WWWF at Madison Square Garden (4/1/74) Incomplete

Madison Square Garden

New York City, NY

April 1, 1974

We've made it to the big one, Bruno Sammartino defends the WWWF Heavyweight Championship against Nikolai Volkoff. Also on the card, Gorilla Monsoon takes on Don Leo Jonathan, Pedro Morales takes on Larry "The Axe" Hennig and the tag team titles are on the line as Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji go after Dean Ho and Tony Garea. Unfortunately the only match that still exists is a 3 minute clip of Morales vs Hennig but that's not worth doing a write up on. The worst part is this is one of the best MSG cards I've ever seen on paper. Not even the main event remains, damn you 1974 production people!

Match 1

Otto Von Heller vs Jose Gonzalez

For those that don't know, yes, that's the same Jose Gonzalez who killed Bruiser Brody in Puerto Rico in 1988. Otto was actually Canadian wrestler Mike Hall doing the ol "evil German" gimmick. Apparently they fought to a 20 minute time limit draw.

Winner: No one (Draw)

Match 2

Ed Sullivan vs Larry Zbyszko

No, not the talk show host Ed Sullivan. Eddie Sullivan was a territory villain that was notable in the 1960's being in a tag team with Frank "The Angel" Morrell called The Mighty Yankees. The future "Living Legend" was born Larry Whistler but took the name Zbyszko after the 1920's wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko. He started wrestling in Pittsburgh in the same camp as Bill "Ax" Eadie with Bruno Sammartino and Geeto Mongol. Thanks to his ties to those two, he was in WWWF shortly after as a mid-card babyface. Larry got the win here

Winner: Larry Zbyszko

Match 3

Mr. Fuji and Professor Toru Tanaka vs Dean Ho and Tony Garea for the WWWF Tag Team Championship in a 2 out of 3 falls match

Fuji and Tanaka dropped the belts to Dean and Tony in November and get another crack here. Unfortunately for the heels, they got disqualified allowing the champs to retain.

Winners: Ho and Garea by DQ (still WWWF Tag Team Champions)

Match 4

Don Leo Jonathan vs Gorilla Monsoon

The Mormon Giant as he was called takes on Monsoon here. Jonathan was a legit 6'6 300 pound monster but even he looks small compared to Gorilla. Gorilla got the duke in this one.

Winner: Gorilla Monsoon

Match 5

Chief Jay Strongbow vs Stan "The Man" Stasiak

Stan's big moment came on December 1, 1973 when he was told on literally hours notice that he was beating WWWF Champion Pedro Morales for the title after chasing him for months. The backstory was the predominant Latino crowds that followed Pedro were causing riots in Madison Square Garden any time Pedro got in trouble so a pissed off Vince Sr had no choice but to take the belt off Pedro before someone got killed. Knowing the Garden would have burnt to the ground if it was done there, Vince Sr had Stasiak beat him in the Philadelphia Arena and the story goes ring announcer Buddy Wagner had to tell the audience to give a hand to Morales for nearly 3 years as champion rather than announce Stasiak the winner out of fear for further rioting. 9 days later Stasiak dropped the belt to Bruno Sammartino for his second run with the title. Ironically that 9 day reign was longer than Kane's only time as WWF champion and the time John Cena won the WWE title only to lose it to Batista minutes later at Elimination Chamber 2010. The former WWWF champion takes on Strongbow in a big grudge match. Strongbow actually got the win over the ex-champion.

Winner: Strongbow

Match 6

Larry "The Axe" Hennig vs Pedro Morales

Another big time match as Larry The Axe takes on the former WWWF champion Morales. Now there does exist footage of this match but its so cut up its not worth doing a write up about. Morales wins the match.

Winner: Pedro Morales

Match 7

Nikolai Volkoff (with Freddie Blassie) vs Bruno Sammartino (with Arnold Skaaland) for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship

Shedding the Beppo Mongol label, the now Russian Nikolai Volkoff gets a shot at Bruno. As usual, Bruno retains the title.

Winner: Bruno Sammartino (still WWWF Heavyweight champion)

That was a stacked card with maybe one throwaway match. A young Larry Zbyszko, the tag champs, Larry The Axe, two former champs in Pedro & Stasiak, Monsoon, Strongbow, the main event and Don Leo Jonathan make up for a great card. Too bad its been lost to time, that sounds like a lot of fun.

