This is a guest post from Keith Harris. Keith is an author/editor for Cageside Seats (cagesideseats.com) since February 2010 (something the well travelled David Bixenspan can initially be blamed or thanked for). Keith can be found on Twitter via the handle @glasgowkjh. 

Madison Square Garden is dubbed The World’s Most Famous Arena. I’m not sure if that’s quite the case, but it’s certainly the most prestigious wrestling arena in the whole of the United States and Canada, thanks to it being the home base of the most lucrative and populous territory in North America during the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, the Northeast, which was controlled by the McMahon family, the same people who now own WWE and monopolize the business. Even to this very day, the now very occasional MSG house shows are treated like special events with the performers putting on a greater effort due to the rich history of the building and WWE usually booking some type of special attraction or gimmick match to make the events standout from the mix. For many wrestlers, like J.J. Dillon, just appearing once at Madison Square Garden, even if it’s only a match to fill time on the card, is a dream come true, such is the hallowed regard the place is held in. If you sellout MSG just once, then that’s a badge of honor, and if you did so many times, then you’re a definite Hall of Fame candidate. Plus, those that dominated the arena like Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan were slam dunkers. With that in mind, it’s certainly useful to remind ourselves of the Madison Square Garden record of those wrestlers that are currently on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall Of Fame ballot. In this article, we’ll look at the cases of three wrestlers who found their greatest fame in the Northeast, Pedro Morales, Ivan Koloff and Sgt. Slaughter.

Pedro Morales

Astonishingly, Morales was already competing at MSG before he hit the age of 21. Primarily, he was used as a babyface tag team wrestler in 1963, most frequently with fellow Puerto Rican Miguel Perez, but also with Argentina Appolo, Pete Sanchez and Lucas Pestrano, where he faced the top heel tag teams in the territory like Buddy Rogers & Johnny Barend, The Fabulous Kangaroos, The Tolos Brothers and Skull Murphy & Brute Bernard. 1964 saw more singles matches, which were usually lower profile including losing quickly to Freddie Blassie on Nov. 16th shortly before leaving the area for Los Angeles where he immediately got the first major singles push of his career, quickly winning the WWA World Heavyweight Championship, which was one of the premiere belts in the industry at the time. This MSG run certainly wasn’t Hall Of Fame calibre, but paved the way for his later success, especially as attendance was very good during this period, coming off Bruno Sammartino’s 48 second destruction of the cocky Buddy Rogers to win the WWWF title for the first time.

Morales wouldn’t wrestle again in MSG until Jan. 18th, 1971, a date synonymous in company history, not for Pedro’s return where he squashed The Wolfman in less than six minutes, but for the night when the unthinkable happened, seemingly unbeatable WWWF champion Bruno Sammartino dropped the strap to hated Russian heel Ivan Koloff (more on him later). With Sammartino having enough of the gruelling schedule Vincent James McMahon made his champions work, Morales was chosen as his replacement, kickstarting a near three year run as the king of MSG that is his strongest argument for induction into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall Of Fame.

February 8, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 21,812 ($86,885, new attendance record)
Bruno Sammartino (w/ Arnold Skaaland) defeated Geeto Mongol via submission with the backbreaker at 5:27.
WWWF United States Champion Pedro Morales pinned WWWF World Champion Ivan Koloff to win the title at 23:18.

– A really great number right off the bat for Pedro, although that had to be expected given Koloff was on fire as a heel for breaking Bruno’s streak as champion. Plus, the Italian strongman was still there to help draw the crowd too, as he faced Geeto Mongol (Newton Tattrie) in the semi-final match.

March 15, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 21,000

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Blackjack Mulligan at 14:12.

– This is an even more impressive crowd, as he had no support from Bruno, Ivan or even Gorilla Monsoon on this card. This was a one and done feud, suggesting perhaps that even the WWWF were surprised by garnering such a large audience for the bout.

May 24, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 18,527

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Tarzan Tyler at 14:12.

