1972

1972 was the first full year with Pedro Morales as the WWWF Champion.

Morales defended the title against Professor Tanaka, Stan Stasiak, Fred Blassie, Baron Scicluna, The Spoiler, & King Curtis.

The big news of the year was Pedro Morlaes vs Bruno Sammartino match. This match came about when Bruno & Morales took on Fuji & Tanaka. The oriental team threw salt in Pedro & Bruno's eyes and they began to fight each other. The match went over an hour and was declared a draw.

Bruno Sammartino stayed very active as he  defeated the likes of George Steele, Waldo Von Erich, Stan Stasiak, Ernie Ladd & Professor Tanaka.

Tag Teams

The year started with Karl Gotch & Rene Goulet as the WWWF Tag Team Champions.

The Pittsburgh territory did not recognize Gotch & Goulet as champs, in Pittsburgh Geeto Mongol & Johnny Defazio were the tag champs. Geeto & Defazio defeated Tyler & Graham on TV in Pittsburgh. During their run they took on some tough teams such as Blackjack Mulligan & Waldo Von Erich, George Steele & Angelo Mosca, The Kangaroos & Mr. Sato & Mitsu Arakawa..

Baron Scicluna & King Curtis defeated Gotch & Goulet in February and lost the title to Sonny King & Chief Jay Strongbow in May of 1972.

Professor Tanaka & Mr. Fuji defeated Strongbow & Sonny King in the summer of 1972.

Tanaka & Fuji had successful title defenses against Gorilla Monsoon & El Olympico, Jack Brisco & Fred Curry & Gorilla Monsoon & Sonny King

Top 10 WWWF Wrestlers of 1972

1. Pedro Morales
2. Bruno Sammartino
3. Victor Rivera
4. Chief Jay Strongbow
5. Professor Tanaka
6. Bobo Brazil
7. Fred Blassie
8. Stan Stasiak
9. Dom DeNucci
10. Gorilla Monsoon

WWWF Fantasy card from 1972

(All matches did take place but not in the same evening)

Jimmy Valiant vs Fred Curry

Waldo Von Erich vs Dr. Bill Miller

Geeto Mongol & Johnny DeFazio vs Mr. Sato & Mitsu Arakawa

Angelo Mosca vs Dom DeNucci

Karl Gotch & Rene Goulet vs Baron Scicluna & King Curtis

Chief Jay Strongbow vs George Steele

Gorilla Monsoon & Jack Brisco vs Professor Tanaka & Mr. Fuji

Bobo Brazil vs Fred Blassie

Victor Rivera vs Stan Stasiak

Bruno Sammartino vs Pedro Morales

Misc 1972 WWWF

1972 saw the return of some stars of the 1960's such as Johnny Valentine, Chief White Owl & Smasher Sloan.

Angelo Mosca had turned on Dom DeNucci and a big feud was started.

An early Civic Arena match from Pittsburgh had Victor Rivera & Gorilla Monsoon facing Ivan Koloff & Joe LeDuc. This was one of the most exciting matches of the year. Monsoon actually did leap frogs & flying head scissors.

During 1972 Geeto Mongol & Johnny Defazio were the WWWF Tag Champs in the Pittsburgh Pa territory. Bruno & Karl Gotch never got along so Gotch was never booked in Pittsburgh, this was a way to promote local star Johnny DeFazio.