Appearance-wise, there was nothing flashy about Bob Backlund. But when the bell rang, he proved he could go toe to toe with not only the WWF's finest but the best in the world, and in turn took a fledgling title and brought recognition to it.
In April of 1977, Superstar Billy Graham rose to prominence in the WWWF when he defeated Bruno Sammartino to become the company's new World Champion. Unlike previous heels Ivan Koloff and Stan Stasiak who held the title for less than a month, Graham would tear through 1977 and into 1978, selling out Madison Square Garden and astounding 19 out of 20 times and eventually becoming the forerunner to eventual stars Jesse Ventura, Hulk Hogan, and many others.
But there was another star on the rise during this time.
At 27 years old, Bob Backlund debuted in the WWWF in 1977 and within only a few months found himself one of the top contenders to Graham's World Championship. The complete antithesis of Graham's Superstar character, Backlund wore classic wrestling trunks and boots to the ring and shied away from poses to show off his physique. He had a sort of Ron Howard-Opie look or, as he was eventually monikered, a Howdy Doody look, and became a blue collar hero to the wrestling fans in the vein of Sammartino or Morales before him. And just like those names previous, Backlund could more than back it up in the ring.
...
Born in Princeton, Minnesota in 1950, Backlund was a multi-sport prodigy growing up, but it was wrestling he ultimately settled upon, which paved the way to junior college success as well as NCAA honors at North Dakota State, where he won the Division II National Championship at the 191 pound weight class in 1971.
In 1973, Backlund moved up to professional wrestling when he joined the AWA. Despite having bulked up to 240 pounds, Backlund was still regarded as undersized for the heavyweight ranks but more than made up for any lack of size with his technical savvy in the ring, which instantly got him over with fans.
As a professional, he was trained by the famed Eddie Sharkey, who was the mentor to such future stars such as Jesse Ventura, Rick Rude, The Road Warriors, X-Pac, Jerry Lynn and many others. (Side note: Eddie Sharkey worked at a bar called Grandma B's, where the bouncing corps included both Road Warriors, Hawk and Animal, as well as Rick Rude. Imagine causing a ruckus in that place?)
Besides his work with AWA, Backlund began traveling throughout the country, working various NWA promotions in different regions. With various tag team partners, Backlund was able to accumulate many tag team championship reigns during this journeyman days. But his greatest accomplishment during this time was defeating Harley Race for the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship in April of 1976. It would not be the last time he would have a noteworthy bout with Race…
By late 1976, Backlund had dropped the Missouri title to Jack Brisco, and left the territory not long after to join Vincent J. McMahon and the WWWF.
…
Backlund and Graham had a series of memorable matches throughout 1977 and heading into 1978 with inconclusive results in each. Backlund would either suffer a count out loss or Graham would be the recipient of the count out loss. Either way, he was continuously falling short of finally toppling the dominant Graham and taking the WWWF Title. On February 20, 1978 at Madison Square Garden, Backlund and Graham would clash again. Serving up a masterpiece performance like they had previously, the finish of this match, however, had Backlund executing his patented atomic drop on Graham and gaining a three count victory, despite the fact that Graham's leg was draped on the bottom rope (something the referee failed to see). Backlund was the new WWWF Champion. (Voted 1978 match of the year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated)
Backlund's victory was a return to the ultra baby face champion that Sammartino and Morales represented. But unlike his predecessors, Backlund was about to embark on an impressive and ambitious world title reign that included cross over, champion vs champion matches with multiple promotions.
Not even a week after defeating Graham, Backlund was slated to once again face his previous nemesis, Harley Race, who was the current NWA Heavyweight Champion. (To be fair, Graham competing against Race as well for both belts.) Their first encounter would go Broadway at the 60 minute mark, but they would face each other again at least three more times over Backlund's reign as WWWF champion and Race's reign as NWA Champion.
The promo and match below are from the September 22, 1980 bout between both men.
