Wrestler of the Day – September 16: Pedro Morales

Today we’ll look at the first ever WWF Triple Crown winner: Pedro Morales.

Morales got his start in 1959 but as you can guess, it’s borderline impossible to find stuff from way back then. Instead we’ll jump ahead to December 16, 1970.

Gorilla Monsoon/Pedro Morales vs. The Mongols

The Mongols are way old school and named Bepo and Geto. Monsoon is HUGE. He’s the Asian Champion and Pedro is US Champion (the WWF version which was gone by the 70s). This is 2/3 falls and we’re joined in progress. It’s in Philly and from sometime in the late 60s. The Mongols are bald other than ponytails. This is the WWWF also. Monsoon is sent to the floor by the International Tag Team Champions.

Geto, the smaller one, drops a bunch of knees off the top on Gorilla to win the first fall. Clipped to the second fall and Pedro is in trouble. One of those Mongols looks a lot like Nikolai Volkoff. And I’m right as he’s Bepo. Bear hug by Gorilla but Bepo makes the save. This isn’t incredibly good. Pedro watches Monsoon getting his teeth kicked in. The Mongols get disqualified for double teaming so we go to the third fall.

Monsoon’s back is hurt so FINALLY we get Pedro. He throws some decent dropkicks which gets the pin on Geto. The film starts messing up and looks like it’s being played in fast motion. The third fall was either clipped or lasted 18 seconds. Pedro looked good if nothing else I guess.

Rating: N/A. Haven’t used one of those in awhile. This really isn’t fair to grade with all the clipping and lack of any story at all. It’s not too bad and Pedro looked great. Monsoon was a freaking load and the Mongols were nothing special. Then again it was the 60s so how angry can I really get with it?

Pedro would quickly become a bigger deal, earning a World Title shot in MSG on February 8, 1971.

Ivan Koloff vs. Pedro Morales

Obviously the commentary (performed by WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross) was recorded later as this was on an official WWE DVD. Pedro is another of those ethnic heroes, this one of Puerto Rican descent. Koloff is absolutely loathed while Pedro is as over as free beer in a frat house. Pedro loads up his big left hand to start but Koloff backs away to the ropes. I believe there’s a clip there but it might have just been a camera angle switching. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.

Ivan doesn’t want to get into a fist fight with Pedro so he keeps locking up with him. They continue circling each other and we might have another clip to later circling. Pedro grabs a headlock and the fans lose their minds. Things speed up with Morales kicking Koloff off of him and taking the champion down with a headlock takeover. Koloff fights up after being held on the mat for a few moments. They stand up but Pedro keeps the hold on Ivan, causing the champion to grab Morales’ hair or trunks whenever he can.

Koloff finally escapes the hold and takes Pedro down with a kick to the ribs. The champion hooks on a chinlock and we’re clipped to later in the hold with the referee forcing a break due to thinking it was a choke. We’re clipped again to another chinlock by Koloff, this time with him using the strap from his singlet to choke Pedro. Morales fights up and hits some trademark left hands to the ribs. We’re clipped again to Ivan begging off in the corner and asking for a handshake.

Morales will have none of that but accepts a test of strength. The powerhouse Koloff takes him down but Pedro outsmarts him, hooking a monkey flip to send Koloff into the ropes. Another possible clip occurs and Pedro wants to throw fists. Instead he gets caught in a bearhug which is one of Koloff’s signature moves. After being in the hold well over a minute, Pedro comes out of it with a slam which only seems to make the champion angry.

Ivan pounds away on Morales with punches and forearms but they collide off a double shoulder block and both men are down. It’s the champion up first but he misses a running splash. Pedro still can’t follow up so Koloff slams him down and tries the top rope knee drop that won him the title. His challenger rolls away though and it’s Pedro going up top now, hitting a top rope cross body for two. Koloff whips Pedro into all four corners before trying what we would call a German suplex. All four shoulders are down but as the three count comes down, Pedro raises his right should, giving him the pin and the championship.

