June 30, 1973
Madison Square Garden
New York City, NY
Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr
We're in for a treat today. WWE Old School on Peacock somehow is putting out old Madison Square Garden shows and the MSG show from June 30, 1973 has been uncovered. Pedro Morales was WWWF world champion and he'd be defending against the dangerous half man, half animal George "The Animal" Steele. We also get a 2 out of 3 falls women's tag match with Jan Sheridan and Joyce Grable against Dotti Downs and Peggy Patterson. In a special treat, Gorilla Monsoon gets his hands on Captain Lou Albano. Now normally I would never do Peacock versions of anything because they're horrifically edited but in this case, there was no music or crowd noise to edit so its all good. The ring announcer welcomes us to "All-Star Heavyweight Rassling" and introduces our "judges" Nat Cooper, Dick Woehrle and Joe Ryder.....as in referees. The matches are sanctioned by the New York State Athletic Commission, the doctor at ringside is Dr. Edwin Campbell and his name is......well he never gives it.
Match 1
Lee Wong vs Blackjack Lanza
The ring announcer calls him Blackjack La-Lanza, where's Joe McHugh when we need him? Lanza needs no introduction as he was a big rough heel that was paired with Blackjack Mulligan to form the devastating tag team still talked about today. He had just spent the last six years in Dick The Bruiser's territory where he formed The Blackjacks with Mulligan managed by a 23 year old Bobby Heenan in 1967. Vince on commentary notices the size difference between Lanza with the other two men in the ring. Lanza backs Wong into the corner but Lanza breaks clean causing the crowd to scoff. Some fan shouts "Kill em Lee! Kill em!" Lanza breaks clean two more times then hip tosses Wong out of nowhere. Lanza locks in an armbar but lets it go cleanly. Vince says "we never expected this." Wong backs Lanza against the ropes and also breaks clean. Vince "Wonders never cease." Finally Lanza snaps and rakes the eyes before choking him against the ropes, using the 5 count to his advantage. Lanza rams Wong's head into the buckle then goes back to the blatant choke. Lanza rakes the face across the ropes then unloads with a big right hand. Some old lady throws her shoe at Lanza who picks it up without missing a beat and rakes the face with it. Wong rallies with a series a chops but Lanza rakes the eyes with his hands then his boot. Lanza headlock punches Wong in the throat and continues to choke before sending him into the buckle again. Lanza then grabs the microphone out of Vince's hands and chokes Wong with it, that's one way to shut Vince up. Wong gets thrown out of the ring but is snap mared in the ring the hard way. Lanza drops a knee, sends him off the ropes and applies his famous claw hold. Wong fades and the referee says that's it, Wong can't continue. Lanza refuses to let go for some more heat then let's go to do jumping jacks. He goes back to the claw for more heat then finally leaves. Definitely establishes Lanza as a mean ol bastard.
Time of match: 5:05
Winner: Blackjack Lanza by submission
Match 2
El Olympico vs Professor Toru Tanaka (with The Grand Wizard)
Its that damn Olympico again! His opponent Tanaka was 43 years old now but still drew heat in the Garden, especially with Wizard as the manager. Before the match starts, old Mrs. Krieger takes a swing at Tanaka and gives the kiss my ass sign before shaking hands with Olympico. It would never happen today but Mrs. Krieger was a fiesty elderly wrestling fan that would routinely hop the guardrails and terrorize the heels. Since she was in support of the babyfaces, she got away with it more often than not. I doubt if an old lady jumped the guard rail and started swinging at Pedro Morales she wouldn't last very long. The match starts with Tanaka refusing a handshake and pulls out the ceremonial salt. Mrs. Kreiger makes a mad dash around the ring to wipe all the salt thrown. Finally her husband grabs her and pulls her away as Tanaka ties up with Olympico. Both of them are pudgy guys in their 40's so I doubt this is going to go very long. Tanaka gets the upperhand with cheating tactics as Olympico gets in a side headlock. Tanaka complains that his non-existent hair was pulled. Olympico stops himself coming off the ropes because Tanaka was waiting with a big chop. Tanaka takes Olympico down and works the leg and gets a series of two counts. The ref catches Tanaka using the rope for leverage and makes him break the hold. Olympico locks in a full nelson but Tanaka breaks it and takes Olympico down. He gets in a chokehold and the ref makes him break it. Olympico takes Tanaka down and locks in a spinning toe hold. Tanaka breaks out of it and goes for a titty twister (seriously?) only Olympico stomps on the bare foot of Tanaka much to the crowd's delight. Tanaka wrenches the fingers of Olympico and Olympico counters by giving him a wet willie....yes I'm serious. Mrs. Krieger makes a very blatant racist gesture before Olympico hits a dropkick. Olympico goes for a second one but misses entirely. Tanaka begs off in the corner before locking in an arm bar. He shouts "Sit down you old bag" at Mrs. Krieger and the distraction allows Olympico to reverse the hold. Tanaka turns a bridge into a chokehold and attacks Olympico who had stepped through the ropes. The ref gets more involved to stop Tanaka and Tanaka says "Are you crazy?" Olympico fights back and lands a dropkick. He covers for 1....and that's it. Olympico nails another dropkick and covers for 1...2..nope. Olympico goes for a third dropkick but instead eats a judo chop to the throat. Tanaka covers for 1...2....3. that's it, Tanaka wins it. Vince says all it took was one devastating chop to win the match. Vince goes to the replay of Tanaka getting the chop in at the last second. That was a fun match all things considering.