In March of 1979, Backlund took the WWWF Title to Toronto to face the AWA Champion, Nick Bockwinkel, who was the promotion's reigning champion for six years at that point. Bockwinkle, another very gifted mat wrestler, went toe to toe with Backlund for nearly 40 minutes before both men were counted out after battling outside of the ring.
Later in November of 1979, Backlund traveled to Japan to take part in what might be considered his most highly regarded series of matches with the great Antonio Inoki. A wrestling masterpiece in every sense of the word, the two grapplers traded advantages back and forth with an unlikely and controversial finish coming with Inoki getting the win after a belly to back suplex. The controversy stemmed from Backlund thinking he had just pinned Inoki after he landed the atomic drop. However, the referee did not count Inoki out, which left the distracted Backlund vulnerable to Inoki's finisher.
Backlund protested the finish, and a rematch was set for December 6, 1979, once again in Japan. The match was again a well executed affair, but this time it was Backlund who won the bout despite again controversy surrounding the finish because of outside interference from Tiger Jeet Singh. The WWF "President" Hisashi Shinma had the result thrown out, but Inoki, in turn, vacated the belt due to the circumstance. Backlund returned to the United States as WWF champion. The title change was never acknowledged, and some reports point to this being a total work and some point to it as being a screw job on Inoki because he supposedly vacated the title in order to have a follow up match in New York for the belt (which ended up being a match between Backlund and Bobby Duncum).
In 1982, Backlund once again was pressed into representing the WWF against the NWA with a bout against then champion Ric Flair, which was another contest that ended in a double count out at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia.
From a wrestling fan's perspective nowadays, a unification match of titles between the WWWF/WWF, NWA, and AWA would surely never end in a definitive winner. Of course the result would be a push in some form, whether it is a time limit draw or a count out or a disqualification. The significance though of Backlund's World Title Tour was that it brought distinction to the WWF title, which was still needing validation as a prestigious championship.
Backlund held the WWF title for nearly six years when Vince McMahon made the decision that Hulk Hogan was going to be the new face of the company due to his undeniable charisma and massive commercial appeal. It's not surprising that Backlund was reluctant to drop the belt to Hogan due to his successor's lack of wrestling skills. This, therefore, set up the match between Backlund and The Iron Shiek on December 26, 1983 where Backlund famously never gave up despite being locked in the Camel Clutch. But it was his manager Arnold Skaaland who threw in the towel from Backlund's corner, forcing the referee to stop the match and declare The Sheik the new WWF champion. At least in his loss, Backlund could maintain he never actually submitted.
Three weeks later, Hogan leg dropped his way to the WWF Title and the rest for him and professional wrestling is history. Everything changed from there. Backlund, however, would only wrestle for the company for another year before leaving in 1984.
But eight years later, Backlund would return to the WWF, and looked like he hadn't skipped a beat. His entry into the 1993 Royal Rumble was testament to his incredible stamina as he lasted over an hour at age 43. But the Bob Backlund face character of the 70's and 80's didn't fit in this new generation of the WWF. In fact, even in the latter stages of his run in the 80's, the fans started to wain at his All American look and demeanor, frequently chanting "Howdy Doody" during his matches.
Backlund had refused a heel turn during the 80's, but took the character turn in 1994 and morphed into "Mr. Bob Backlund," a psychotic and sociopathic version of his former character, frequently demeaning the amorality of America had embraced and attacking other wrestlers with his Crossface Chicken Wing. (Jim Ross isn't a wrestler, but he received the same treatment as seen below. Don't know why the video repeats with no audio, though.)
Backlund's heel run produced many memorable, humorous moments of insanity, but it also produced one last great series of matches with Bret Hart. The famous "Towel Match" at Survivor Series in 1994 had a reverse deja vu moment when Hart's mother Helen threw in the towel as her son was locked in the Crossface Chicken Wing, giving the win to Backlund. The following Wrestlemania in 1995, they faced off again in an "I Quit" match, where Backlund famously, unintelligibly submitted to Hart's version of the Crossface Chicken Wing.
