Posted on 02/12/2019 1:55:27 PM PST by massmike
We are sad to report that former WWWF Champion Pedro Morales has passed away at 76 after battling health issues for several years, including Parkinsons disease. The news broke via Hugo Savinovich.
In addition to being a former WWF World Heavyweight Champion, he is also a former Tag Team and Intercontinental Champion which would make him the first Triple Crown winner in company history.
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What a great wrestler. He came from an era where wrestling was required watching if you could get UHF to work.
Another WWWF great has passed. RIP.
I remember when Morales wrestled Bruno Sammartino in Shea Stadium, one of wrestling’s first “super cards.” The two had been tag team partners, but had a “falling out” after a match against Professor Tanaka and his tag team partner (Mitsu Arakawa? not sure.) Tanaka threw salt in the eyes of both Morales and Sammartino. With both wrestlers blinded, they started slugging it out with each other, not realizing they were hitting their own partner. This led to the bad blood that set up the Shea Stadium match between the two.
If I’m not mistaken,this makes Superstar Billy Graham the oldest living former champion.
so many wrestling fans here at FR
I’m wrong! The oldest living ex-champ is the Iron Sheik,(born March 15,1943)who’s almost three months older than Graham (born June 7,1943).
The wrestling world has had a lot of deaths the last few years. I know this guy was 76, but that is not old in today’s world. I think they have had around 15 deaths in the last two years. It seems every week another one dies....even some that are still active.
Unfortunately, when steroid use became widespread, there were a number of wrestlers who died in their 30s and 40s due to "heart attacks."
RIP.
years ago I was on a service call to the airport Hilton in West Palm Beach to change the combination on the Hotel’s safe.
That night at the Palm Beach auditorium the Iron Sheik was to wrestle Sargent Slaughter. Famous for their dislike for each other.
As I was approaching the front desk Slaughter and The Sheik came around the corned arm in arm laughing and talking as they went in to the bar to have a beer.
That night they beat hell out of each other.
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