[41] On November 11, 1978, Morales made a one night visit to California, teaming with Chavo Guerrero, Sr. in a win over Eddie Mansfield and The Grappler. After defeating both Bence and Morgan, he returned to his feud with Barend dropping the North American Heavyweight Championship on February 7, 1970. [72], Outside of the WWE, he has received recognition as a Latin American and Hispanic pioneer in other promotions. During the early months of 1981, he continued defeating the likes of The Hangman, Ron Shaw, Jose Estrada and Zbyszko, but tied in contests against St. This was followed by a short feud against The Moondogs, which ended with singles wins over both members of the team. [17] He subsequently split results against Shereef, also besting Rip Miller and Austin on several occasions during November. Morales also ran a parallel team with Pepper Gomez, winning the American Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship along with him after winning their two previous matches. [59] Some wrestlers that he had bested in the past, such as Butch Reed or Sika were also booked over him, along with strong adversaries such as Jake Roberts, Bravo, Orton and Paul Orndorff. Thats when I first saw Pedro. After briefly teaming with Peter Maivia, Morales defeated Armando Rodriguez and entered a series against Alfred Hayes, which ended with a balance of five wins, two losses and two draws. As a 12-year-old, I saw first-hand just how special then the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) Heavyweight Champion was. EDITORS NOTE: Hear Don Laible on John Arezzis Pro Wrestling Spotlight show on Saturday, January 2, 2021, at 6 p.m. [9] It was here where he first teamed with Miguel Prez, Sr. and Argentina Apollo, who were the first tag team champions recognized in the history of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now known as WWE). Afterwards, he went on to defeat several adversaries, including Larry Zbyszko, Scicluna, Afa, Rodz and The Hangman. [85], For other people named Pedro Morales, see, Worldwide Wrestling Associates (19651968), 50th State Big Time Wrestling (19681970), World Wide Wrestling Federation (19701975), American Wrestling Association (19761977), Championship Wrestling from Florida (19771978), New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Canada (19781980). [40] His team along Johnson opened the year by winning their first two matches, going on to defeat Koloff and Saito to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship on January 24, 1978. TOP PHOTO: Pedro Morales is fired up while facing Larry The Axe Hennig. Facebook. He opened the following months with victories in matches featuring Bob Bradley, Tony Russo and Swede Hanson, but was counted out in a challenge by Superstar Billy Graham. His wins over this time-span were over Moondog Spot, Sika and Jimmy Jack Funk. Photo by Steve Johnson. Slaughter, Chris Adams, and special guest referee Jim Brunzell. His first partner became Skip Young, along whom he managed to gain mixed results in matches involving Moose Morowski, John Studd and Baron Von Raschke among others. Margarita Cardenas. [25] Now a full-time member of the WWWF roster, he joined Gorilla Monsoon the following month, scoring a win in a three-fall rematch. [15] He continued earning singles victories over Horst Wessel, Kurt Von Stroheim, Al Marshall, Broadway Venus, Bill Cody and in a rematch against The Destroyer, while teaming along Hernandez to wrestle multiple combinations. [9] During the following months, Morales served as a midcarder, losing to several of the high-card talents but gaining wins over jobbers such as Poncho Pico, Sputnik Monroe and winning a three-fall match over Gypsy Biviano. Photo by John Arezzi. On October 8, 1977, Morales unsuccessfully challenged Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. "He was so good to me, and took care of me. 14112-1 Pedro A. Morales of Woodbridge passed away on Wednesay, June 4, 2014 at JFK Medical Center in Edison. [44] Another figure who became a mainstay was Sgt. Bill Barnwell of IGN Sports also included Morales in the site's list of Top Intercontinental Champions, placing him in the sixth slot. [3] The crowd favored him, despite Sammartino's large fan base in the city of New York. [14], On March 12, 1965, Morales defeated "The Destroyer" Dick Beyer to win the WWA World Heavyweight Championship in a three-fall match. Meanwhile, his team with Hernandez won three consecutive matches against The Assassins by disqualification. [39] Afterwards, he recorded mixed results in several contests