Time of match: 9:34
Winner: Professor Toru Tanaka by pinfall
Match 3
Gorilla Monsoon vs Captain Lou Albano
If you don't know who either of these guys are, you're an idiot. Two absolute legends in the wrestling business. Monsoon had just turned 36 a few weeks earlier and he takes on the 39 year old Albano in a one off. Unlike Wizard and Fred Blassie, Albano would get back in the ring every now and then. Albano shouts at the crowd as Vince says this came about because Albano sneak attacked Monsoon with a chair. Monsoon gets a huge cheer from the crowd as he bum rushes Lou before the match even starts. The ref has to calm Monsoon down so the ring announcer can give the instructions. The bell rings and Albano immediately runs for cover. Monsoon catches him and forearms him in the corner. Albano goes for the eye gouges and uses a taped thumb to attack Monsoon. Monsoon pulls the ref out of the way and Albano continues to ram the thumb to the throat but Monsoon finally comes back with chops. The crowd goes nuts as Monsoon continues to chop and punch away at Albano and a big right hand sends Albano over the top to the floor. Albano runs away to take the count out and Monsoon is your winner. Short and sweet due to Gorilla's advancing age and Albano was never the best worker. Monsoon acts like Albano is coming back but the ref says its over. That's the kind of matches Albano would have, fans paid to see him get his. Vince goes to the highlights and showing Albano running away.
Time of match: 2:58
Winner: Gorilla Monsoon by count-out
Match 4
Victor Rivera vs Black Gordman
The battle of the latin stars as the Puerto Rican Victor Rivera takes on Black Gordman from Mexico City. Rivera was a predecessor to guys like Carlito in terms of being able to incorporate aerial tactics. Gordman was a big bad "rudo" in Mexico feuding with Mil Mascaras in 1969 and becoming a mainstay of the Los Angeles territory. Remember Mr. Perfect's manager "The Coach"? That was "Golden Greek" John Tolos who also feuded with Gordman. Vince shills bowling tournaments on HBO as Rivera jumps in the ring. Vince actually brings up their feud from WWA out in California so they took this across the coast. The bell rings and they circle to start with Gordman stalling to yell at the crowd. Rivera catches Gordman with a series of arm-drags but Gordman punches him. Rivera punches back and the fans explode when he does. Rivera whips Gordman in the corner who bumps around like a pinball machine. Gordman bails to the apron before getting back in. Gordman locks in a modified chinlock but Rivera counters with an overhead arm-bar. Gordman claims the hair's being pulled (which he lost against Mascaras years earlier) so the ref breaks it up. Gordman locks in a leg lock takedown but Rivera starts to power out of it. Rivera puts Gordman on his back but the ref doesn't count anything. Gordman and Rivera engage in a test of strength which Gordman wins, going into a standing surfboard. Rivera starts to reverse it but Gordman gets the knee in the back. Rivera starts to power out of it again but Gordman gets the knee in the back again. Rivera powers out of it for a third time and locks his own surfboard in as the crowd cheers. Rivera rams his head in the buckle but eats a thumb to the eye. Gordman then gets a facelock in before switching to a sleeperhold. Rivera starts to fade but the arm only drops twice. Rivera then squirms like he's got a spider in his tights but Gordman maintains control. Rivera rocks back and forth trying to break the hold but once again Victor starts to fade. Then he starts squirming and gets to his feet, breaking the hold to a massive pop. Rivera rallies with two dropkicks and two headscissors to stun Gordman who begs off in the corner. Gordman then gets a kick to the mid-section and goes back to the sleeper again. The crowd begins to go quiet but Rivers gets back to his feet, only to get shoulderblocked down. Rivera then hits a scoop slam but Gordman counters with one of his own. Gordman goes for another suplex but Rivera turns it into a small package for 1...2.....3 that's it. The crowd explodes as Rivera is your winner. A match like that would put a crowd to sleep 20 years later but that was pretty good for 1973 standards, telling a nice story.
