strongbow had been chasing The Mongols the whole month of January and now Monsoon is with the US Champ and number 1 contender. The Mongols struck first when Geeto clobbered Monsoon from behind allowing Beppo to the get the pin. The faces rallied when Pedro Morales beat Beppo almost unconscious and pinned him to even the fall. Then it was a pier six brawl and the ref threw the match out, ending it in a draw. Usually that was pretty normal but it was telegraphed as Morales would have two titles with a potential third had he won. That was uncommon at the time.

Winners: No one (Mongols retain)

Match 6

Chief Jay Strongbow vs "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship

Finally some real competition for Koloff who had been facing the lower card faces in the days following his win over Bruno. Strongbow had momentum on his side but Koloff had a date with Morales in 16 days. Fans went home happy as even though Koloff won the match, Strongbow chased him out of the arena with the champ running for his life.

Winner: Koloff by pinfall (still WWWF Champion)

That was a MSG worthy card and it was held in Altoona, PA. The news of Morales being tapped to face Koloff rather than a rematch with Bruno was shocking since Pedro was US Champion at the time. Still, Pedro was more than worthy of a title shot and we got 16 days to hype up the showdown. The Mongols got lucky against Pedro and Monsoon but luck doesn't last forever. The win by Brower over Soto meant Morales had to keep his eye on him if he walked out the champ and Koloff has to worry about Bruno if Morales fails. Things were heating up around here and the group would now travel to Maine for the next show, see you there.

WWWF at Punxsutawney High School (1/21/71)

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.

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 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.

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.