against The Super Destroyer. But, for Johnson-Morales, her interest in wrestling originated in her home state of Missouri. After 75 minutes of wrestling featuring several near-falls, the contest ended in a draw, when the city's curfew entered into effect. [4][5][6][7][8] The first Latino to hold a world heavyweight championship, his combined reign as WWWF Heavyweight Champion remains among the longest in history. (Pedro) was a very smart businessman." The couple were married for 52 years. [73] This was part of an in-character celebratory speech following The Latin American Xchange's coronation as NWA World Tag Team Champions. Pedro was a magnanimous man, said Johnson-Morales during a recent telephone conversation with SlamWrestling.net from her home in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Best Match Powered by Whitepages Premium AGE 80+ Pedro A Morales Woodbridge, NJ Aliases Morales Pedro View Full Report Addresses Willry St, Woodbridge, NJ Woodbridge Ter Apt G, Woodbridge, NJ [32] The main event of the 1972 Showdown at Shea later became known as "The Match of the Century" and is still regarded as one of the best events in the history of professional wrestling. [20] Morales and Rivera won the last encounter on August 16, 1967, then migrating to another rivalry against Freddie Blassie & Buddy Austin. After disposing of Valiant, Graham, Scicluna and Graham again, the feud against Albano continued with wins in regular and steel cage matches. [84], His mother Teodora was a businesswoman, who continued to advise him on economic decisions throughout his life. [47] During the month of June, he also scored consecutive wins over his former rivals Killer Khan and Sgt. Largest Database of New Jersey Mugshots. He is pointing his index finger at me, asking for me to come over to him. Pedro Antonio Morales (October 22, 1942 - February 12, 2019) was a Puerto Rican professional wrestler.He is best known for his appearances in the United States with Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA) and the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).. Debuting in 1959, Morales originally came to prominence with WWA in the 1960s, where he held the World Heavyweight Championship and World Tag . Two babyfaces were in the main event, and, 75 minutes later, the timekeepers bell rang, ending the match. However, it was wrestling that brought them together in California decades ago. Privacy | [47] With this win, Morales became the first man to hold the Intercontinental title twice, and he held it for fourteen months, the longest reign up until that point. Morales and Santana teamed twice more, but were unable to overtake the team of Haku and Tama, however, he subsequently joined Jim Brunzell, in emerging victorious over The Hart Foundation which in its original incarnation as cited here was made up of Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart. Morales worked an angle with the then-villain Larry Hennig, besting him in singles. [20] Meanwhile, in one-on-one competition he bested Ron Romano, Baron Mikel Scicluna, Rick Renaldo, The Rebel and won an eight-man battle royale. [14] Morales went on to defeat Graham in two more rematches, scoring victories over Ox Anderson, Bandito Lopez and Jack Allen as well. [55] After four more wins over his regular opponents, he lost to Orton. The following weeks brought wins over Sammy Sanders, Bob Bradley, Fuji and Rose, but also losses to Graham and Muraco, most of which were by countout or disqualification. For the fans, Morales was an athlete to admire. A series against Freddie Blassie concluded with three singles wins for Morales, also including a tag team contest. Mr. Morales was employed as a salesman with P.C. Murphy and Johnny Vander, while wrestling Haggerty and The Mad Russian to draws. Returning to his former singles pace, Morales went on to immediately enter an undefeated streak over Bobby Jones, Moose Morowski, Buddy Wolff, Frankie Hill, Baron Von Raschke, Vito Martino, Ray Stevens, Pierre Poisson, Blackjack Lanza, Puppy Dog Peloquin, Rodeo Jones, Roger Kirby, Ray Stevens, Joe Carlos and Frankie Hill to close the year. [22], Now a full-time performer for 50th State Big Time Wrestling in Hawaii, he quickly entered a successful run with victories over Dave Ruhl, Austin and Tank Morgan. [52] On June 25, 1983, he defeated Buddy Landel to add the CSP North American Heavyweight Championship. Constantly updated. One week later, Morales faced Ric Flair in the first Aniversario event, winning the contest by disqualification. [24] However, a loss to Don Carson