History of Pro Wrestling in Hagerstown,Md- 1964

As the weather continues & the work day rolls (crawls) slowly on, I looked up some information as a follow up to my earlier piece on the history of Pro Wrestling in Hagerstown,Md.

Mind you, not all results are complete- but it is, in my opinion, a fascinating look into a mid sized small town and its importance to the WWWF's overall business in those early years. I will post results, & include some analysis at the end, based known facts, my opinion & from reading "in between the lines" from the results....Thanks to the great "historyofwwe.com" website for the bulk of this information.....

1/28/64 : Hagerstown Armory, North Potomac St: results not complete, but the line-up was as follows:  Argentina Apollo vs. Tony Nero*, Klondike Bill vs. Chris Jelevarou, Ladies Tag: Fabulous Moolah/ Dot Carter vs. Brenda Scott/Lynn Carter, Pedro Morales vs. Dr. Jerry Graham

*Tony Nero would also compete as The Golden Terror, & The Black Demon as years went on....

2/26/64 :Hagerstown Armory: Gorilla Monsoon b Jerry Miller, Pedro Morales b Tony Nero, Dr Jerry Graham b Arnold Skaaland, Bobo Brazil b Rocky Cookson, WWWF TITLE: Bruno Sammartino b Klondike Bill

4/1/64: Hagerstown Armory: full results not available, Argentina Apollo vs. Spaceman Frank Hickey, Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd vs. Boris Malenko, Bobo Brazil vs Klondike Bill, The Grahams ( DR. Jerry & Crazy Luke) vs. The Kentuckians

5/6/64: Hagerstown Armory: full results not available, Duke Miller vs. Pedro Rodriquez, Cowboy Bill Watts vs Crazy Luke Graham, The Kentuckians vs.Boris Malenko & Magnificent Maurice, Bobo Brazil vs Dr. Jerry Graham

6/3/64: Hagerstown Municipal Stadium: Crazy Luke Graham b Duke Miller, Bill Watts D Dr Jerry Graham,The Kentuckians b Killer Kowalski & Gorilla Monsoon

8/26/64-Municipal Stadium-att 1,500 - Arnold Skaaland b John Fonti, Darling Dagmar b Diamond Lil in 2of 3 falls Ladies Midgets match, Waldo Von Erich b Tomas Marin, Bobo Brazil b Klondike Bill,WWWF Title: Bruno Sammartino b Dr Jerry Graham

10/7/64 Hagerstown Armory: Gene Kiniski b Carlos Milano,Bill Watts b Smasher Sloan, Billy The Kid/Farmer Pete b Sonny Boy Cassidy/Cowboy Bradley in midget tag action, WWWF Title: Bruno Sammartino b Dr Jerry Graham

11/11/64 Hagerstown Armory: Jim Hady b Steve Stanlee,Arnold Skaaland b Boris Malenko, 2/3 falls tag bout: Gene Kiniski & Gorilla Monsoon b Pedro Morales/ Don McClarty, WWWF Title: Bruno Sammartino b Freddie Blassie in 28:00

11/28/64: full results not available, Magnificent Maurice vs. Baron Scicluna, Steve Stanlee vs. Johnny Powers,Betty Spencer vs. Sweet Georgia Brown, Haystacks Calhoun vs.  The Golden Terror

Notes:It pretty clear to see, by looking at the results & the frequency of his appearances (7 out of 9 events that year) what an attraction Dr. Jerry Graham was for the early McMahon promotions. Long considered a master psychologist, Dr Jerry would headline for the McMahons from the late 1950s- thru circa 1968. As valuable as he was, he was reportedly quite a handful outside the ring; he would be brought back intermittently by the elder McMahon thru the late 1970s, but weight & alcohol problems cost him his career.

Boris Malenko, a huge star throughout the country during his career, never reaches much above preliminary status in the Northeast

Gene Kiniski at this point, is 2 years away from upending Lou Thesz to start a two plus year run as NWA World champion. As crazy as this seems 40+ years later,certain members of the NWA Board, who decided the champion, were concerned that Kiniski lost too many bouts to Bruno the year before his title win, and thought it would "Devalue" the title.

Bill Watts is only a few months away from his program with Bruno, which, by his own admission, would launch his career as a wrestler, and later booker & promoter. Watts "turn" on Bruno was Sammartino's first major "program" where a friend attacked him, which, when done infrequently, is the most tried a true staple in wrestling booking.

The cards, in my opinion, got stronger as the year wore on- most likely, due to wanting the summer shows, all at the venerable Municipal Stadium (which is still open; home of the Hagerstown Suns) to draw stronger crowds to to the increased venue size (having been in the Old Armory, I don't think it could possibly seat more than 800-900) It seemingly worked- one of Sammartino's title defenses  vs. Dr Jerry drew 1,500.

There was another date 9/2/64 that had ANOTHER Bruno vs. Dr Jerry bout listed as having taken place in Hagerstown, but showed no other underneath matches.....however, if this is true, Bruno Vs. Dr Jerry had to have been a hot program locally! It does,however,seem to be an awfully quick return-only 6 days- so likely that was submitted in error.

In closing, whom amongst us have ever witnessed a midget ladies match, much less a 2 of 3 falls midget ladies match??? Other than the Bruno title defenses vs. Dr. Jerry & later Blassie, I would have like to see this one above all others, just due to its rarity!

Comments always welcome! See you next time!