– Another good crowd, especially when considering that Tyler in his first MSG main event against Bruno Sammartino in 1965 drew about 5,000 fans less than he did here. Maybe that can be partially credited to Lou Albano being his mouthpiece, who helped turn around sluggish MSG business when he became a manager in the territory in the summer of 1970, but it also reflects well on Morales as a champion too.

June 21, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Luke Graham at 15:28.

– I couldn’t find a number for this show, which likely reflects that it didn’t do particularly well. However, that isn’t too surprising, as Luke Graham was a very weak opponent for Pedro, as he was a terrible worker best used in tag teams and had several runs in the area before without a single Madison Square Garden main event. Indeed, in the late 1960s, he went eleven straight MSG shows without picking up a solitary victory, including five singles defeats, so fans with long memories would likely conclude he would have no chance at beating the World champion.

July 24, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 21,912 (first ever $100,000 gate, new attendance record)

Bruno Sammartino pinned Blackjack Mulligan at 1:04 after a series of body slams.
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales & Gorilla Monsoon defeated WWWF International Tag Team Champions Luke Graham & Tarzan Tyler in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls match at 20:13; fall #1: the champions were disqualified; fall #2: Tyler pinned Monsoon; fall #3: Morales pinned Tyler.

– The combination of Pedro and Bruno on top together scores big again, as they set new gate and attendance records for Madison Square Garden for the third time in six shows.

August 30, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 16,720 ($70,684)

Stan Stasiak defeated WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales at 19:51 when referee Danny Bartfield stopped the bout due to blood.

October 25, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,070 ($104,456, new attendance record)

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Stan Stasiak at 12:45 in a Texas Death Match.

– Pedro’s feud with Stasiak got off to a fairly sluggish start, likely because he was new to the area and didn’t have much going for him other than his impressive size. However, the blood stoppage finish in their first match together got Stasiak over as a legitimate threat to Pedro’s title, leading to the fourth MSG attendance and gate record of the year, even without Bruno’s support.

November 15, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,089 (new attendance record)

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated Pacific Coast Champion Freddie Blassie when the match was stopped due to blood at 8:24.

December 6, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,091 (new attendance record)

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated Pacific Coast Champion Freddie Blassie at 7:14 in a Roman Gladiator match when the challenger was deemed unable to continue.

– Blassie, one of the greatest talkers ever in the business, was one of Bruno’s best opponents in his first run as champion drawing two consecutive MSG sellouts in the summer of 1964, and repeated that feat with Pedro here. Still, these are super impressive numbers, as Blassie was almost 54 and was so broken down he could do very little in the ring at this point in his career, hence the short matches.

January 31, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,076

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated Professor Toru Tanaka via disqualification when the challenger attempted to throw salt into Morales’ eyes but instead hit the referee by mistake.

February 21, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,090

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Prof. Toru Tanaka after coming off the top.

– Here’s another example of Pedro drawing better than Bruno, as although Tanaka was a solid drawing opponent for Bruno, both in singles and tag matches with Gorilla Monsoon, in the late 1960s, his main events came during a down period for Madison Square Garden attendance and he’d never come close to selling out the arena before. It’s worth noting that during his first run as WWWF champion, Bruno never sold out MSG on five consecutive occasions.

March 13, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 18,301

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Baron Mikel Scicluna (w/ Lou Albano) at 11:34.

– Even though he failed to sellout here, this is another decent number for Pedro, as Scicluna was a journeyman wrestler who had only briefly headlined in the Northeast in early 1966 and Australia in the summer of 1968, but was a mid-carder everywhere else. Like Tanaka and Tyler, Scicluna drew solid crowds of 12,354 and 14,303 in his previous MSG run against Bruno, but also drew better with Pedro.

April 17, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 15,549

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned King Curtis in 7:16 after coming off the top.

– Although this is remembered as a faster paced and more exciting match than expected and one of the better ones of Pedro’s reign, it bombed at the box office. This isn’t too surprising, as Iaukea drew one of the worst crowds (10,859) during Bruno’s first run too. For some reason, New York was the one town that the crazy mad man with whacked out promos struggled to get over in.

May 22, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 19,367

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Pampero Firpo at 15:21.

