In this edition of the Chronicles of WWE, or as HeelsInc likes to refer to it as “What the World WAS Watching”, we’ll be covering some very rare surviving 8mm footage from NINE different WWWF events from Madison Square Garden during the year of 1973. Please note that these matches are not shown in completion and were recorded on an 8mm camera. Only bits and pieces of the footage have survived. Below are those results as written by HeelsInc… HeelsInc will be reviewing this specific block of shows with me, BJack, adding my comments at the end of some events.
Take it away Heels…
MSG 1973 8MM FILMS
We head into 1973 for our next footage. Pedro Morales is the WWWF Champion having won the title from Ivan Koloff two years prior. It is 8mm footage with no sound and only clips are shown, there are no full matches. While this disc is in chronological order there is one other 8mm video out there with footage that falls within this time frame, as well as a televised broadcast MSG show from June of ’73. So while the goal of this series is to review all footage in chronological order when possible, we felt it better to review this full video “as is” instead of splicing in footage from other videos.
1/15/73
* Sky Low Low & Little Brutus vs. Little Beaver & Joey Russel
A little midget action to start things off. Get it little ha. A very short segment of only about 10 seconds. Beaver gets pinned after a body slam. We also see Beaver tickling Brutus in the corner with a feather.
* Women Champion Fabulous Moolah vs. Joyce Grable
The ref gets tangled up with the ladies as they all roll around on the ground.
* The Vachons vs. Lee Wong & Ben Ortiz
We see the Vachons just beating on their opponents. The Vachons get the win in the first fall with a half grab. We then see very little second fall action.
* Black Gordman vs. El Olympico
Nice action has Gordman in control. Olympico with a monkey flip out of the corner and big drop kick. Gordman with a sick looking DDT and he wins with a roll up.
* Ray Stevens vs. Sonny King
King works on the arm of Stevens. King fires on Stevens and then we see Stevens getting his hand raised in victory no finish though.
* WWWF Champion Pedro Morales vs. Moondog Mayne
Morales hits the ring and he is fired up! He hits a back drop on Mayne before Mayne can take off his entrance gear. Morales gets sent into the corner but moves out of the way of a charge, Mayne gets hung up on the turnbuckle and Morales kicks away at him. Mayne now in control and he hits a back drop. Mayne goes for another one but this time he gets kicked in the face. Mayne gets tied up in the ropes and Morales fires away on him. Mayne is on the top buckle but Morales throws him down to the mat. Big slam by Morales and he goes up top and hits a cross bodyblock and gets the win to retain the title!
The whole segment of this show is about 8 minutes of footage. The title match gets a good portion of that time.
BJack’s Thoughts on MSG 1/15/73: Not a lot of footage here, but some very cool things to note. For all those who believe Jake Roberts invented the DDT, look no further. Hate to crush people’s hearts, but Gordman was busting out his badass version of this move going back at LEAST into the 1960’s, there’s clips of a match on Youtube where Gordman uses it on El Santo back in the 60s. Or if you can find this footage, you’ll see him master it here too in his own unique and awesome way. Anytime I get to see Ray Stevens in his prime, even for 30 seconds, is pretty awesome. Moondog Mayne had just been brought in at the beginning of the year for a 6 months run. Mayne was Pedro’s latest challenger for the title. Very cool to get this piece of history on video, even if it’s clipped.
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2/26/73
* Susan Green & Lily Thomas vs. Peggy Patterson & Paula Kaye
Not much from the first fall shown. In the second fall Green and Patterson go at it. We don’t see a finish to that fall though
* Terry Funk vs. Chuck Richards
Funk and Richards try to box each other a bit. Funk wins with a small package
* Victor Rivera vs. Dory Funk Sr.
Rivera chases Funk around the ring. They fight over a top wrist lock. Funk stretches out Rivera but Rivera reverses the hold. Rivera with a drop kick as Funk comes off the ropes. No finish
* Mil Mascaras vs. Buddy Wolfe
I hate Mascaras. A couple arm drags and full nelson by Mascaras. Now he stretches out Wolfe. Wolfe now in control beats on Mil in the corner. Wolfe bails as Mascaras regains control. Wolfe with a headlock and he rams Mascaras into the turnbuckle. He goes for it again but Mascaras pushes him off and Wolfe hits the buckle. Now Mascaras goes for the same move but he gets pushed off. Mascaras however hops onto the middle buckle and hits a cross body block it only gets 2 though. Mascaras hits two of his flying forearms and gets the win.