In between both matches, Backlund was once again WWF Champion (having won the belt as a result of his victory over Hart in the "Towel Match"), although his brief reign is more notorious for how long (or short) his defense was against Diesel, when he was power bombed and pinned in eight seconds.
Backlund ultimately left the WWF in 1997 again, but would resurface a couple more times over the years. In 2000, he reappeared as Kurt Angle's manager and passed down his Crossface Chicken Wing to the rising star. He would also make a guest appearance at the Monday Night Raw 15th Anniversary show as part of a battle royal and during the same year work briefly for TNA Wrestling.
But Backlund's legacy ultimately rests during that six year run he had as WWWF/WWF champion. While the groundwork had been laid by Sammartino and others, Backlund's reign maintained and ramped up the WWF heading into the era where wrestling would explode into a national phenomenon. Sadly, like Sammartino, Backlund is not in the company's hall of fame, refusing supposedly based upon the notion he thinks he can be the World Champion again.
I wouldn't doubt for a second that Backlund could still hold his own in a wrestling match with anyone in the company today at 62 years old. In fact, what an amazing and gratifying image it would be for old school wrestling fans to see Backlund lock John Cena in that Crossface Chickenwing right in the center of the ring.
During the 1980s, heels in professional wrestling were defined very distinctly by either being extremely arrogant or cowardly (or in many cases both). Some would insult the crowd. Some would cheat whenever they could. In the case of Bad News Brown, it was a combination of a loner's mentality and a bruising in-ring style that created created a prototypical heel that was years ahead of its time.
In 1988, Wrestlemania IV had the toughest act to follow to date in the history of the World Wrestling Federation after the record breaking showcase that was Wrestlemania III at the Pontiac Silverdome. Of course leading into the fourth installment of the pay per view, the feud between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant had grown to new heights since the screw job finish that led to Hogan dropping the belt to Andre (who would then sell the belt to Ted Dibiase, later nullified by WWF President Jack Tunney.) That was the main draw in the decided 14 man tournament that would decide an undisputed World Champion.
However, a unique undercard bout was created by the WWF in the form of a 20 man battle royal that awarded the victor, simply, a trophy. Nothing more. Not a number one contendership to the later crowned WWF Champion. Just a big trophy.
With the show being billed as a "four hour spectacular," the battle royal itself only lasted roughly 11 minutes with the final two competitors being Bret Hart and Bad News Brown. At this point, Hart was a heel as part of the Hart Foundation and so was Brown, which almost created a unique situation where both men were willing to share the trophy as co-winners. Of course, a Ghetto Blaster from Brown secured a double-crossing victory that gave him the trophy… which was promptly destroyed by Hart in a fit of rage. Nevertheless, Bad News Brown was a superstar on the rise…
Long before the battle royal at Wrestlemania IV, Allen Coage (born 10/22/43, New York City) was an 18 year old making his way through the subway when he saw an advertisement for a Judo school. Fourteen years later and with over 100 national and international titles to his name, Coage, a fifth degree black belt, achieved his ultimate prize of a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
Given the nickname "Bad News" by his fellow competitors, Coage transitioned to professional wrestling when he realized despite his success in Judo that the bigger pay day was in the squared circle. Under the tutelage of Antonio Inoki, Coagle worked for New Japan Wrestling under the name of "Buffalo" Allen Coage for the next four years from 1978 to 1982.
During his run with New Japan, Coage began to harness a unique kind of heel status that did not seem to stem from the classic "cheating" or "retreating" heel, but rather from the kind of guy who would kick your ass, snarl, and kick it again for good measure.
But Coage was almost exclusively a Japanese-bred wrestler in training and execution. Inoki, hoping to season Coagle sent him to the states where he had a brief stint with Vince McMahon Sr. and the WWWF. It was there that his old nickname "Bad News" resurfaced and became his new moniker.