– Similar to Scicluna, Pedro proves again that he can draw well with someone who wasn’t a major star, although it should be noted that Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Captain Lou Albano was a stronger than normal crowd pleasing attraction on the undercard.

July 1, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 19,512
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned George Steele at 14:59.

– Another of Bruno’s regular opponents in the late 1960s that Pedro drew much, much better with at Madison Square Garden. In his three previous MSG main events against Bruno, Steele had drawn 10,506, 10,580 and 5,527.

July 29, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 17,398
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated the Spoiler.

– A disappointing number, but understandable given that Don Jardine had to wrestle without his mask due to the New York State Athletic Commission’s ban on masked wrestlers still being in place. Before Gary Hart came up with the masked Spoiler gimmick for Jardine, he was a predominantly mid-card performer. Here, we can see why.

September 2, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 21,819
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Ernie Ladd at 15:50.
Bruno Sammartino defeated George Steele at 12:29; after the bout, it was announced that Sammartino would face Pedro Morales for the title at Shea Stadium on Sept. 30.

– The combination of Pedro’s strongest heel opponent in six months and Bruno’s first appearance in over a year leads to another Madison Square Garden sellout. Although the Shea Stadium event drew the largest gate in the territory’s history and the largest crowd since the mid 1930s ($140,923 and 22,508, respectively), only drawing a few hundred fans more than MSG could hold was bitterly disappointing. Even though it was a bad idea to headline a stadium show with a clean, scientific babyface vs. babyface match that went to a 65 minute curfew draw in a town that wasn’t used to such bouts, it’s still one of the best remembered clashes in early WWE history.

October 16, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 15,423
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales & Bruno Sammartino defeated WWWF Tag Team Champions Prof. Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match, 2-0; fall #2: the challengers won via disqualification.

– They obviously came back far too soon after the Shea Stadium super-show, as Bruno and Pedro teaming together against the most hated foreign heels on the roster draws the lowest Madison Square Garden crowd in almost two years for a match that should have been an easy sellout. Clearly, the jacked up ticket prices for Sammartino vs. Morales and its inconclusive finish had briefly burnt the New York market out.

November 27, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 18,183
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated Ray Stevens at 11:58 when referee Danny Bartfield stopped the bout, ruling the challenger could not continue.

December 18, 1972 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 20,906
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Ray Stevens with a sunset flip at 14:10 after the challenger thought he had won the bout with a Boston Crab.

– Similar to the Stasiak series, the Stevens feud gets off to a rather average start for someone new to the territory, but the blood stoppage finish once again leads to a strong crowd for the rematch. It’s worth noting that the December show also featured the Madison Square Garden debut of Mil Mascaras, which likely also helped to boost the crowd too.

January 15, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,000

Bruno Sammartino defeated Prof. Toru Tanaka.
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Moondog Mayne with a flying body press.

– Like the September 2nd, 1972 show the formula of a monster heel challenger for Pedro and Bruno facing one of his old enemies leads to box office magic and another sellout.

February 26, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,098 (new attendance record)
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated King Curtis at 5:37.

– It’s third time lucky with King Curtis Iaukea, as his third and final MSG main event sells out. No Bruno on this card, but the show had stronger support than normal with AWA World Champion Verne Gagne and Mil Mascaras wrestling on the event. Still, a super number for Pedro.

March 26, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated Fred Blassie when the challenger was deemed unable to continue.

– Unless there was no juice left in the Morales vs. Blassie feud, this show should have drawn well, especially as it saw the Madison Square Garden debut of Andre The Giant.

April 30, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,000

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated Don Leo Jonathan (w/ the Grand Wizard) when referee Eddie Gersh stopped the bout due to blood following a right hand punch from the champion that opened up the challenger’s forehead.

June 4, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,146 (new attendance record)
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales pinned Don Leo Jonathan (w/ the Grand Wizard) with a reverse cradle as the challenger attempted a backdrop.

– Two sellouts with an opponent who drew everywhere he went. Still impressive stuff for Pedro.