WWWF at Philadelphia Arena (12/1/73)

Philadelphia Arena

Philadelphia, PA

December 1, 1973

To many this seemed like a prototypical spot show just 9 days before Madison Square Garden but hooooo boy were the fans in attendance in for a surprise. The main event would be Stan "The Man" Stasiak once again challenging WWWF Heavyweight Champion Pedro Morales for the title. Joe Turco and Pancho Valdez would be going after the tag straps against Dean Ho and Tony Garea and we got a six man tag match 3 out of 5 falls....ugh. Anyway lets get to this history makin.....errr, normal spot show card.

Match 1

Frank Valois vs Jose Gonzalez

Ah, a good ol fashioned curtain jerk match to open the card here in Philadelphia. Neither one of these guys had a chance to go up against Pedro Morales in any capacity so may as well just beat the hell out of each other. Jose got the duke in this one.

Winner: Jose Gonzalez

Match 2

"Nobleman" Joe Turco and Pancho Valdez vs Dean Ho and Tony Garea for the WWWF Tag Team Championship in a 2 out of 3 falls match.

The Italian teams with Valdez to try to take down the tag champs in a two out of three falls match which was standard for the time. Unfortunately for the challengers, Ho and Garea swept both falls to win the match.

Winners: Ho and Garea (Still Tag Team Champions)

Match 3

El Olympico vs "Iron" Mike McCord

For those that don't know, McCord was actually 24 year old.....AUSTIN IDOL! That's right, the Memphis legend was a mid-card heel managed by Captain Lou Albano at the time. His original gimmick was pretty much the strongman gimmick Ken Patera would use. It wasn't until the late 70's he became the Austin Idol everyone knows today. McCord got the win here.

Winner: Mike McCord

Match 4

Manuel Soto vs Larry "The Axe" Hennig

If you didn't know, Larry The Axe isthe father of Mr. Perfect and grandfather of Curtis Axel. He cut his teeth in his hometown Minnesota before making it big in Texas as a big rough heel. He formed a tag team with "Handsome" Harley Race in the early 60's and Race went on to stardom in the NWA while Larry bounced around the territories. He gets the win over Soto in this one.

Winner: Hennig

Match 5

Blackjack Lanza, Mr. Fuji and Professor Toru Tanaka vs Chief Jay Strongbow, Victor Rivera and Andre The Giant in a 3 out of 5 falls match

If it wasn't for the title match, this would normally be the main event. Why Vince Sr didn't put this match on last I don't know but I don't want to give away what happened later. Anyway after four grueling falls.....Andre's team got the victory.

Winners: Rivera, Strongbow and Andre The Giant

Match 6

Stan "The Man" Stasiak vs Pedro Morales for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship

These two had been battling all over the territory for months and this was just supposed to be another show....until Vince McMahon Sr made an executive decision hours before the event. According to Stasiak, Vince came to him before the show and told Stasiak he'd be winning the strap that night. Dumbfounded, Stasiak said sure but why? The story goes Vince had enough of all the riots in the arenas when Morales wrestled and fans cutting heels up with knives. Vince decided to take the title off Morales with no warning and no buildup to limit the crowd reaction. After all, if Stasiak pinned Morales in the center of the ring in MSG, he might not have made it out alive. So he decided to have the title change in Philly which was always partial to the heels, even in those days. To confuse the fans, Stasiak was in a German Supex and got his arm up at three with Morales shoulders on the mat. Stasiak sprinted outside, grabbed the belt and took off while referee Barney Solomon delayed giving his decision to give Stasiak time to split. Fans started looking for the belt when the ring announcer said "Let's have a hand for Pedro Morales on his great run as champion!" Stasiak not only didn't get to pose with the belt, he technically wasn't even announced the winner. Why Vince decided to end the show this way and not have Andre on last to send the fans home happy is up to Vince Sr himself. Even if he wasn't exactly world championship material, it'll go down in the record books as Stan Stasiak defeating Pedro Morales to become the new WWWF Heavyweight Champion and fifth in company history.

Winner: Stasiak by pinfall (new WWWF Heavyweight Champion)

What a way to end a spot show. Like mentioned earlier, Vince Sr decided to take the title off Morales in a more neutral city than MSG because the fans might have killed Stasiak in New York. To this day it remains the only title change in WWE history to not have any footage at all. Buddy Rogers vs Bruno Sammartino at least had still images but this one has absolutely nothing. We got a new champion....but for how long? That question would be answered shortly but the Morales era was over. Morales was a damn good champion but was undermined by his own damn fans. That's also the reason Vince never booked a true Morales vs Bruno feud apart from their one match at Shea Stadium. The Italians and the Puerto Ricans would have burned down Madison Square Garden fighting each other. The next set of TV tapings would be in a few days where it would be announced on TV that Stasiak was the new champ. The next house show would be in Worcester on the sixth, I'll see you there.