During this time period of back and forth shuttling between the United States and Japan, Coagle became famous (or infamous) for a confrontation with Andre the Giant that spawned from a drunken bus ride that saw Andre spout a racist remark that Coagle took so personally that he stopped the bus, walked outside, and demanded that Andre step out to fight him. Andre declined and later apologized. (Hogan tells a different version of the encounter while Bret Hart and Dynamite Kid corroborate it in their biographies.)
Speaking of Dynamite Kid, it was his insistence on Coagle joining Stu Hart's Canadian promotion Stampede Wrestling that became the ultimate turning point in Coagle's career. As Hart cites in his autobiography Hitman "News was a decent worker and a hard one, but he had no psychology: He just ate up anyone in his path… Most nights, in the middle of my comeback he'd scoop my legs out out from under me, grab me by the throat and tell me, 'If you touch my head again I'll kill you, mo'fucker.' Every match I went in looking like a nine and, after he was done, came out looking like a three."
Coagle, as "Bad News" Allen, exploded as a heel in Stu Hart's territory, aggressively carving a warpath through the baby faces of Stampede Wrestling all the way to the North American Heavyweight Championship. On one occasion, his attack with a fork on Jim Neidhart was so vicious and bloody that it caused the Canadian wrestling commission to levy a suspension on Coage.
When Stampede Wrestling was annexed by the WWF in the 80's, wrestlers such as Coage along with Bret Hart and others were also brought into the main roster as well. Coage, renamed again to "Bad News Brown," continued his run as a heel destroying jobbers left and right with his "Ghetto Blaster" finishing move.
The character of Bad News Brown was all the more fascinating on the WWF stage because in a time of bold, vivid baby faces and heels that were clearly defined, Coage was something of an anomaly. Granted he was a heel, but he walked alone and never seemed to buy into the trust of others as evidenced by his turning on Bret Hart during the Wrestlemania IV battle royal and during Survivor Series matches where he'd abandon his heel partners.
As a wrestler, Coagle likened his style of wrestling as to what he would do in a street fight, and frequently pummeled opponents with devastating attacks in the corner, bringing out some of his Judo training as well. In the 90's he would have been labeled a "technical brawler" when that became a popular description of wrestlers such as Steve Austin and Goldberg.Unfortunately, despite notable matches with Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts, and Roddy Piper (who infamously painted himself half black in their Wrestlemania VI bout) Coage left the WWF in 1990 under less than amicable conditions. One reason cited for his leaving had to do with an unfulfilled promise at a World Title run that McMahon supposedly promised him. Other reasons cited indicate an overall unhappiness with the WWF.
From Coage's SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame article: "They never kept their word to me. It wasn't a fun time for me. You see, when I left there I was really happy. I was brought there under false pretenses. They never kept their word to me. I was just sick of the lying all the time… That was two and a half years of my life I really didn't enjoy."
After leaving the WWF, Coage spent the majority of the 90's working independent shows along with UWFi in Japan. By 1999, though, Coage's weakened knees forced him to retire as an active in-ring competitor. He shifted to color commentating for the revived Stampde Wrestling and even worked at running his own wrestling school in Calgary (while also working as a mall cop there as well).
But sadly, on March 6, 2007, Coage passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 63. He had been in the midst of recovering from hip replacement surgery only a few weeks prior. The wrestling community (or at least the one's from Coage's past) flocked to his funeral and later put up a Bad News Allen tribute wrestling show in his honor.
Although his career in the WWF was short lived and relegated to the mid-card level, Coage was a character about ten years ahead of his time. His black boots, black trunks look and bruising in-ring style combined with his combative microphone work (often referring to the crowd as "beer bellied share croppers") draws further comparison to Austin when he began his mega-star run in the late 90's. And Coage even had the on-air clashes with authority; his most famous being with Jack Tunney during a Brother Love segment.
But the 80's era of the WWF was not ready for that kind of character to take off. Not while Hulkamania and Macho Madness were in the high spots. Nowadays, of course, it's common place to have the anti-authority behavioral trait as a wrestler, but Coage was singular in that respect during his run. A man who epitomized the saying "what you see is what you get" and walked his own line all the way to the end.