June 30, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 21,987

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated George Steele when the match was stopped due to blood at 8:16 after Morales repeatedly rammed Steele’s face into the turnbuckles and punched him; after the bout, Steele attacked the champion until Morales gained the upper hand and chased Steele from ringside.

– Pedro draws even more with Steele this time around than he did in their first match together, perhaps proving that he was strengthening as a box office attraction in New York. Albano had his annual match with a top babyface on this MSG card, this time against Gorilla Monsoon, which could have helped the crowd too.

July 23, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden

WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated George Steele; Joe Louis was the special referee for the bout.

– No number for this show, but as blood stoppage finishes usually lead to the rematches doing better business and they had a celebrity referee, one would think that this show would have done well too.

August 27, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 18,666
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated Stan Stasiak via judges decision at the 52 minute mark.

October 15, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,102
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated Stan Stasiak in a Texas Death Match at 7:36.

– The second Stasiak series draws slightly better than the first one two years earlier. Pedro’s still as strong as ever in MSG.

November 12, 1973 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 16,148
WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeated Larry Hennig at 12:45 when the match was stopped due to blood.

– First disappointing number of the year, but Hennig was arguably the weakest challenger Pedro faced in his entire run as WWWF Champion, as I don’t think Larry The Ax had much success as a singles draw outside of his home territory of the AWA. This would be the last Madison Square Garden show Morales would headline as WWWF champion as he would drop the strap to Stasiak at a house show in Philadelphia just nine days before the next MSG event.

It should be noted that Morales didn’t leave the WWWF territory as soon as he dropped the title. He appeared on 13 of the next 14 Madison Square Garden shows, usually second from the top against main event calibre opponents like Larry Hennig, Stan Stasiak, Mr. Fuji, Black Gordman, Killer Kowalski and Nikolai Volkoff amongst others. Many of these shows sold out and he likely deserves some of the credit for their success too. His last MSG match for five and half years would take place on February 17th, 1975, where he defeated Butcher Vachon in five minutes, as Morales worked as an upper mid-carder in San Francisco, the AWA and Florida, amongst other places.

Upon his return, Morales was slotted back into his previous position of being a supporting draw for the WWF Champion, which was now Bob Backlund. Although Pedro didn’t have a main event during this time period, by virtue of challenging for or holding the WWF Intercontinental Championship from October 1980 to January 1983, he had another run of over 20 Madison Square Garden shows where he was clearly in the second or third most important match of the card, mainly in singles matches with former Backlund challengers like Ken Patera, Sgt. Slaughter, Killer Khan, Don Muraco, Angelo Mosca, Greg Valentine, Adrian Adonis, Bob Orton Jr., Jimmy Snuka and Buddy Rose. The problem was at this stage of his career it was very difficult to have a watchable match with the ageing and lazy Pedro Morales, which led to him winning the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Most Overrated award in 1981 and 1982. However, I’m not sure he deserved those awards, as he was an important part of another hot run of Madison Square Garden attendance where sellouts were common. Morales final show of this run came on April 25th, 1983, when he beat Swede Hanson in short mid card match, leaving for an 18 month run as a top babyface in Puerto Rico.

Morales returned to the WWF in early 1985, at a time when the company was expanding nationally, running two shows a night and wanted all the top territorial stars under their umbrella. Even though he was far past his prime, he remained protected at Madison Square Garden, either beating enhancement talent or often winning by count-out or disqualification when he faced pushed heels. For example, he defeated Bob Orton Jr. by DQ on March 16th, 1986, The Iron Shiek by DQ on June 14th, 1986, and WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage by count-out on August 25th, 1986. With his career winding down, he did lose two out of his last three MSG matches, first being pinned by Hercules after being distracted by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan on November 24th, 1986, and then losing to The Honkytonk Man on February 23rd, 1987. I don’t think this run adds much to his Hall Of Fame case, other than he was clearly still booked as a legendary figure in the New York market, even though the days of him being a main-eventer were long since over.