Rating: C+. This was a nice back and forth match with a huge ovation for the title change. The fans wanted to see someone take the title from Koloff and the fact that it was another of their heroes made it all the better. Pedro was already the United States Champion so he had a strong resume coming into the match. Again, the match wasn’t great by today’s standards but it did exactly what it was supposed to do.

We’ll move ahead to this title defense at some point in 1972.

WWWF World Title: Pedro Morales vs. Mr. Fuji

Fuji starts fast and throws the champion over the top and out to the floor. He rams Morales face first into the apron a few times before doing the same with the turnbuckle. Morales gets all fired up as is his custom and sends Fuji over the ropes. The evil Hawaiian is sent into the steps before they head back inside. Fuji slams Pedro down a few times but takes his sweet time going up top, only to get slammed down ala Flair. Pedro grabs a quick rollup for the pin.

Rating: D. To say Morales didn’t exactly have the most in depth psychology is an understatement. It was basically just random slams and chops before a rollup got the pin. Then again a four minute match was a rarity back then so I’d assume he’d be more comfortable with a lot more time.

Back to MSG on June 30, 1973.

WWWF World Title: Pedro Morales vs. George Steele

Pedro is all ticked off before he’s even in the ring. For some reason the champion is introduced twice. Steele charges at him but Pedro hammers away and sends him over the corner and out to the floor. Back in and Steele nails him in the ribs with a foreign object to take over. He stomps away and slams Pedro down but stands in the corner instead of following up.

Pedro gets back to his feet but is a bit calmer this time, opting for an armdrag instead of wildly swinging. Steele bails to the apron again but snaps Morales’ throat over the top rope. He rams the champ’s head into the buckle a few times, only to have Pedro do the same to him. Steele is busted open and Pedro bites at the cut until the referee finally stops it for the blood.

Rating: C. Better match here with the story making sense: Pedro did his usual brawling but got in over his head until he came back with using Steele’s own evil tricks against him to win. This was before Steele was an Animal and it’s really odd to see him as just a regular and even at times smart heel.

Pedro would lose the title in December of 1973 so we’ll head over to July 22, 1974.

Killer Kowalski vs. Pedro Morales

Talk about legends. Now Kowalski was the big time brawler of his day. He also trained HHH so there’s his biggest contribution to wrestling more than likely. This would be about 8 months after Pedro lost the world title, putting it in late July of 74. We’re in MSG here of course. Jesse Ventura is alone on commentary here. That’s a new one on me. Kowalski used the Claw on various body parts so he uses it on the leg here. Pedro’s leg problems seem to be a theme on this tape.

Clipped to more leg work. Jesse doing play by play is a very odd thing. He doesn’t shut up but keeps things fresh somehow. It’s more like a radio broadcast. The Claw is something that needs a good announcer to put it over because just from a visual perspective, it looks really stupid. Pedro comes back with some left hands and grabs Killer by the ears. Back to the knee and Pedro is in trouble again. How did this guy win the first triple crown?

They trade punches to the ribs and Morales takes over. Jesse is surprisingly good at play by play. Morales is left handed if that gives you a better mental picture of this. Morales grabs the Claw on the ribs. Clipped to a double stomp by Kowalski. This commentary has been recorded far later as Jesse talks about Kowalski like he’s retired, which he would have been. Kowalski bites the face and Pedro bites back. Killer takes him down but misses a double stomp. Off to the Claw on the stomach again and Pedro is in trouble. They brawl to the floor and it’s thrown out. WEAK.

Rating: D. I love old school stuff and I’ve always liked Pedro, but this was boring. The Claw is one of those moves that works as a quick finisher but having it in there all the time like this got really boring after awhile. At least it wasn’t very long. Kowalski is a guy that seems like he’d be better in quick spurts. This match felt like it would have been better for a live crowd, which is fine, but it does bring into question why it’s on a tape.

More MSG on February 17, 1975.

Pedro Morales vs. Butcher Vachon

They brawl in the corner to start and Vachon isn’t sure what to make of someone that can hang with him in a fight. Both guys send the other into the corner before Morales backdrops him down. Vachon cranks on the arm a bit and looks bored in doing so. Morales comes back with more left hands and the stalling continues. A big clothesline drops Morales and a shoulder to the ribs does it again. Vachon tries the same thing but gets caught in a sunset flip for the pin.