One of the first true Icon vs. Icon matches of its day...
1972. WWWF televised event. Two of the biggest stars in the business teaming together for an epic tag team match. One, the current World Champion in Pedro Morales. The other, the former (and eight year reigning) World Champion, Bruno Sammartino. In our lifetime, it was like a Hogan and Warrior or an Austin and Rock team up. Their opponents, the heavy heels Professor Tanaka and Mr. Fuji. Without a doubt, the kind of tag team match where the fans expected the heels to get their comeuppance for their previous wrongdoings.
But then came a turn in the match. Fuji, in trademark fashion, threw salt into the eyes of Sammartino, blinding him into an inadvertent attack against Morales who came into the ring to help his partner. As Morales hit the mat, Tanaka followed Fuji's play and blinded Morales with his own toss of salt. Suddenly, the two allies found themselves mistakenly battling each other, thinking they were Tanaka and Fuji. When the dust (or salt) settled, the match was clearly over, but the result created heat between Sammartino and Morales with each man blaming the other for the circumstances.
Vincent J. McMahon knew what he had on his hands. Something that had not been done in wrestling before. Two mega faces at odds with other. The perfect centerpiece for his outdoor event at Shea Stadium.
The Match Of The Century.
…
Born in 1935, Bruno Sammartino was an immigrant to America from Italy, whose family planted roots in Pittsburgh, PA in 1950. The teenage Sammartino, having already survived a life threatening battle with rheumatic fever, took on the hobby of weightlifting to build up his slender, gaunt frame.
Sammartino's success in the weight room nearly earned him a spot on the 1956 US Olympic team, but he was edged out by eventual gold medalist in the '56 games, Paul Anderson. But his impressive feats of strength, which became a sort of local event each time, caught the eye of a local wrestling promoter in the area who recruited Sammartino into his fold. Not only was Sammartino a specimen in terms of his 6'1" 280 pound frame, but his Italian ethnicity was a draw to many of his fellow countrymen in the Pittsburgh area.
His first match was a 19 second squash of Dmitri Grabowski.
As a wrestler, Sammartino was an instant draw and was selling out the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. But he would quickly extend his popularity beyond Pennsylvania when he began working Madison Square Garden in 1960. Again, Sammartino would instantly achieve a wave of popularity and became a main event draw in New York before the year was over. (It didn't hurt that he was able to lift and slam the over 600 pound Haystacks Calhoun either.)
As foreshadowing to his eventual relationship with Vincent J's son, Sammartino developed a strained relationship with the elder McMahon which stemmed from the obvious root of dissension in wrestling between performer and promoter in the form of broken promises and unfulfilled payouts. On a couple of occasions he would part with the WWWF for greener pastures (Toronto, for example), but would find his way back through various circumstances.
This was a significant time in the history of the WWWF with McMahon's schism from the NWA and creation of his own World Champion in the form of Buddy Rogers. But the promotion stood on fragile legs and needed a popular face to ultimately bring legitimacy to the WWWF and put fans in the seats. McMahon knew Sammartino would be the answer to the latter, but it was Sammartino who negotiated a title run for himself if he was to return to the promotion.
A deal was reached, and Sammartino faced Rogers at the Garden with belt on the line. Supposedly the true finish of the match was not revealed to Rogers until he was in the ring with Sammartino, more specifically in a headlock by Sammartino. Allegedly Sammaritno said to him in the midst of his grip "We can do this the easy way or the hard way." The match lasted all of 48 seconds with Sammartino getting the win via his submission. Rogers quickly exited the ring after doing things the easy way.
The resulting win began a record setting run for Sammartino as he would hold the WWWF Title for nearly eight years, a record that still stands today. Along the way he bested all of the top heels in the business from Killer Kowalski to Freddie Blassie to Gorilla Monsoon and set numerous attendance records at arenas. Sammartino was the no doubt the most popular wrestler in the country and became a living legend in the business.