For all the misleading hype about how Bruno Sammartino sold out Madison Square Garden 187 times during his career, Pedro Morales actually drew much more consistently in MSG than Bruno did in his first run as WWWF Champion, selling out the arena 16 times in less than three years and as far as I can tell never drawing below 15,000 fans, which Bruno regularly did between 1965 and 1969. The main knocks on his Hall Of Fame candidacy are: (a) Although he drew great in New York, he didn’t draw nearly so well in the other markets in the Northeast where there were less Hispanic fans to attract leading to Vincent J. McMahon being forced to cut a deal to bring Bruno back as champion in the autumn of 1973; (b) He couldn’t duplicate his success in New York in other territories; and (c) He was a really limited performer by the time he hit 40, as exhibited by him winning two Most Overrated awards during the period he was WWF Intercontinental Champion. Possible caveats to those criticisms are that: (a) Concrete information about attendances outside of New York is much harder to come by and McMahon would likely have moved to take the title off him much quicker if business elsewhere was that bad; (b) He did have runs in Los Angeles and Hawaii as the top title holder in those markets before winning the WWWF title, while many other areas he worked in already had long established babyface headliners who it would be difficult, if not impossible, to knock off their perch; and (c) He had a reputation for being a fairly good high flying babyface earlier in his career but there’s little evidence on videotape to prove that point, plus the Northeast was renowned for being an area where workrate wasn’t of primary importance.

Ivan Koloff

Koloff headlined Madison Square Garden 13 times from 1969-1983 and proved to be a strong title opponent for Bruno, Pedro and Bob Backlund, as we shall see.

December 9, 1969 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden

Ivan Koloff defeated WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino when the match was stopped due to blood at 21:34.

January 19, 1970 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 16,858

WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino pinned Ivan Koloff at 18:10 after a double reverse back flip body-hold.

– Although a crowd of 16,858 doesn’t sound all that impressive compared to the numbers Pedro would draw a year later, this was the best Madison Square Garden attendance in almost four years. The last time Bruno drew this well at MSG was a show on March 27th, 1967, where he wrestled Gorilla Monsoon to a curfew draw. Clearly, Koloff was instantly the hottest heel in the territory in many years.

January 18, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 21,666 (new attendance record)
Ivan Koloff pinned WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino with a bodyslam and knee drop off the top rope to win the title at 14:55 after kicking the champion in the face as he charged into the corner.

– Building Koloff up strong by having him beat Dr. Bill Miller, Gorilla Monsoon and Tony Marino in short matches pays dividends, as he draws only the third Madison Square Garden sellout in five years. It’s also a super historic match as the fans were hushed into silence when The Russian Bear ended Bruno’s near eight year reign as WWWF Champion. One could argue that Koloff deserves induction into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall Of Fame for this one moment alone.

February 8, 1971 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 21,812 ($86,885, new attendance record)
Bruno Sammartino (w/ Arnold Skaaland) defeated Geeto Mongol via submission with the backbreaker at 5:27.
WWWF United States Champion Pedro Morales pinned WWWF World Champion Ivan Koloff to win the title at 23:18.

– Clearly drawing the second straight sellout in a row proved that there could have been a lot more mileage in Koloff’s brief title run than the WWWF squeezed out of it at the time. Apparently, he had so much heat as a heel, there was a fear of riots if they didn’t get him out of the territory pronto. Still, it’s amazing that it took Koloff over four years to get his next main event run at MSG, which likely speaks of the high demand his services were in at the time.

October 13, 1975 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden
WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino fought Ivan Koloff to a draw when the match was stopped due to blood at 21:59; after the bout, the two men were held apart by Gorilla Monsoon, the Blackjacks, Dominic DeNucci, Tony Parisi, and several others.

November 17, 1975 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden
WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defeated Ivan Koloff via disqualification at 21:14; Gorilla Monsoon was the special referee for the bout.

December 15, 1975 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 26,350 (including 4,000 fans watching on closed circuit in the adjacent Felt Forum)
WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defeated Ivan Koloff in a steel cage match by escaping through the door at 9:39 after sending the challenger into the corner of the cage (the first cage match held at MSG).

– Although we haven’t got complete data here, only the strongest programs headlined three consecutive MSG events and saw Felt Forum opened up for the blowoff to the feud. The fact that it came during Bruno’s strongest run as champion suggests that all three shows could have been sellouts.

