How I Remember Pro Wrestling in the 1970s

There was a time in my life when I was a big fan of professional wrestling. Maybe you were too? If so, see if your story is similar to mine

From roughly 1975 to 1985, pro wrestling had me hooked. It started with a wrestling magazine that someone had brought to school. I was around 12 years old at the time, and I asked if I could look at the magazine.

The magazine had lots of pictures of all the top wrestlers. There was Ivan ‘The Russian Bear’ Koloff, Dick ‘The Bruiser’ Afflis, Superstar Billy Graham, Chief Jay Strongbow, and of course, the living legend of professional wrestling, Bruno Sammartino.

POST UPDATED 1/24/2022: Below you will find my article originally posted in August of 2021 covering my fandom for Pro Wrestling in the 1970s. Since then, my new buddy, Frank Reading joined me to have an in depth “walk down memory lane.” The first player is this interview.

I also recommend you check out Frank’s podcast, Ringside With Reading: Boxing History From Yesteryear.

SUBSCRIBE AND FOLLOW THIS PODCAST FOR FREE

A New Love On UHF

Later that year, I discovered I could watch pro wrestling on local Channel 47, a UHF channel. It had reasonably decent reception–provided you could get the ‘rabbit ears’ set just right. For those who didn’t grow up in the 1970s and haven’t a clue what I’m talking about, rabbit ears are what we called the antenna on the television.

UHF was primarily a Spanish channel. If you weren’t Spanish speaking, the only reason you would search UHF was for the wrestling (Lucha Libre in Spanish). That’s when I first saw Bruno Sammartino wrestle. He was the champion of the World Wide Wrestling Federation.

Back then, the three most popular federations were the National Wrestling Alliance, which covered most of the Southern territory, The American Wrestling Association, which covered the Midwest, and the World Wide Wrestling Federation, which covered the area where I lived, the East Coast.

While staying up late one Saturday night, I discovered a new federation had sprung up named the International Wrestling Association. It was televised on Channel 9 (WOR) out of New York City and it didn’t come on until midnight. The champion of that federation was a very athletic Mexican wrestler by the name of Mil Mascaras. He wore a mask that his opponents were always trying to take off but, of course, never could.

Mascaras was one of the few wrestlers who had an unlimited array of moves, and he would usually finish off his opponent by diving off the top rope. He quickly became one of my favorites. The chief villain of the IWA was Bulldog Brower, who had a heated rivalry with the Mighty Igor, who later became a very popular wrestler using the name Ivan ‘Polish Power’ Putski. The IWA didn’t last very long, so most of the wrestlers joined one of the other three federations.

WWF and Television

Then the WWF started televising their shows on Saturday afternoon. The show attracted many fans, including me. But Sammartino rarely, if ever, wrestled on these televised shows. He was the main attraction and wrestled at big venues like Madison Square Garden and the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

In April 1976, Bruno wrestled a relative newcomer named Stan Hansen. Hansen had been a college football star at West Texas State. A huge man at 6’4 and 310 lbs, his favorite move was “The Lariat.” He would hurl his opponent into the ropes. Then when the guy bounced off and headed towards him, he would “close line” him. A body slam usually followed.

But while bodyslamming Sammartino, Hansen accidentally dropped him on the back of his head and broke his neck. No one in the pro wrestling business was ready to let the secret out that the matches were scripted, so the storyline was that it was Hansen’s lariat that broke Bruno’s neck.

Thankfully, Sammartino made a full recovery and returned to the ring. By now, I was questioning whether pro wrestling was “fake.”

One thing to think about is the drama of 1970s pro wrestling is reminiscnt of the intense gameplay in San Quentin 2: Death Row, where every spin brings a new twist.

Was It Fake?

That’s what everyone was telling me. I resisted, though. I was only 14 years old at the time, and I didn’t want to believe pro wrestling was phony.

In 1977, I met someone who was an even bigger wrestling fan than I. My new friend was more than a fan, actually; he photographed wrestling as a side job. The big benefit for me was that my friend knew some of the wrestlers personally, and he was able to get tickets to just about any show.

One day he asked me if I wanted to go with him to an upcoming show. “What’s the ticket price?” I asked. “They’re free,” he said. “All I ask is that you help me sell my photos before and after the show.”

How could I turn down a deal like that?!

My First Wrestling Show

I wasn’t of driving age yet, but my photographer friend was, so off we went to my first wrestling show. They weren’t the cheap seats, either. We were right up front.