However, as all good things must come to an end, so did Sammartino's reign as champion. Having become exhausted from the workload of the last eight years, Sammartino dropped the belt in a shocking loss to Ivan Koloff; a finish that was so unexpected and jarring that the fans were silent in disbelief. Many were crying as the defeated Sammartino walked back to the dressing room.
But as the prophetic Yoda uttered in The Empire Strikes Back, "There is another." And again it would come from foreign soil to take American wrestling by storm.
…
Born in 1942, Pedro Morales was a Puerto Rican immigrant who started his career in professional wrestling at the age of 17. Although his career began in New York, it was his move to Los Angeles that jump started his career in the business.
As a worker for the WWA promotion, Morales earned the respect of veterans with his technical proficiency as well as incredible endurance in the ring. In 1965, he defeated The Destroyer to become the WWA champion and would win it again that same year after a rematch with Luke Graham (who defeated him five months after his first title win).
After a nine month reign as champion in the singles ranks, Morales shifted to tag team action and became a four time tag team champion as well. In 1968, with WWA in the midst of organizational changes, Morales moved to Hawaii and resumed his prominence in the singles and tag team ranks, wining NWA titles for each in the territory.
The turning point in Morales' career would come with signing with McMahon and the WWWF in 1970. As a natural baby face in the same vein as current champion Bruno Sammartino, Morales again was respected for his incredible physical abilities and brought yet another element of popularity to McMahon's WWWF with his rapport with the Puerto Rican community. With Sammartino about to exit from the main event scene, McMahon needed another fan favorite to carry the torch.
The predicament he was faced was having one baby face defeat another, which was a taboo booking move in wrestling. Thus, Ivan Koloff, a mega heel at the time, was utilized as a transitional champion to take the belt off Sammartino, which would set up Morales for his championship match.
On February 8, 1971, Morales defeated Koloff at Madison Square Garden to become the fourth WWWF World Champion in its history much to the delight of Morales' mega fan base in New York.
Morales would carry the torch as the face of the WWWF throughout 1971 and deep into 1972. However, despite the heavy fan base he carried in New York, Morales was unable to generate the same fanfare outside of the Garden. Although still a popular baby face champion, the WWWF again was slumping in attendance, and McMahon thought a significant main event match was needed to legitimize the championship reign of Morales to the fans.
Again, McMahon reached out to Sammartino.
"I had to take this match to prove I was a worthy champion, even though I didn't want the pressure again." - Bruno Sammartino from Ross Davies' biography Bruno Sammartino
…
The planned show was an outdoor event to be showcased at Shea Stadium, which only six years previous had housed The Beatles to over 40,000 fans and only three years previous the World Series winning Mets. McMahon knew to bring the fans in he needed a main event that was as big as a heavyweight boxing bout. With the events having transpired in the tag match with Morales and Sammartino, the groundwork had been laid for such a battle.
The Showdown at Shea took place on September 30, 1972.
Over 22,000 fans braved a very cold and rainy day to see the match dubbed "The Match of The Century." As we've all found throughout the years of watching mega events like this, how the fans will react can never be predicted. The usually heavy favored Sammartino was jeered by the fans, something he had not really encountered in his career as a wrestler.
Davies' biography on Sammartino offers the suggestion that Sammartino was disliked that day because the fans "who attended the monthly cards at Madison Square Garden were angry that Bruno was no longer appearing on a regular basis. Morales had replaced him in their hearts."
The match was a technical wrestling exhibition in every sense of the word, and showcased not only the incredible stamina of each individual but also the focus to tell a compelling story inside the ring.
After several near falls and an attempted run-in by George "The Animal" Steele, the match finally had to be called a draw after an incredible 75 minutes due to the curfew instituted in New York. Morales and Sammartino had not only gone Broadway but well beyond anything anyone had expected. At the conclusion of the bout, both Morales and Sammartino embraced, once again unified as a tag team as well as friends.