* AWA Champion Verne Gagne vs. Eddie Graham
This is Graham’s last appearance at the Garden. He gets Verne down with a leg lock. They battle in the corner, Graham is all over Verne. Verne locks in the sleeper though and puts Graham to sleep.
* WWWF Champion Pedro Morales vs. King Curtis Iaukea (w/ The Grand Wizard)
Morales gives Curtis a shot that sends the big man backwards over the top rope! Curtis now throws Morales to the floor. Slam by the King and then he hit a splash from the second buckle. Morales again thrown over the top rope. Curtis has an object in his hand and nails Pedro with it but doesn’t get DQed. Pedro comes off the top with a cross body for the win.
We have 10.5 minutes from this show.
BJack’s Thoughts on MSG 2/26/73: Lots of rare or special appearances here on this card makes this valuable to me. We get a very rare, short glimpse of Dory Funk Sr. just a few months before his death, plus a young Terry Funk in action. Yes, Terry was young once. Even Chris Candido’s grandfather “Popeye” Chuck Richards works the card. As much of an ass as he’s been reported as being over the years, seeing Mil Mascaras in his prime when he could actually move around was pretty cool. AWA Title defenses in the Garden aren’t exactly very plentiful, so the fact that you can find any on video is very cool to me. The fact that Verne is defending against Eddie Graham in Graham’s last MSG appearance just adds to the special feeling of this footage. I love me some Iaukea, just an interesting being, he’s fed to Morales here this month for a one off.
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3/26/73
* The Vachons vs. Don Curtis & Louis Tillet
Really nothing at all shown here. About ten seconds of punching.
* Tag Team Champion – Professor Tanaka vs. Gorilla Monsoon
Gorilla with a leap frog!!!! Tanaka goes for a drop down but Gorilla drops down right next to him. They both come up to their knees and Gorilla chops him. This match winds up a draw.
* Tag Team Champion – Mr. Fuji vs. Sonny King
Headbutt by King and Fuji takes a big bump. King with some dancing. Fuji slams him and then goes up top but misses a leg drop. Fuji back in control with a slam but he again misses a leg drop.
* Andre the Giant vs. Buddy Wolfe
Wolfe pushes Andre and Andre shoves back and it sends Wolfe flying over the top rope. Andre picks Wolfe up over his head and then just sits him on the top turnbuckle and taps him on the cheek. Wolfe with a side headlock Andre just shoves him off. Back breaker followed by a standing splash gets the win for Andre.
* WWWF Champion Pedro Morales vs. Fred Blassie
Pedro fires away on Blassie. Blassie gets Pedro down in the corner and chokes him. Blassie bites and claws at the face of the champion. Morales fights back and Blassie falls to the outside of the ring. Pedro is all over Blassie with punches to the head. Blassie is busted open with his hair stained with blood. The ref steps in stopping the match as he feels Blassie can no longer continue. Morales however isn’t done and he goes right back at Blassie chasing him away.
11 minutes of action from this card is shown.
BJack’s Thoughts on MSG 3/26/73: First off, it should be noted that this was Andre’s MSG DEBUT!!! Wolfe bumped like a champion to sell for the Giant. Even if only two minutes of clips, it’s pretty cool that any of Andre’s MSG debut is out there for viewing. This was my first time watching this, VERY COOL. Blassie comes in as this months challenger to Pedro, not a bad choice. Seeing Gorilla bust out a leap frog was just the icing on this rare gem.
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4/30/73
* Andre the Giant vs. Professor Tanaka
Andre backs Tanaka into a corner and then pats him on the head. Tanaka wants to shake hands. Andre does but he squeezes Tanaka’s hand. Atomic drop by Andre. Tanaka for some reason goes for a body slam. Andre fires away on Tanaka and gets his hand raised in victory.
* WWWF Champion Pedro Morales vs. Don Leo Jonathan (w/ The Grand Wizard)
Don Leo does a double stomp and a few knee drops. Big body slam and a hangman’s choke by Jonathan. Don Leo comes off the second buckle with a knee. Don Leo with a Giant Swing. The two men trade blows back and forth until the ref steps in-between them and stops the match due to a cut on Don Leo’s forehead and excessive bleeding.
Five minutes from this card is here.