in the quarterfinals eliminated him from the event. Your email address will not be published. This trend was broken with the arrival of August, when Morales bested other figures including Blackjack Lanza and Stan Stasiak. Start your FREE search now! [WWE.com has a set of photos from the event. To close the year, Morales joined Mark Lewin to recapture the WWA World Tag Team Championship on December 10, 1966. whittlesea council asset protection [19] Concurrent to this, his team with Romero began experiencing more losses, while the one along Gomez remained consistently successful. Or sign in with one of these services. Later in the year, he formed a recurrent tag team with Perez and feuded with Pedro Rodriguez. He was 40 years old. Morales then wrestled several singles matches, defeating Killer Karl Kox, Bobby Dumcum, Saito, Bob Roop, Jack Ruggers and Charlie Cook, dividing contests with Dick Slater and losing to Koloff. There are tights, boots, and ring jackets still in the Woodbridge home that remind Johnson-Morales of her late husbands professional success. Being the private person the future WWWF champ was, the wedding took place at Morales mothers home. Afterwards, Ron Mikolajczyk became a recurrent teammate, mostly in matches involving Butch Bronson and a chosen partner. [85] They dated for five years, with her working as a teacher while his career often took him abroad to other states and countries. Sadly, for me and countless others who found joy in wrestling, beginning back in the early 1970s, we lost our hero on February 11, 2019. [85] Morales met Karen Johnson in 1965, when she attended an event at Long Beach where he was performing. [39] During this time-frame, Morales also faced Superstar Billy Graham and Lars Anderson on a regular basis. [47] Morales entered the contest with wins over The Executioner and Greg Valentine, winning the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship back on November 23, 1981, in a Texas Death match. [39], After migrating to Championship Wrestling from Florida, he immediately emerged victorious from a rivalry with Pat Patterson. This was followed by a visit to Kansas, where Morales defeated Alex Perez and lost to Jesse Ventura. Free Marketing emails In 2000, The Ring Chronicle inducted Morales into its own version of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. [20] To open 1968, he defeated The Preacher, The Rebel and Blassie, briefly rejoining Romero in a draw. Admin. When packing up on the west coast to come east for the WWWF, Johnson-Morales tells of rarely going to the matches with her new husband. [42] On August 9, 1980, he won the WWF Tag Team Championship along with Backlund by besting Afa and Sika, the Wild Samoans, at the Showdown at Shea 1980. At Madison Square Garden, on February 8, 1971, Morales dethroned The Russian Bear Ivan Koloff for the title. [11] However, when his son was about to start kindergarten, the family bought a house in central New Jersey. This pattern was repeated once more, but this time Morales earned a disqualification victory over Orton after winning the first four contests. [27] Meanwhile, The Wolfman and Bulldog Brower became recurrent enhancement talents during this run. The match featured the two most popular wrestlers of the era, but finished in a no contest with both of the involved in a confrontation after Mr. Fuji threw salt in both of their faces, ensuing a fight. This was momentarily interrupted with a short program against Mr. Fuji, Mr. Saito and Lou Albano, which also featured wins over Rodz and Adrian Adonis. He won his next match by defeating George Cannon, forming a brief partnership with Hahn Lee that only lasted for a month. View The Galleries For Pedro Morales of Woodbridge, New Jersey. In his final two matches in the MPP, Morales bested Jack Armstrong in a three-fall match and lost a 4-on-4 against Collins, Barend and The Destroyer while teaming with Sam Steamboat, Billy Robinson, Frank Allman and Hahn Lee. Johnson-Morales voice is perky, and excited to go back in time, to tell how their love story began. Jul 1: Money in the Bank [ 39 ] afterwards, Ron Mikolajczyk became a mainstay was Sgt perky, and excited to back! Vander, while wrestling Haggerty and the Mad Russian to draws Morales worked an with! Lasted for a month a set of photos from the event were over Moondog Spot, Sika and Jimmy Funk... ] Morales met Karen Johnson in 1965, when his son was about start. Including a tag team contest recurrent teammate, mostly in matches involving Butch and... 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