Time of match: 11:44
Winner: Victor Rivera by pinfall
Match 5
Joyce Grable and Jan Sheridan vs Dotti Downs and Peggy Patterson in 2 out of 3 Falls
All four of them were trained by Fabulous Moolah and all four of them look almost alike. If you thought the Divas era was bad with blonde bombshells galore, go back 30 years and you get this match. Sheridan was 32 and actually was one of Moolah's top opponents. We all remember Grable from back in March, no sense repeating myself. Dotti Downs was a 36 year old veteran who has a big pompadour going on. Peggy Patterson was 21 at the time and would later appear in LPWA. This is going to be a LONG match because its 2 out of 3 falls and more than likely its going the full three. Patterson towers over everyone and the ref gives unusually long instructions before we get started. Patterson goes to town on Sheridan to start but Sheridan fights back with a forearm. Patterson works a top wristlock and takes Jan down with it by pulling the hair. They repeat the exact same spots like six times until Sheridan winds up for a big punch to back her off. Sheridan locks in a leg-lock but Patterson counters it with one of her own, pulling the tights for leverage. Sheridan counters with an STF, unheard of in 1973. Sherdian tags in Grable who goes for a leglock but Patterson grabs the hair. Sheridan gets in to help and Grable once again takes her down. Patterson pulls the hair, punches the stomach and chokes Grable. Patterson tags in Downs who gets in a front headlock. Because all four women look alike, Patterson and Downs pull a switch. The referee notices the switch so Patterson nonchalantly tags out to Dotti who continues to the front headlock. Grable backs her into the corner and hits a forearm but is unable to make a tag. Patterson chokes Grable in the corner and the ref is busy occupied with Sheridan. The ref finally pries Patterson off Grable and Downs unloads with punches and kicks. Grable gets the hot tag to Sheridan and Dotti begs off. Sheridan takes her down and then chokes her on the ropes, but Patterson kicks her off. Grable gets in to clock Downs and Sheridan winds up forearms, then delivers them Sheridan holds Dotti for Grable to punch her but turns around to put Downs in the way of a Patterson forearm. Downs recovers and goes back to the front headlock, tagging Patterson back in. Patterson does the same hair pull headlock she was doing earlier but Sheridan locks in an arm-ringer. Sheridan works over the left arm into a hammerlock. Patterson makes it to Dotti but Grable tags in as well. Downs begs off but catches Grable with a single-leg takedown. Both Patterson and Sheridan help each other get the advantage of the leadlock right out of a midget match. Downs makes it to the ropes and Grable kicks the leg. Once again they do the hair pull until Downs kick Grable in the ribs. Joyce counters with a dropkick and covers for 1...2.....3.
Patterson was too late to stop the count and the faces take the first fall. The announcer gets in to announce the end of the first fall and Patterson complains. Patterson shouts at the ref, shouts at the crowd and the bell rings to start the second fall. The faces pull both heels in and slingshot them across both sides of the ring. Sheridan and Downs start the second fall with Sheridan getting an armringer in. Patterson takes Sheridan down by the hair and locks in an armringer. The camera zooms in right on Peggy's ass and Vince tries to talk about anything else. Finally Grable gets the tag and does the Moolah hair snapmares. Grable covers for 1...2....nope. Sheridan tags in and Patterson wants a handshake but Jan kicks her in the chest. A forearm to the back chases Patterson into the corner where Dotti tags in. Dotti pulls Sheridan's hair and locks in another leglock. Grable gets in the ring, throws Dotti down and covers her.....what? The ref tells her to beat it since she never legally tagged in. Sheridan tags in Grable for real this time but she misses a drop kick. Downs dives on top and hooks the tights for 1...2...3 and we're even at one fall apiece, just as I thought.