Rating: D+. I’m starting to get Pedro at this point and it’s an idea that works for the most part. It’s nothing great but the whole learning from your mistakes works well enough and shows some thinking in the ring. Vachon was better known as a brawler than as an in ring worker and that’s what we got here.

We’ll actually jump to the NWA for a bit here on Worldwide in 1979. I believe this is from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Paul Jones/Baron Von Raschke vs. Pedro Morales/Steve Regal

No not that Steve Regal. Steve and Jones get things going and they trade shoulders to no avail. Some armdrags take Jones down and it’s off to Pedro to crank on the arm. Off to an armbar but it’s off to the Baron who easily takes Regal down. The announcer is giving us one of the most in depth bios I’ve ever heard, including favorite sports, hobbies and astrological signs.

Baron, a Leo who enjoys raising rats for scientific studies, cranks on Regal’s arm, which once had a tryout for the Washington Redskins. Jones comes in to work on the arm as well before it’s back to the Baron for a shoulder breaker. Regal tries to get a rollup but gets beaten down and caught in Baron’s claw. Pedro tries to make a save but the hold stays on and Regal gets pinned.

Rating: C-. It’s very strange to see Pedro as just a guy instead of one of the top stars in the promotion. He wasn’t treated like anything special and this was basically a squash. The NWA was a totally different world from the NWA and this is a good example of why. Also, things were so much calmer here than in the WWF matches and it helped things a bit.

Back to the WWF with Pedro facing Baron Mikel Scicluna on TV in 1980.

Baron Mikel Scicluna vs. Pedro Morales

Baron hammers away to start but Pedro shoves him away and claps a lot. The Baron cranks on a top wristlock to no avail as Pedro shoves him down again. With the holds not working, Baron hammers away and takes Pedro into the corner. Morales takes him down to the mat for an armbar but Baron gets into the ropes. Now it’s Baron cranking on the arm and they hit the mat for some grappling. It’s Morales working on a leg lock before they get back up for some…brawling? Pedro grabs a backslide for the fast pin.

Rating: D+. This was a very different kind of match and the grappling was very odd to see from a brawler like Morales. Scicluna is a guy that I just do not get the appeal of as he’s never shown me anything. Naturally he’s in the Hall of Fame because if you wrestled in the 70s you’re an automatic candidate.

Pedro would appear at Showdown at Shea in 1980.

Tag Titles: Bob Backlund/Pedro Morales vs. Wild Samoans

Backlund is world champion and this is 2/3 falls. Basically this would be Cena/Orton vs. the tag champions if the tag titles were a big deal. Backlund is way over as is Morales. Vince says in the corner to his left are the champions. The corner is empty but who cares about little things like those? According to Foley it’s FAR more interesting to talk to Backlund than to Afa, which doesn’t surprise me at all.

As far as the relations here, Afa and Sika are brothers I believe. Afa’s kids include Samu and Manu while Sika’s son is Rosey and he has another son in FCW. More or less picture it like this: if they’re Samoan and a wrestler, they’re probably related to each other. Cole talks about Pedro being a former WWE Champion which makes me think of him holding the spinner belt. We get some discussion of the New York curfew which meant that no wrestling could happen after 11. Matches would just stop at that time due to state laws. Imagine a big match just stopping at that point.

This is being written hours after the final NXT show on Syfy and there was a This Week in WWE History segment about a Cactus Jack vs. HHH match. Oddly enough Foley and Cole discuss that very match here in a very funny story about Captain Lou wandering down to ringside while the two guys were brawling in the crowd. Apparently Vince and Cole were in the gorilla position (Cole’s words) and Vince looked at him and said “Did Captain Lou just walk to the ring?” “I believe he did.” “Just checking.” Far funnier than it sounds.