March 29, 1976 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 21,004
WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino & WWWF Tag Team Champion Tony Parisi defeated Superstar Billy Graham & Ivan Koloff in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match at 26:57; fall #3 – Sammartino & Parisi won via count-out.

– Another impressive number, as Koloff draws a near sellout for a tag team match that features mid-card Bruno buddy Tony Parisi. It’s worth mentioning that during this time period, Koloff bandied together with fellow top heels Superstar Billy Graham and Ernie Ladd to request main event level payoffs even when they were not in the main event. The fact that Vincent J. McMahon caved into their demands shows how important he felt their drawing power was to this hot run of business.

August 28, 1978 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 26,000 (including 4,000 fans watching on closed circuit in the adjacent Felt Forum)
Dusty Rhodes defeated Superstar Billy Graham in a No DQ bullrope match at 6:28 via count-out after Rhodes hit Graham with the cowbell knocking him to the floor.

Ivan Koloff defeated WWWF World Champion Bob Backlund via referee’s decision at 30:11 when the referee deemed Backlund unable to continue due to facial cuts.

– Another great number, as Koloff’s first match against Backlund sells out both Madison Square Garden and the adjacent Felt Forum.

September 25, 1978 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden
WWWF World Champion Bob Backlund pinned Ivan Koloff at 17:09 with the atomic kneedrop.

February 19, 1979 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden
WWWF World Champion Bob Backlund (w/ Arnold Skaaland) fought Greg Valentine to a 60-minute time-limit draw at 59:18; after the match, Skaaland saved Backlund from the figure-4 by hitting Valentine with the world title belt.
Ivan Putski (sub. for Bruno Sammartino who was snowbound in Pittsburgh and unable to get a flight to New York) fought Ivan Koloff to a curfew draw at around the 7:30 mark.

March 26, 1979 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden
WWWF World Champion Bob Backlund pinned Greg Valentine in a No Time Limit match at 30:56 with the atomic kneedrop.
Bruno Sammartino defeated Ivan Koloff via count-out at 12:14 after backdropping Koloff over the top rope to the floor.

– I’d expect all these shows to have drawn very well too. The blood stoppage finish in the first match with Backlund should have led to another sellout and Bruno vs. Koloff plus Backlund against a strong title challenger in Greg Valentine should have been a winning formula too.

April 25, 1983 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden
WWF World Champion Bob Backlund (w/ Arnold Skaaland) defeated Ivan Koloff via submission at 28:36 with the Crossface Chickenwing.
Jimmy Snuka pinned Superstar Billy Graham at 3:28.
Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd via count-out at 8:22 when Studd left ringside after narrowly avoiding a bodyslam from Andre.

– With the strong support underneath, it’s unlikely that Koloff’s last bite of the cherry flopped at the box office either.

Conclusion:

With the exception of Superstar Billy Graham, Koloff would probably be the strongest drawing heel in Madison Square Garden history of the modern era, which is a big feather in his cap towards his Hall Of Fame candidacy.

Sgt. Slaughter

In his first year long run in New York (late July 1980-September 1981), Slaughter clearly headlined three Madison Square Garden shows (one against Backlund, another against Bruno, which drew 20,011 fans, and the famed Alley Fight against Pat Patterson that drew a near capacity crowd), and also had four strong supporting matches (one against Pat Patterson, two against Pedro Morales and one against Andre The Giant). Moreover, he was kept strong as he was only pinned once by Patterson in their grudge match blowoff. Business throughout this period was very good with all shows either selling out or coming very close. Not only was Slaughter’s run a commercial success, it was also a critical one, with his new heel army official gimmick being really memorable and helped him stand out from the crowd, plus he proved to have great in ring chemistry with both Backlund and Patterson. Indeed, his Alley Fight with Patterson was the Wrestling Observer’s Match Of The Year for 1981.

