I'm currently on vacation,and since I have limited computer access when not at work, my blogs may be several days apart.
Stopped today by the office for our annual Xmas buffet, which for some unusual reason, is taking place on Tuesday afternoon- I can only assume there was some type of price break.....
In any event, I have compiled a few results from the Hagerstown Armory from the mid-late 1960s, and, as I continue to blog about the history of professional wrestling in my hometown, I will provide "expert" commentary & analysis
January 6,1965-Hagerstown Armory
Bruno Sammartino & Bobo Brazil vs. Crazy Luke & Dr. Jerry, The Graham Brothers
March 9,1965-Hag Armory-complete results unavailable
Smasher Sloan vs Steve Stanlee, Arnold Skaaland vs Tony Newberry (aka Geeto Mongol),Wahoo McDaniel vs. Golden Terror, Bobo Brazil vs Gorilla Monsoon, Cowboy Bill Watts vs. Don McClarty, WWWF Title: Bruno Sammartino vs. Waldo Von Erich
May 27, 1965- Armory: Arnold Skaaland b Smasher Sloan, Chief White Owl b Waldo Von Erich-dq, Gorilla Monsoon b Don McClarty, 2/3 falls tag team main event: Bruno Sammartino & Wahoo McDaniel b Dr Jerry Graham & Golden Terror in 24:00
1966
Feb 15,1966 (my mothers 17th birthday; I'm sure she wasn't in attendence) Baron Scicluna b Ron Etchison, Pete Sanchez b Angelo Savoldi*, Prince Iaukea ( King Curtis) b Johnny Carr, 2/3 Falls Tag: Arnold Skaaland & Antonio Pugliese ( Cannonball Tony Parisi) b Smasher Sloan & Hector Serrano, WWWF title: Bruno Sammartino b Big Bill Miller-DQ
March 8, 1966-Hagerstown Armory-1500 sellout(!)- Argentina Apollo b Ron Etchison, Baron Scicluna b Chief Big Heart, Arnold Skaaland b Johnny Carr, Johnny Valentine & Antontio Pugliese b Smasher Sloan & Prince Iaukea, WWWF Title: Bruno Sammaertino b The Beast - DQ
April 5, 1966-Hag Armory- Ron Etchison b Angelo Savoldi, Arnold Skaaland d Magnificent Maurice,Chief Big Heart b Mike Loren, 3/5 Falls 6 Man Tag: Jonny Valentine,Antonio Pugliese, & Argentina Apollo b Baron Scicluna,Prince Iaukea,& Smasher Sloan
August 6,1966- Armory: complete results unavailable; Prince Iaukea vs. Antonio Pugliese, Johnny Valentine vs. Smasher Sloan, Louis Cerdan ( Gino Brito) & Rick Sexton vs, Bill Miller & Dr Jerry Graham, Arnold Skaaland vs. Pete Sanchez, Miguel Perez vs. Johnny Rodz
Sept 30,1966-Armory : Complete results unavailable : Louis Cerdan vs. Smasher Sloan, J. Valentine vs. Sonny Myers, Pugliese vs. Bulldog Brower
Dec 27,1966-Armory: complete results unavailable: Armand Hussien vs. Lou Albano, Midget bout: Little Beaver vs. fuzzy Cupid, WWWF title: Bruno Sammartino vs. Tank Morgan
Notes: The quality of the shows, as compared to 1964, in terms of name value ( not necessarily match quality; we will never know how good ANY of these bouts were) dropped considerably as time wears on; this may have something to do with the town, already "secondary" in terms of size & population, taking another step back with the addition of Pittsburgh & Boston,respectively ( I mentioned this in a previous blog)
A few surprise names on the list: Wahoo McDaniel springs to mind: this would have been during the period where Wahoo was wrestling summers, while playing for the New York Jets.....after the 1960's,however, Wahoo never again appeared on a WWWF/WWF/WWE event until 1994, in an segment to try to get Tatanka over.....glad that worked :)
Angelo Savoldi is another surprise here: I'm not sur eif this is "Old Angelo", who was a office guy for the WWWF, or if its his son "Young Angelo", who was a northeast mainstay as both a underneath worker and, eventually, the main promoter for his family under the name "ICW" and later "IWCCW"....of whom I have a a funny story from my earliest weeks in the wrestling business. Either way, the Savoldi name always make s me laugh, and I will share the story in an upcoming post.
From looking at the results, I'm not so sure that Smasher Sloan didn't live here: he's been on virtually every card that I've found so far. He clearly is a reliable hand, as he works underneath or semi final, with one main event, on practically every area event.
I'm also a little surprise at the frequency of Bruno Sammartino's appearances, given the size of the venue; his sellout at the Armory (1500 on 3/8/66; I previously blogged that I thought the Armory would likely hold no more than 800-900; I was incorrect) One has to wonder why Bruno was brought in 6 times during 1965-66, unless the town was hurting attendence wise, which seems unlikely
Upcoming: 1967-68 at the Armory: The events become less & less frequent, as the WWWF gets yet bigger...
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