McMahon's gross was close to $141,000 for the event which nearly became a record for an outdoor wrestling show. The initial response was positive and reflected in an influx in attendance but unfortunately began to wain with Morales still in the top spot throughout 1973. McMahon knew the inevitable course of action: he needed Sammartino back as champion.
Sammartino again had reservations, still remembering the strain of the heavy schedule he had during his first title reign, but finally reached an agreement with McMahon which would reduce his schedule and also provide some monetary compensation from ticket sales.
To get the belt back on Sammartino without going over on Morales, McMahon had Stan "The Man" Stasiak win the title from Morales on December 1, 1973. McMahon, fearing a riot if Stasiak defeated Morales in New York, chose Philadelphia, PA as the venue for the changing of the guard. Stasiak (like Koloff before him) was a transitional champion designed to hold the belt until Sammartino was ready to re-assume his spot at the top of the wrestling world.
Nine days later, December, 10, 1973, Sammartino defeated Stasiak in the main event at Madison Square Garden and would go on to hold the title for another four years. The fans were back in droves.
…
In the coming years, McMahon (and his son) would deliver two more Showdown at Shea events to New York in 1976 and 1980. The 1976 show had Sammartino successfully defending his WWWF Title against Stan Hansen, while the 1980 show famously pitted him in a cage match with his protege turned heel, Larry Zbysko,
Interesting note: the under card of the 1976 Showdown at Shea had Andre the Giant facing boxer Chuck Wepner, who was the inspiration for the film Rocky which would debut later that year in theaters. The fight itself would also be the inspiration for the match between Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan) and Rocky Balboa in Rocky III.
After his run as WWWF Champion, Morales left the company in 1974 and worked various promotions throughout the country until staging a comeback to the renamed WWF in 1980. Morales not only went on to win the tag titles with Bob Backlund (which had to be immediately forfeited because Backlund was World Champion and by the rules of the time could not hold more than one title) but also claimed the WWF Intercontinental Title after defeating Ken Patera in his old stomping grounds of Madison Square Garden. The win was significant for Morales because he became the first ever Triple Crown Winner in the history of the WWWF and WWF. He would wrestle for the company until 1987 when he finally retired from the ring, and was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1995.
Sammartino would retire from the WWF in 1980 but return in 1984. Although he worked a number of matches with his son, David, in tag team action, Sammartino did feud with both Macho Man Randy Savage and the Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship before finally calling it quits in 1988.
Unfortunately, Sammartino's relationship with the company would become more and more strained due to his criticisms over issues such as steroid use and questionable story lines. His outspoken position on the direction of the WWF/E has kept him out of the Hall of Fame as well as many other honorable mentions. (He is also missing from the past and present roster on the new website.)
There was almost a breakthrough in 2004 while in the midst of a possible DVD release of Sammartino's greatest matches as well as a possible position working on WWE 24/7 Classics, but the negotiations fell through once again over the present direction of the company. The RAW that week was in Pittsburgh, and Sammartino was invited to attend but declined despite being told of the main event featuring Triple H and Chris Benoit. Sammartino added he would have attended if Benoit was wrestling Kurt Angle.
With Wrestlemania less than a week away, tons of great matches have been talked about and discussed and analyzed to death on this website. Granted, the Showdown at Shea was not a match that took place at Wrestlemania, but with the Rock-Cena match being billed as one that is "Once In A Lifetime," it's interesting to look back to a similar "Match of the Century" that took place during a time when the company was still on the verge of succeeding and failing with every event promoted and how two massive stars with two different fan bases produced wrestling history.
Unfortunately, despite notable matches with Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts, and Roddy Piper (who infamously painted himself half black in their Wrestlemania VI bout) Coage left the WWF in 1990 under less than amicable conditions. One reason cited for his leaving had to do with an unfulfilled promise at a World Title run that McMahon supposedly promised him. Other reasons cited indicate an overall unhappiness with the WWF.