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6/4/73
* Jay Strongbow vs. Fred Blassie – Texas Death Match
Strongbow stands in the corner and puffs out his chest. He does a war dance and Blassie runs out of the ring in fear. Strongbow fires up on Blassie but Blassie bites away at the forehead. Strongbow makes his comeback and locks on a sleeper. Blassie gets out by going to the eyes. Swinging neck breaker by Blassie for a 2 count. Blassie with a nerve hold but Strongbow breaks out and hammers on Blassie. They fight back and forth and the clips end with no finish.
* WWWF Champion Pedro Morales vs. Don Leo Jonathan
Don Leo with a big swing with about 10 rotations. Pedro comes back with a slam and goes up top but Don Leo kips up and slams him off the top. Another big swing and a somersault senton. Morales gets thrown out of the ring. Pedro with a slingshot sunset flip back into the ring for the win. Don Leo attacks Pedro who can barley stand after the match and drops a few knees on him.
8 minutes from here is shown
BJack’s Thoughts on MSG 6/4/73: The Texas Death Match was based on a return match between Blassie & Strongbow from April. Strongbow being the local hero picked up the win. Jonathan and Pedro is another rematch from April. Not a whole lot of Don Leo Jonathan stuff out there so this was cool to see him in a challenger spot. The WWWF were really bringing in the troops to challenge Pedro from month to month.
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8/27/73
* Jay Strongbow vs. Professor Tanaka
Basically nothing is shown for this match
* Gorilla Monsoon vs. George Steele
Steele beats down Monsoon. But Gorilla comes back and locks in a bear hug. Steele breaks out with a thumb to the throat. Monsoon locks the bear hug back in and ends up winning the match via count out.
* WWWF Champion Pedro Morales vs. Stan Stasiak (w/ Grand Wizard)
Back and forth action between the two for about a minute. Morales is victorious.
Only 3 minutes from these matches is here. .
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10/15/73
* Manuel Soto vs. Tony Altimore
Altamore gets sent into the buckle twice. He comes back with a backdrop. Soto with a sunset flip. Soto gets sent into the corner but jumps onto the 2nd buckle and hits a cross body to get the win.
* El Olympico vs. Mike Pappas
Pappas with a drop kick and sends Olympico into the ropes, back drop gets 1. Pappas with a sunset flip.
* Jose Gonzalez vs. Poncho Valdez
Gonzalez runs up the turnbuckle while holding onto the head of Valdez and lands a headlock takeover. He does it a second time. He lands a few dropkicks and a bunch of flying head scissors. Valdez now in control with strikes and a knee to the stomach. Gonzalez with a back drop and a flying head butt, followed by a splash for the 3 count. The headbutt was awesome it looked like he was going to go for a flying forearm but just lead with his forehead instead.
* Vicki Williams & Joyce Grable vs. Toni Rose & Donna Christianello
The heels have control in their corner and we cut to the team of Williams and Grable having their hands raised.
* WWWF Champion Pedro Morales vs. Stan Stasiak (w/ The Grand Wizard)
Pedro with a hip toss and Stasiak bails to the floor. Stasiak now in control as he beats on Morales in the corner. Morales in control rams Stasiak into the buckle. Morales gets sent to the floor and then they fight on the apron. Morales fires up now and gets the fans behind him. Back drop by the champion. But Stasiak comes back and hits a back drop of his own. Morales with a roll up and gets the victory to retain the title.
* Dean Ho vs. Tag Team Champion Professor Tanaka
Ho with an arm drag into an arm bar. They do some karate spots. Ho with a flying double chop and splash to get the win.
* Andre the Giant vs. Blackjack Lanza (w/ Captain Lou Albano)
Andre in control as he uses his size to gain the advantage. Lanza uses underhanded tactics to beat down on the big man. Lanza goes for the claw but Andre blocks it and attacks the hand of Lanza. Andre goes after the leg and the ref stops the match saying that Lanza is too injured to continue.
We get 14.5 minute from this show.
BJack’s Thoughts on MSG 10/15/73: Andre’s back in the territory and we get more rare footage of the Giant against one of the best heels of the era in Lanza. I’ve seen the Morales vs. Stasiak match listed as a Texas Death Match on this card. Either way, cool to see Morales go over here before he drops the belt to Stan in another 6 weeks or so. The future Invader turned Brody murderer, Gonzalez, looked good here as well. Gonzalez was pretty inventive and used a mix of American and Lucha moves in his younger years.