We get the famous Samoan nerve hold on Backlund as this has been far more interesting and far more modern of a style match. We get a good example of what a manager can do as he holds Backlund’s tights to keep him in the corner so Sika can beat on him. Foley gives us a rather interesting history of managers. He really knows what he’s talking about as this is the area and company he grew up with. Backlund gets the Atomic Drop (his finisher. It was a much simpler time obviously) and Morales gets an O’Connor Roll (run the other guy into the ropes and roll him backwards into a rollup. You’ve seen it a thousand times. Bret likes to do it.) for the first fall.

Vince flat out screws up and says we have new champions prompting a very interesting question from Foley: who yells at Vince when he screws up? Vince booked the match, Vince made the announcement and he’s told the referee made it 2/3 falls. HUGE BS chant starts us off. The Samoans beat up Morales before the second fall. THE FREAKING COPS TAKE ALBANO OUT! In the biggest city in the country in the middle of the summer, there was NOTHING better for them to do???

Foley starts having a sandwich because he saw Don Muraco do it as everything goes insane. Backlund gets a Piledriver on Sika to bring in both other guys. The commentary here is cracking me up. Backlund goes for a belly to back on Sika but Afa hits him in the head, prompting Backlund to…..fall backwards and drive Sika into the mat in a belly to back suplex. Pedro hits a dropkick on Sika so Backlund can pin him. They would have to forfeit the titles because Backlund couldn’t hold the tag and world titles so the Samoans got them back.

Rating: B. Most fun any of the matches so far tonight have been with the crowd being WAY into it and the guys having a great time out there. This worked as all four guys were pretty solid if not very good in the ring. The booking is a bit odd if they were just going to give the titles back to the Samoans. Why not a disqualification or something like that?

Pedro would become one of the first Intercontinental Champions. Here’s a defense in MSG on June 8, 1981.

Intercontinental Title: Sgt. Slaughter vs. Pedro Morales

They shove each other to start before it quickly turns into a slugout with Sarge taking him down to the mat. Pedro comes back with a hard left hand and sends Slaughter into the corner. Back up and Morales lays in more left hands but Slaughter pulls out a foreign object. Some American. He doesn’t even buy domestic. Slaughter loads it into his elbow pad and knocks Morales silly but doesn’t cover. Morales can barely get up so Slaughter goes up top, only to get slammed down as Pedro was goldbricking. The champ hammers away so Slaughter nails the referee for the DQ.

Rating: D+. These Morales brawls are kind of hard to sit through in a long stretch. This didn’t have much time due to the lame ending but I’m assuming it was to set up a rematch down the line. Slaughter was rapidly becoming a huge deal at this point though it was still a few years away.

Another defense in Philadelphia on February 22, 1982.

Intercontinental Title: Pedro Morales vs. Jimmy Snuka

Snuka has only been around for a few months at this point but the fans are loving him, despite him being a heel. The announcers aren’t sure what to do with him because they know he’s popular but he’s supposed to be the evil savage. He has a thing for flowers apparently. Snuka wrestles barefoot which is another thing that made him different. The fans here are split which is a weird sight.

They fight over a top wristlock to start and Snuka complains of a hair pull. Snuka takes it to the mat with arm control and Dick Worhle is the referee. He died a few days ago so that’s kind of sad to see. Now Snuka pulls the hair to keep the advantage. See how easy a heel move that is? Such little things like that one are just lost in modern wrestling.

Snuka runs him over and headbutts Pedro down as the fans applaud. Now keep in mind: Pedro is a very popular guy. He held the IC Title forever and was a former world champion. However, Snuka was a totally different kind of guy and the fans, especially the Philly crazy people, took notice and loved him. Pedro is in trouble and gets knocked to the floor by a forearm. All Snuka so far.

Out to the floor and Pedro goes into the apron. Back in and Pedro is almost knocked right back out. Off to a chinlock for a few moments and Pedro FINALLY gets up. He hits his first decent offense of the match in the form of a backdrop but Snuka takes him right back down again. A middle rope headbutt half kills Pedro and you would think that Snuka was the top guy in the company based on the fans’ reactions.