Patterson gets in a cheapshot as the announcer gets in the ring and says the second fall goes to Downs and Peggy. The bell rings for the third and final fall with Sheridan and Patterson in there. Sherdian sells like her back is broken and the ref teases that he's going to stop the match. The heels doubleteam Sheridan in the corner but she punches Peggy down. Another Moolah hairsnap mare drops Patterson who bails to the apron. Jan brings her in the hard way and slingshots her across the ring before hitting another Moolah snapmare. Jan then gets on Peggy's shoulder and victory rolls her with Grable cutting Dotti off for 1...2...3 and that's it, the faces win the match. The crowd which had been silent for most of the match erupts in cheers, mostly because the match is over. Grable and Sheridan win it as Patterson and Downs shout at the fans as they leave. If you're not a fan of Moolah style wrestling this would be a tough 20 minutes to sit through. It wasn't a BAD match per se but its one of those matches that would have looked the exact same 12 years later with only 2 real women's trainers at the time. Still, the longest match on an MSG card was a women's tag match, that's good for something right?
Time of match: 20:47
Winners: Jan Sheridan and Joyce Grable 2 falls to 1
Match 6
George "The Animal" Steele vs Pedro Morales for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship
Before the match starts George shouts at a guy in the crowd "Sit down you jerk, what the hell's wrong with you?" in perfect English. Wait, what? Well it turns out the original Animal character was as smart as anyone but just acted like an animal in the ring. It wasn't until the early 80's when promos became important that Steele had enough of Vince Jr one day. He cut an eloquent promo but Vince said he made too much sense. Steele then started spouting gibberish as a rib hoping Vince would say "alright knock it off" but instead Vince lit up and said "Yes! That's what I'm talking about." We all know Morales already and tonight he defends the title against The Animal. The match starts and Pedro explodes with left hands and whips Steele into the corner who Flair flips out of the ring. The crowd roars as Steele regroups outside. Back inside Morales throws a left hand but Steele pulls out the "foreign object" and clobbers Morales with it. Morales staggers to his feet and Steele nails him with it again. George stands on top of Pedro and chokes him with his boot. Steele scoop slams Pedro and whacks Pedro with the object. The ref checks on Steele who goes to bite the buckle but Pedro rallies with left hands that has the crowd exploding and Steele on the run. Pedro stalks George around the ring and catches him with an armdrag. George tries to hide in the corner but Pedro clocks him with a forearm. Steele stands on the apron and stalls for some heat but back inside George lands a headlocked punch. Vince claims he had the object but it didn't look like it. George rams Pedro into the buckle and yells at the crowd. George rams him again only this time he rams him into the steel part behind it. Pedro then rams Steele into the ring post then sends him into the opposite post. Pedro rams him into the other post then unloads with left hands as the crowd roars. Steele is a bloody mess as Pedro continues to punch away at the cut and actually bites him much to the crowd's delight. Steele goes for the object but Pedro cuts him off with left hands. The ref checks George's head and calls for the bell. Apparently the ref thinks George can't continue and says its over. George gets up like nothing's wrong and attacks Pedro with the foreign object. Pedro them gets the object away and the crowd roars as Steele runs for the hills. The announcer says Morales is winner and still champion. Stoppages were common in those days and having Steele lose but not eat a pinfall was a way to protect him. Pedro holds up the Puerto Rican flag and a sign a fan handed him. Fans had jumped the guardrail and surrounded the ring to sing his praises.....and that's the kind of crap that lost him the title. What started happening when he became champion was the latino fans would hit the ring and cause a riot when Pedro would get color or get his brains beat in by the heel. As for now, the fans are happy and Pedro is still the champ. The thing about this match is it wasn't a technical match, it was a straight brawl. That's what the crowd wanted back then so by crackey enjoy the fight.