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11/12/73
* Don Leo Jonathan (w/ The Grand Wizard) vs. Tony Garea
Jonathan now out of the title picture after losing to Morales faces off against Garea who is gearing up for a run with the tag team titles. Garea looks pretty jacked here much different then his later run with Rick Martel. Lots of brawling shown.
* AWA Champion Verne Gagne vs. Mr. Fuji
Verne has to be about 86 here. Fuji sent into the corner and he goes all the way to the floor. Full nelson by Verne. Fuji backs him into the corner and then pounds away. Fuji locks in the dreaded double titty twister. Verne comes back and puts Fuji in the sleeper for the win.
* Andre the Giant & Jay Strongbow vs. Blackjack Lanza & Stan Stasiak
Stasiak in control of Strongbow. Lanza and Stasiak beat on Andre in the corner. Lots of fast clipping and Andre and Strongbow get the win.
* WWWF Champion Pedro Morales vs. Larry “The Axe” Hennig (w/ Captain Lou Albano)
Lots of brawling back and forth, Morales gets the win with a top rope cross body.
13 minutes from this show.
BJack’s Thoughts on MSG 11/12/73: AWA Champion Gagne is back in the territory. Watching Fuji bump here may explain why he ended up so crippled later in life. Fuji was never a great technician, but he was a heck of a bumper. Also cool to see the Axe come in for a title shot, which also happens to be Pedro’s last WWWF Title defense in the Garden.
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12/10/73
* Don Leo Jonathan vs. Manuel Soto
We get about 2 minutes from this match but not much really goes on.
* WWWF Champion Stan Stasiak (w/ Grand Wizard) vs. Bruno Sammartino (w/ Arnold Skaaland)
Stasiak fresh off his title win making his second title defense here against the former champion. Sammartino hasn’t held the title for nearly 3 years. Stasiak with a slam off a crisscross. Stasiak with a shoulder tackle but then Bruno takes the arm and locks in a hammer lock. Hip toss and arm drag by Bruno. Stasiak pushes off Bruno and slams him but then gets kicked away and Bruno goes back to the arm. Staskiak able to gain control and he beats on Bruno. Stasiak tries to set up the heart punch but Bruno blocks it and gets hip toss. Stasiak goes for it again but again its blocked by Bruno. Bruno wins the title although we don’t see the finish here we do get the aftermath celebration.
9 minutes of this one shown.
BJack’s Thoughts on MSG 12/10/73: This is the night the belt returns to Bruno. After several years of waiting, all was right in the world again. Seven minutes of Title match footage makes this a pretty meaningful clip. The celebration looked insane.
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HeelsInc’s Final Thoughts: Well there are a ton of matches presented here, however when I tell you they are clipped, I really mean it. Only an hour and a half of footage and 37 matches are featured. Really hard to recommend watching this. The big thing that happens here is Bruno winning the title for the second time. We don’t even get the finish and the match is also available elsewhere with commentary. There is really no reason to watch this.
BJack’s Final Thoughts: I’ll have to look at this from a completely different standpoint here. I knew what this was going to be before I watched it, just a bunch of clips from shows throughout 1973. As a historian of the business, I’m simply thankful that any of this footage even exists. Just think about how amazing it is that any of this footage survived, much less so much of it from so many different dates… I mean camcorders weren’t exactly easy to come by during that time in life, much less getting one into an arena like MSG and setting it up for recording. Then somehow the footage was stored and cleaned up and converted to the point that someone, somewhere, somehow chose to make it available to the world via Youtube and other methods… Granted, some of the matches may only feature 10 seconds or a minute of action, but some featured enough to make it worthwhile. Lots of history here, Andre’s MSG debut, many World Title defenses, Bruno regains, the Funk’s come for a visit shortly before Sr.’s death, Verne Gagne, Mascaras, Eddie Graham’s final MSG show, and a couple of AWA Title matches. I get that this type of stuff is not for everyone, but if you’re into this era and appreciate the historical documentation of this footage, then this is a fun 90 minutes, even if you break it up and watch a couple shows at a time to stop the monotony. I sat there in awe of some of this stuff, I truly appreciated this being available. For that reason, I can’t say anything bad about this footage. If you’re looking for pyro, and commentary, and broadcast quality video, then I’d direct you to the WWE Network. But for those who understand what this is and just want to appreciate the historical significance with some fun thrown in, I say check this out. Some pretty historical things here, really had me excited at times.