That only gets two though and Snuka has a headache from the headbutt. Pedro grabs the face and works it over (that’s not something I’m used to typing) and starts his comeback. He hits his big left and Jimmy looks like he’s dancing. Out to the floor and Snuka tastes the steel. A BIG left hand sends Snuka flying into the ropes. Snuka rakes the eyes which doesn’t really do much good. Pedro hits a knee to the chin and then shoves the referee because of that firey Latin temper of him. Now Pedro throws him to the floor and it’s a LAME DQ.

Rating: C+. Well it wasn’t a classic or anything as Pedro was way too fond of just throwing the left hand but the crowd was very energetic for this as they were both very popular guys. Notice that the match is very similar to the rest of them but the names are bigger. There wasn’t much variety in this era and it shows badly at times.

Another title defense on March 14, 1982.

Intercontinental Title: Pedro Morales vs. Adrian Adonis

Since Adrian never held this title, Pedro is defending. Joined in progress (again) as this is an Archives match. They slug it out and the fans are of course way into Pedro. He knocks Adonis to the floor and is slow even here in what I think is about 1980. They ram each other into various things and Pedro misses a shoulder back inside. That ring sounds very metallic. The American hits a German on the Puerto Rican and they do the suplex but one guy gets his shoulder up in time spot to keep the title on Pedro. Too short to rate but bad as always on this tape.

Against a fellow Hall of Famer in MSG on January 22, 1983.

Intercontinental Title: Pedro Morales vs. Don Muraco

This is from MSG in January of 83. Morales had taken the title from Muraco over a year ago. See, back then title reigns were VERY different. The title was introduced in 1979 and Ricky Steamboat was the 11^th reign in 1987. In 8 years, the title changed hands 10 times. Think about that. Of the first ten reigns, the shortest was five months. Today, that would be a long reign. Back then it was by far the shortest. Three of the first ten lasted over a year. Think about that for a minute and now compare it to today.

As for this match, Muraco jumps the champ in the corner but Morales fights back quickly. Morales rips half of the shirt off Muraco and the challenger is in trouble. Corner sunset flip gets two for Morales. Muraco has a sleeve of his shirt still hanging off his arm. Pedro knocks him to the floor and this is all Morales so far. Muraco does a Flair Flop off the apron to the floor.

Pedro goes up top but doesn’t dive onto him as Don hides under the floor. That was pretty smart. Muraco tries to hide as Morales stalks him. Boot to the back of the head and it’s all Pedro. Gorilla criticizes him for not going for the kill, which is pretty good analysis. And there’s a low blow by Muraco and both guys are down. Still using the t-shirt, Muraco chokes Pedro with it in the corner, only to get low blowed as well.

Ok NOW the t-shirt is finally gone. A running knee in the corner misses for Morales though and he might have blown it out. There’s a lot of blowing in this match. Muraco moves in on it with a leg snap out of the corner. Clipped to a spinning toe hold being countered by Pedro. Morales, ever the genius, tries a backbreaker (despite sending Muraco’s shoulder into the post on the counter) and reinjures his knee. Boston Crab (Pedro’s finisher) is quickly broken by the ropes. Pedro tries a slam but the knee buckles and Muraco falls on top for the pin and the second title change in two matches on this tape.

Rating: C-. Not great or anything but again it’s really cool to see these rarities as you always hear about how these legends held titles but you never see how they won them. Pedro was far better in the 70s than 80s as he was washed up at this point, but he could still put people over, which is what he did here. Decent stuff, although a lot of stalling hurt it.

Pedro would leave for awhile before returning in the mid 80s. Here he is on January 11, 1986.

Pedro Morales vs. Terry Funk

We’re in Boston here in I’d guess early 86. Gene tells us about Morales holding what we would now call the Triple Crown. Morales is at the end of his career here but he was still big enough of a draw to be brought into the big New England crowds. Morales hammers away and Funk is all messed up early on. Then again he might just be Terry Funk. Funk comes back in and throws Pedro onto the announce table.

Morales may have injured a hamstring on the fall. Funk hammers him in the head and does a little Ali Shuffle. He keeps peppering Morales and they go out onto the table again. Funk actually pulls the headset off of Gorilla who implies a showdown later on. That could actually be worth seeing. Or maybe that was Jimmy Hart. Pedro goes shoulder first into the post and this has been totally one sided so far.

