Pedro Morales

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Pedro Morales
Pedro Morales as WWWF World Heavyweight Champion.

Pedro Morales as WWWF World Heavyweight Champion .
Data
Ring name Pedro Morales
height 178 cm
Fighting weight 107 kg
birth October 22, 1942
Culebra , Puerto Rico
death February 12, 2019
Trained by Barba Rojo
debut 1959
retirement 1987

Pedro Morales (born October 22, 1942 in Culebra , Puerto Rico ; † February 12, 2019 ) was a wrestling commentator and former Puerto Rican wrestler.

Wrestling career

Beginnings

Morales made his debut in 1959 and competed on the west coast against regional stars like Fred Blassie and "The Destroyer" in the 1960s . Against the latter , he won the World Heavyweight Championship of the World Wrestling Association in March 1965 , but had to give it up again in June. From October to August 1966 Morales was able to hold the title one more time before finally losing it to Buddy Austin. After that, he concentrated more on the tag team area, where he was allowed to wear the WWA tag team title four times between 1966 and 1968 with various competitors. During an engagement with the National Wrestling Alliance , Morales held the Hawaiian US title for two months.

World Wide Wrestling Federation (1970-1975)

In 1970 he became active for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF for short, now known as WWE). In January 1971 he defeated Fred Blassie in the finals of a tournament and thereby won the WWWF United States Championship . Then Morales feuded with the then WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino . After he surrendered his title to Ivan Koloff , Morales won a match against Koloff and thus became WWWF Champion for the first time. After winning the title, the United States Championship was declared vacant . After another feud against Blassie, Morales lost his title in December 1973 after almost three years to Stan Stasiak and left the WWWF shortly thereafter.

Independent area

Morales competed for some time for various minor leagues in the United States and Puerto Rico. This also included a few fights in NWA regions, in which he won the local tag team titles once together with Pat Patterson and Rocky Johnson .

Return to WWF (1980–1987)

In May 1980 he made his comeback in the World Wrestling Federation. In August, Morales won the World Tag Team Championship together with the then WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund , which was withdrawn shortly afterwards because Backlund was not allowed to hold a second title as Heavyweight Champion.

In December, he became the first Triple Crown Champion by winning the WWF Intercontinental Championship. In 1981 Morales was involved in a feud with Don Muraco, in the course of which he lost the Intercontinental title in June but was able to regain it in November. With this win, Morales became the first man to win the Intercontinental title twice. During his second reign he defended his title against Don Muraco and Billy Graham . Muraco finished Morales' time as champion in January 1983. After Vince McMahon took control of the WWF, he was no longer involved in major feuds, so he played his last match in the late summer of 1987.

After finishing his active career, he took over the post of Spanish WWF commentator. In 1995, Pedro Morales was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame .

Wrestling successes

Pedro Morales as WWWF World Heavyweight Champion .
World Wide Wrestling Federation
Championship wrestling from Florida
  • NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
  • NWA Florida Television Championship (1 ×)
  • NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 × with Rocky Johnson )
NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions
  • NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (3 ×)
  • NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 × with Bing Ki Lee, 2 × with Ed Francis)
NWA San Francisco
World Wrestling Association
  • WWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 ×)
  • WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 × with Luis Hernandez, 1 × with Mark Lewin, 1 × with Ricky Romero, 1 × with Victor Rivera)
World Wrestling Council
  • WWC North American Heavyweight Championship (2 ×)
  • WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 × with Carlos Colón )
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
  • Class of 2015

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Morales, Pedro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Puerto Rican wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Culebra , Puerto Rico
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 2019