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Orange, Shea ending but wrestling memories remain

Posted: Jun 5th 2008 By: mikeiles

Two historic outdoor stadiums reached their expiration date in 2008. The Orange Bowl in Miami and Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. were not only home to football and baseball but also featured some big pro wrestling supershows.

The Orange Bowl opened in 1937 for the University of Miami football team. The Miami Dolphins debuted at the OB in 1966, moving to Joe Robbie Stadium in 1987. The OB hosted five Super Bowls including the Jets huge upset over the Colts, spurred by quarterback Joe Namath's famous prediction.

The Orange Bowl also hosted a Super Bowl of Wrestling spectacular, under the auspices of the NWA, WWWF and Championship Wrestling from Florida, before 12,000 fans on Jan. 25, 1978. NWA champ Harley Race battled WWWF champ Superstar Billy Graham in a best-of-three match for both titles.

Each combatant won a fall. Graham beat Race via submission. Race won by countout, and then the one-hour time limit expired. So each wrestler retained his world title. Gorilla Monsoon and Don Curtis were the special guest referees.

Also, Dusty Rhodes defeated Ken Patera. Rocky Johnson defeated Killer Karl Kox via DQ. Ivan Putski defeated Ox Baker. Joyce Grable won an eight-woman battle royal. Chavo Guerrero Sr. defeated Tank Patterson. Bobby Duncum defeated Don Serrano. Keith Franks defeated John Ruffin.

Mike Graham and Steve Keirn defeated The Valiant Brothers to win the United States tag team titles. Pedro Morales defeated Lars Anderson. Jack and Jerry Brisco defeated Ivan Koloff and Mr. Saito for the Florida tag team titles.

The NWA's Great American Bash was July 31, 1987 at the Orange Bowl. Manny Fernandez and The Barbarian with Paul Jones defeated Randy Mulkey and Bill Mulkey. NWA Western States Heritage champ Barry Windham defeated Incubus.

NWA Florida tag team champs The Sheepherders (Bushwhackers) fought Jimmy Garvin and Ron Garvin with Precious to a double disqualification. NWA Florida champ Mike Rotunda defeated Ivan Koloff. Kevin Sullivan defeated Dory Funk, Jr. in a Texas Death Match.

NWA World tag team champs The Rock-n-Roll Express defeated NWA United States tag team champs The Midnight Express with Jim Cornette by disqualification.

Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering defeated Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Tully Blanchard and The War Machine (Big Bossman) with James J. Dillon and Dark Journey in a WarGames match.

The Hurricanes will join the Dolphins, moving to Dolphin Stadium, formerly Joe Robbie Stadium, in the fall. The Orange Bowl has been torn down, and a proposed new stadium on the OB site is projected to house the Florida Marlins baseball team.

? Shea Stadium has been home to the New York Mets since 1964. The stadium will be replaced in 2009 by Citi Field, currently under construction in the parking lot behind Shea's left field.

Living Legend Larry Zbyszko wrote an autobiography, Adventures In Larryland, which is being published by ECW Press. He noted the colossal WWF event at Shea Stadium featuring himself against the original Living Legend Bruno Sammartino, prot?g? vs. mentor steel cage grudge match in the main event on Aug. 9, 1980.

Prior, Zbyszko turned on his mentor, the beloved former two-time WWWF champ. Sammartino was the Hulk Hogan of the Northeast during that era. Fans packed Shea Stadium to see the former champ return from semi-retirement and enact revenge on the arrogant, ungrateful youngster.

The event was soldout with 45,000 strong, according to Zbyszko in his book. Incredible.

In a bloody battle, Sammartino beat Zbyszko by leaving the cage first.

Zbyszko wrote, ``Shea Stadium made Larry Zbyszko a star, but Bruno Sammartino made Shea Stadium. . . . Shea Stadium is the greatest memory of my wrestling career.''

Other results: The Hangman beat Rene Goulet. Ivan Putski beat Johnny Rodz. Angel Marvilla beat Jose Estrada. Beverly Slade and Kandy Maloy beat Fabulous Moolah and Peggy Lee. Dominic DeNucci beat Baron Scicluna. Greg Gagne beat Rick McGraw. Pat Patterson beat Tor Kamata. WWF Junior Heavyweight champ Tatsumi Fujinami beat Chavo Guerrero Sr.

WWF Martial Arts champ Antonio Inoki beat Larry Sharpe via submission. Andre the Giant quick count pin over Hulk Hogan with Classy Freddie Blassie. Tony Atlas beat WWF Intercontinental champ Ken Patera by countout. Bob Backlund and Pedro Morales won the WWF tag team titles, beating the Wild Samoans (Backlund pinned Sika).

Shea Stadium hosted two other WWWF supershows. The first occurred Sept. 1, 1972 before 22,500 fans. WWWF champ Bruno Sammartino battled Pedro Morales to a time limit draw (65 minutes).

Little Beaver and Little Louie defeated Pee Wee Adams and Sonny Boy Hayes. El Olimpico defeated Chuck O'Connor by disqualification. Jack Brisco defeated Mr. Fuji.

Gorilla Monsoon and Ernie Ladd fought to a draw (20 minutes). Chief Jay Strongbow and Sonny King defeated Lou Albano and The Spoiler. Women's champ The Fabulous Moolah defeated Debbie Johnson.

WWWF's second Showdown at Shea was June 25, 1976, and it featured the boxer versus wrestler matchups with 32,000 attending.

Boxer vs. wrestler: NWF champ Antonio Inoki and boxing legend Muhammad Ali fought to a draw after 15 rounds (shown to the stadium crowd via closed-circuit television).

Live bouts: Boxer vs. wrestler: Andre the Giant defeated Chuck Wepner by countout (1:15 of round three). WWWF champ Bruno Sammartino defeated Stan Hansen.

Ivan Putski defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna. Jos? Gonz?les and Kevin Sullivan fought to a draw (20 minutes). WWWF tag team champs Chief Jay Strongbow and Billy White Wolf defeated The Executioners (Killer Kowalski and Big John Studd) in a best of three falls match.

Long live the memories.

Tags: NWA, Dusty Rhodes, Ken Patera, Karl Kox, Chavo Guerrero, Sr., Jack Brisco, Jerry Brisco, Sheepherders, Jimmy Garvin, Precious, Rock-N-Roll Express, Midnight Express, Jim Cornette, Nikita Koloff, Ric Flair, War Machine, Dark Journey, WWF, Tatsumi Fujinami,