Funk pulls some tape out of his tights and chokes away. Morales gets it though and here comes the firey Latin temper that he was famous for. He knocks Terry around as Jimmy is freaking out on the floor. Funk gets knocked to the floor and the steps get turned over. He goes head first into them and hides under them like a true cowardly heel. Pedro teases jumping off the top but settles for drilling Funk upside the head. Funk does a perfect Flair Flop off the apron to the floor.

I don’t think I’ve seen anything other than punches in this match so far and that’s made it awesome. Funk is all over the place, looking either drunk or old. In other words, he’s perfectly fine. Back to the floor again and Terry finds a wooden chair under the ring but it doesn’t get used. Instead Pedro punches him some more and kicks him in the back. Funk gets his trunks pulled down and that’s an image I really didn’t need to see twice in one night. Jimmy slips Funk the Megaphone and a shot to the head ends this.

Rating: B-. This was a great old school brawl from two great old school brawlers. Funny how something like that works isn’t it? Pedro was more or less done after this and it’s not like Funk ever did much in his run in the WWF. At least after this he went back to the NWA where he was much more successful.

Next up was a feud to get the Intercontinental Title back, including this match in MSG on August 25, 1986.

Intercontinental Title: Randy Savage vs. Pedro Morales

Randy grabs a headlock to start but Pedro shoves him away to freak Savage out. A shoulder block gets two for Pedro so Savage throws a chair in. Back in and Randy gets a foreign object to rake Morales’ eyes. Pedro is sent into the barricade and Savage drops the top rope ax handle. A suplex back in is good for two but Pedro gets in a left hand to knock Savage out of the air. Back in and a sunset flip, small package and backslide get two each for Pedro before a big left hand knocks Savage to the floor. Savage misses a chair shot and gets counted out.

Rating: D+. This was part of the Savage vs. Legends tour as he had a feud with Sammartino over the Intercontinental Title as well. There wasn’t anything to see here but the fans in MSG were going to get behind the legendary Morales. This was the usually dull Morales match and not much more.

Off to the Big Event a few days later.

Harley Race vs. Pedro Morales

They’re both old and they’re both fat. They’re also rather slow and it’s not interesting at all anymore. The main event is next so this is likely Hogan’s effort to make people forget the previous good match so that he looks good next. He did it to the whole company in about 8 years with WCW. The referees have more or less sucked all night as they never count fast enough. Race gets a double leg trip and uses the ropes for the easy pin. Nothing match.

Pedro would hook up with Title Santana for a brief run at the end of his run. Here’s one of their matches on Superstars, January 31, 1987.

Tito Santana/Pedro Morales vs. Nikolai Volkoff/Iron Sheik

WOW there are a lot of stereotypes in there. Morales is a guy that I haven’t gotten to comment on much but he’s a straight up legend. He’s the first Triple Crown winner if nothing else. Volkoff’s singing was a great gimmick. I love that. The heels get jumped like good heels should and the Latin stereotypes take over. Morales and Volkoff start us off and Morales is put simply old and fat.

He’s still firey though so I can give him that one. Sheik’s in ring work is underrated I think. For no apparent reason we get no mention of Sheik and Morales being former world champions. That would be a big selling point to me if nothing else. Slick swings the cane but I think it hits Volkoff by mistake. It’s not really clear though. Tito beats up Slick and that might be a DQ.

Rating: C+. They were feuding so it adds up at least. Yeah the faces win on a DQ…I guess because of Slick interfering? Butch Reed comes out which I guess sets up…Koko vs. Reed at Mania? Actually what we saw here was pretty good. Nothing great but for four guys that are ok and two of which are over the hill, not bad at all. I guess Reed is feuding with Santana now. Whatever.

Morales is an interesting case as he certain has the credentials (first Triple Crown winner and longest combined reign ever as Intercontinental Champion) but has basically been forgotten. When is the last time you heard his name mentioned in modern WWE? You just do not hear about him anymore and it’s kind of interesting to see. His in ring work certainly wasn’t the best but he could get a crowd behind him and that’s all he needed to do, especially if people came to see him.

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