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Wrestling journalist Bill Apter recently spoke about the time when Bruno Sammartino passed the torch to Pedro Morales by handing him the then WWWF Championship. Morales defeated Ivan Koloff to win the championship at Madison Square Garden.
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Apter also spoke about Puerto Rican legend Pedro Morales. He recalled the night of February 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden when Pedro defeated Ivan Koloff to win the WWWF Championship. The veteran journalist said the atmosphere was electric at the Garden that night, and the Hispanic fans played a big role in Pedro winning the title:
"I covered all the matches at the Garden. It was one of the most chilling, goosebump-raising types of matches I've ever seen. We didn't realize that Pedro was going to win. But I think the spurning on of all the 21,000 fans, at least half to three-quarters were the Latinos that came to see him from New York, and they refused to let him lose with their yelling & screaming. 'Pedro, Pedro Pedro!' The moment that he and Koloff fell back together, Pedro lifted his shoulders, three-count and the place went crazy. Ex-champion Bruno Sammartino came in and put the belt around his waist." (from 2:16 onwards)
You can watch the full video here:
Bruno Sammartino and Pedro Morales faced each other at the Showdown at Shea
Possibly two of the biggest fan favorites, Bruno Sammartino and Pedro Morales clashed against each other at the Shea Stadium in September 1972.
Morales was the WWWF Champion entering the contest against his challenger Sammartino. The two went at each other for almost 75 minutes leading to several near falls. The match finally ended in a draw as the 11 PM curfew set in.
At the end of the match, Bruno Sammartino and Pedro Morales embraced each other and put the tensions behind them.
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