While my friend clicked away with his camera, I sat there in awe of these massive individuals. If you think Andre the Giant looked big on TV, you can imagine what he looked like up close.

I continued going to the shows whenever my friend had an extra ticket, but most were local shows. I never bothered any of the wrestlers for autographs because I didn’t want to embarrass my friend.

Then, one day, my friend asked me if I wanted to go to an upcoming show at Madison Square Garden. “Wayne had some extra tickets, and he asked me if I wanted them,” he said. “Who’s Wayne, I asked?” “Superstar Billy Graham, he said,”

I thought he was pulling my leg, but he wasn’t.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting in the front row at the Garden watching Graham wrestle Ivan Putski. Graham was declared the winner when Putski got disqualified for disobeying the referee’s commands.

The Match I Came To See

Then came the match I couldn’t wait to see. It was Bruno Sammartino vs. Ken Patera. I had a particular interest in Patera because he had been an Olympic weightlifter before his wrestling career. He had placed second in the 1971 World Weightlifting Championships was a member of the 1972 Olympic team, and was the first USA lifter to clean & jerk 500 lbs.

It was a great match, but Bruno retained his championship belt. Graham won the belt from Bruno a few months later (by cheating, of course).

Is Wrestling Real?

By this time, I had finally accepted that matches were pre-determined. But I observed something else while sitting so close to the action. It wasn’t all fake.

You can’t fake a bodyslam. Getting slammed like that night after night had to take a toll on your body. Okay, all the punches aren’t landing, and they aren’t deliberately trying to hurt each other. And yes, they practice together, and wrestlers usually know what their opponent’s next move will be.

But accidents happen, and the script doesn’t always go as smoothly as planned–just like the night when Bruno Sammartino had his neck broken. So unless you are willing to get in there yourself, don’t be so quick to poke fun at it. Those guys take a beating.

I eventually lost touch with my wrestling photographer friend and stopped going to the shows. But I continued watching wrestling on television. I thought the WWF got a little dull when they made Bob Backlund the champion. Backlund had been a great amateur wrestler at North Dakota State and was a good role model for children.

Still, his bland personality and schoolboy looks didn’t make for much excitement on the professional level. Without Bruno Sammartino, who had retired, the WWF had become stale.

Leading To Wrestlemania

I started watching NWA wrestling from Florida on Tuesday nights and from Georgia on Saturdays. They had the ‘American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes, Nature boy Ric Flair, and Don ‘the Magnificent Muraco.’ They also had a relative newcomer stirring up a lot of excitement by the name of ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper.

The world of professional wrestling changed drastically in 1984. The WWF (formerly WWWF) had a new champion in Hulk Hogan.

Later that year, Rowdy Roddy Piper joined the federation. Both Hogan and Piper had the charisma that had been lacking in the WWF. With Hogan playing the good guy and Piper playing the heel, former fans of the WWF like myself came back.

Another significant change came that year when long-time WWF promoter Vince McMahon Sr. died. His death left his son Vince Jr. entirely in charge. Vince Jr. had a lot of ideas on how to make pro wrestling more entertaining and more popular. Unlike his father, Vince Jr. was willing to spend big money. He hired the likes of Mr. T and singer Cyndy Lauper. He brought in many of the top young wrestlers and signed them to big fat contracts.

On March 31, 1985, the first Wrestlemania took place at Madison Square Garden. Muhammad Ali was on hand as a special guest referee, and NY Yankees’ manager Billy Martin was the guest ring announcer. Performer Liberace was the guest timekeeper. The attendance for the event was 19,121. Over one million viewers also watched it through closed-circuit television.

I was not one of those viewers. I had just turned 23 years old, and I’d had my fill of pro wrestling. I read all about it in the newspaper the next day, and that was enough for me. I never watched it again.

But for those ten years … well … that was a different story. I had a love affair with pro wrestling.

For wrestling news, matchup history, and other information; you can check out SEScoops.

Mark Morthier is the host of Yesterday’s Sports, a podcast dedicated to reliving memorable sports moments from his childhood days and beyond. He grew up in New Jersey just across from New York City, so many of his episodes revolve around the great sport’s teams of the 70s for the New York area.

He is also an author of No Nonsense, Old School Weight Training (Second Edition): A Guide for People with Limited Time and Running Wild: (Growing Up in the 1970s)