Time of match: 8:16
Winner: Morales by stoppage
Match 7
Mr. Fuji vs Chief Jay Strongbow
After dropping the belts to Tony Garea and Haystacks Calhoun the month before, Fuji faces Strongbow one on one. Jay was 45 years old in this match but was still over as a fan favorite in the Garden. The bell rings and Fuji throws the ceremonial salt but old Mrs. Krieger is back to wipe it away, only this time the crowd is tired of it. Strongbow and Fuji crisscross the ropes and Strongbow catches a chop. Fuji bails but Jay catches him with headscissors. Jay catches Fuji with a few armdrags but Fuji does the same "foreign object" trick George Steele did the previous match. Fuji drops Strongbow with chops to the throat and kicks away at him. Fuji goes upstairs but loses his balance, allowing Jay to come up and punch him off. Jay hits a scoop slam and a backdrop. Fuji goes for the foreign object but Jay steals it and rakes Fuji's eyes, causing him to throw flying chops at the referee, missing completely. Fuji bails but Strongbow jumps on the apron and stomps Fuji away. Fuji gets in and begs off as we go to the replay of Fuji flailing around. Back to live action Fuji locks in a double titty twister. Strongbow chops out of it, slides under Fuji but walks into a another double titty twister. This time Fuji takes him down with it and Fuji does the "3 arm drop" routine, chopping Fuji down with overhead chops. Fuji rakes the eyes and once again goes back to the double titty twister. Jay tries everything he can to get Fuji to let go but Fuji maintains the grip. Fuji takes Strongbow down and covers for 1...2...nope. Fuji rams Jay into the buckle then goes to down with chops, including a running one. Fuji covers for 1...2..nope, Strongbow got the foot on the rope. Fuji rams Jay into the buckle, whips him into the other corner, hits a shoulder block, whips him into the corner again and goes for a moonsault....blocked by Jay by throwing him down. Jay goes "on the warpath" which has him dancing around and hitting knee lifts. Jay runs off the rope and hits the big tomahawk chop to drop Fuji. Jay covers for 1...2....3 its over. That would have been boring by todays standards but the crowd came alive for the end. Basically back then the heels would control the match but the babyfaces would make the big comeback. Bruno, Pedro, Strongbow.....they all "Hulked Up" years before Hogan did it and it worked.
Time of match: 13:58
Winner: Jay Strongbow by pinfall
Match 8
Haystacks Calhoun vs Moondog Mayne
The final match of the night features the legitimate 600 pound Haystacks Calhoun. By this point he was almost to his 39th birthday and his mobility was decreasing. We all know Mayne and he shouts into the house mic for Calhoun to get out there. Finally Haystacks lumbers out. Mayne goes to attack him with a rope but Calhoun chases him with his lucky horseshoe. Mayne attacks him at the bell with forearms to drop the big guy down to a knee. Mayne chokes Calhoun in the corner with his boot. Mayne goes to the blatant choke but the ref refuses to disqualify him. Mayne continues to pound away in the corner then tells the ref to get lost. Mayne sends Haystacks off and goes for a backdrop......maybe he really is insane. Haystacks kicks Mayne and he sells like he got shot out of a cannon. Mayne begs off and Calhoun wallops him with a windup punch. Mayne does the Andre spot in the ropes and Calhoun beats on him before sending him off the ropes. Haystacks hits a backdrop and the Arkansas Teabag which is just putting Mayne's head between Calhoun's thighs and swishing it around. Calhoun punches then kicks Mayne in the gut to knock him down. Calhoun does the aftershock...but holds onto the ropes so its not a pinfall. Calhoun continues to sit on Mayne who rakes the eyes and does a headlocked punch to drop the big guy. Mayne goes upstairs but Calhoun slams him off the top rope. Calhoun backs him down but Mayne gets in an eye rake then continually bites the forehead of Calhoun. Mayne goes for a whip but Haystacks counters with a whip into the corner followed by an avalanche. Haystacks whips him into the other corner and avalanches him again. A whip by Haystacks ends with a shoulderblock to drop Mayne followed by the big splash. The cover gets 1...2....3 and that's it, Calhoun wins. The announcer declares Calhoun the winner as he waives to the crowd. We go to the replay of Calhoun squashing Mayne like a grape and that's the end of the show. Vince says the next big MSG show would be Monday night July 30th. Wish that was available too.
Time of match: 6:03
Winner: Haystacks Calhoun by pinfall
Good show by 1973 standards if you can put aside recency bias. If you expect modern day moves and tactics you'll be disappointed but if you can appreciate it for what it was, you won't be too bored. The formula of the heel in control of the match only for the babyface to make the comeback was the theme at the time long before trading finishers and near-falls. It was standard for the time so just go with it. Pedro is still the champ so fans had to see the July 30th show to see what happens next. The ladies tag match was interesting and it was great to see Mayne who's career was cut too short.