Slaughter returned less than two years later and immediately reignited his feud with Bob Backlund. He lost via DQ to Backlund in MSG on May 23rd, 1983, but won the return bout via count-out on June 17th, 1983. Strangely, the feud was blown off in The Meadowlands on July 11th, 1983, with Backlund winning a Texas Death match in front of 21,400 people, and Slaughter then settled into being a protected upper card heel feuding with the likes of Chief Jay Strongbow and Ivan Putski.

That was until he turned patriotic babyface on the February 20th, 1984 Madison Square Garden show after falling out with his Japanese tag team partners Mr. Fuji and Tiger Chung Lee when they lost their tag team bout to Ivan Putski, Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas. He caught fire in this role and for awhile he was almost as popular as Hulk Hogan, particularly when he feuded with The Iron Sheik. Their grudge saw them wrestle against each other at three consecutive MSG events, all of which sold out:

April 23, 1984 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 22,091
The Iron Sheik defeated Sgt. Slaughter via disqualification at 8:31 when, after Slaughter hit the Slaughter Cannon, Slaughter took off his boot and repeatedly hit Sheik with the weapon until Sheik was knocked to the floor.
Bob Backlund (w/ Arnold Skaaland) pinned Greg Valentine (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) at around 26:05 with a roll up into a bridge.

May 21, 1984 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 25,000 (including several thousand at Felt Forum)

Sgt. Slaughter fought the Iron Sheik to a double disqualification at 14:47 after both men shoved referee Danny Davis.
WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned David Schultz at 5:46 with a clothesline and the legdrop.

June 16, 1984 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 26,092 (including several thousand at Felt Forum)

Sgt. Slaughter pinned the Iron Sheik in a Bootcamp Match at 16:02 after hitting him with Sheik’s own boot.

What’s particularly impressive here is that the Bootcamp match outdrew the prior show which was headlined by Hulk Hogan, despite having little support on the undercard. Like the Alley Fight, it was a classic brawl to end their issue and was one of the best matches in the history of the WWF up to this point. Slaughter was the number two babyface in the company for much of 1984 and continued to draw well in the Northeast, including drawing a crowd of 19,699 at the Philadelphia Spectrum for a Texas Tornado Match with The Junkyard Dog against The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff. But that position didn’t last, as Slaughter fell out with Vince McMahon and he was out of the company before the end of the year.

Slaughter would return as an Iraqi sympathising heel in the summer of 1990 and headlined four MSG shows in that role:

March 15, 1991 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 14,500

Jim Duggan (w/ Hulk Hogan) defeated WWF World Champion Sgt. Slaughter (w/ Gen. Adnan) via disqualification in a flag match at 14:12 when Adnan prevented the pinfall after Hogan interfered and hit the champion in the back with Duggan’s 2×4.

April 22, 1991 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 12,200

Sgt. Slaughter (w/ Gen Adnan) defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via disqualification at 16:00 when referee Joey Marella came to, saw Hogan with a steel chair, and believed Hogan had been the one that twice hit him with the weapon as he was knocked down.

June 3, 1991 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden (drew a “poor crowd” according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt. Slaughter (w/ Gen. Adnan) in a Desert Storm match at 15:34 when Adnan threw in the towel as Hogan had Slaughter in the Camel Clutch after throwing a fire ball in his face.

SummerSlam 91 – August 26, 1991 in New York City, NY
Madison Square Garden drawing 20,000
WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & the Ultimate Warrior defeated Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, & Gen. Adnan at 12:38 in a handicap match when Hogan pinned Slaughter with the legdrop after throwing powder in his face

Although 14,500 doesn’t sound like a good number, for the standards of the time it was, particularly as Hogan was only being used as a second on the show. The first match with Hogan drew OK too, but the feud clearly turned people off as it went on. Nevertheless, they still managed to draw a sell out for the SummerSlam pay-per-view.

Conclusion:

Slaughter was a very good heel draw and for a short time was extremely hot as a babyface in the Northeast. The issue is longevity, as he had few highlights between his second and third WWF runs.

This is a guest post from Keith Harris. Keith is an author/editor for Cageside Seats (cagesideseats.com) since February 2010 (something the well travelled David Bixenspan can initially be blamed or thanked for). Keith can be found on Twitter via the handle @glasgowkjh.