Pedro Morales

For the Chilean soccer player, see Pedro Morales (footballer).

Pedro Morales
Ring name(s)	Pedro Morales
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Billed weight	235 lb (107 kg) - 240 lb (110 kg)
Born	October 22, 1942 (1942-10-22) Culebra, Puerto Rico
Resides	Central New Jersey
Trained by	Barba Rojo
Debut	1959
Retired	1987

Pedro Morales (born October 22, 1942) is a retired Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He began his wrestling career as a teenager in 1959 and continued through to the late 1980s. Morales was the first man in wrestling history to win all three major men's titles in the World Wrestling Federation: the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, the Intercontinental Championship and the WWF World Tag Team Championship. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1995. Morales was also the first Latin American and Hispanic wrestler to win the World Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles and to enter the Hall of Fame.

Career

Morales debuted in 1959 at the Sunnyside Gardens, beating Buddy Gilbert. He wrestled on the West Coast during the 1960s, taking on regional stars of the day such as Fred Blassie and The Destroyer, the latter from whom he took the World Wrestling Association's World Heavyweight Championship on March 12, 1965. Morales lost the title on July 23 to "Crazy" Luke Graham, but took it back from him on October 17. He held the title for nine months before being defeated by Buddy Austin on August 5, 1966. Morales then concentrated on tag team wrestling, co-holding the WWA tag belts four times during 1966-68, with four different partners: Luis Hernandez, Mark Lewin, Victor Rivera, and Ricky Romero. During a stint in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Morales held the Hawaiian U.S. title for two months in 1969.

World Wide Wrestling Federation (1970-1973)

In 1970, Morales joined the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) on the East Coast. He won his first championship in the WWWF in January 1971, when he defeated Freddie Blassie in a tournament final for the WWWF United States Championship.

As a fan favourite, Morales could not be expected to feud with fellow fan favorite Bruno Sammartino for his WWWF World Heavyweight Championship belt. Opportunity knocked on January 18, 1971 when Ivan Koloff ended Sammartino's seven-year reign. Three weeks later, on February 8, Morales wrestled Koloff for the belt at Madison Square Garden and won the match to become the fourth Heavyweight Champion in WWWF history. When he won the WWWF World Championship, the United States Championship became vacant.

Morales proved to be a popular champion, especially among New York's Puerto Rican community. Like Sammartino before him, Morales was an ethnic champion. He became known for his scientific wrestling ability and endurance, as well as a "fiery Latin temper" that emerged during matches. During his reign as champion, Morales feuded with the now-heel Freddie Blassie, who was the number one contender for his title.

On September 1, 1972, however, he wrestled Bruno Sammartino in the main event of Showdown at Shea - it was the first WWWF title match to ever pit two fan favorites against each other. After several near pins, the two men wrestled to a seventy-five minute curfew draw. After the match, the fans were noticeably angry, and some jumped into the dugouts to shake their fists at the wrestlers.

During his reign, Morales worked an angle with the then-villain Larry Hennig. After a title reign of almost three years, Morales dropped the title to Stan Stasiak on December 1, 1973 at the Philadelphia Arena. He soon faded from the WWWF. Meanwhile, Sammartino pinned Stasiak at Madison Square Garden 9 days later to regain the title.

National Wrestling Alliance (1974-1980)

After leaving the WWWF, Morales wrestled for other promotions around the United States and Puerto Rico, including returns to NWA regions where he won more tag team gold with Pat Patterson and then Rocky Johnson.

World Wrestling Federation (1980-1987)

In May 1980, Pedro staged a WWF comeback. He added yet another title to his career on August 9 when he teamed with reigning Heavyweight champ Bob Backlund to defeat the tag team titleholders, the Wild Samoans, at the Showdown at Shea 1980. Backlund and Morales quickly had to forfeit the belts, however, due to a rule stating that no Heavyweight champion could also hold a second title at the same time (the decree was abolished in 1994 when Diesel simultaneously held the WWF Intercontinental and the WWF World Tag Team Championships he held with Shawn Michaels).

The WWF Intercontinental Championship was now the only major men's title that Morales had never won in the promotion. On December 8, 1980, however, he became the first man to complete the federation's Triple Crown with a victory over Ken Patera at Madison Square Garden. Morales feuded with "Magnificent" Don Muraco during 1981, losing the belt to him on June 20 but reclaiming it on November 23. 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. During his second reign, Morales defended the title against Don Muraco and "Superstar" Billy Graham. It was Muraco, however, who ultimately ended Morales' second Intercontinental title reign on January 22, 1983.

Pedro travelled to Puerto Rico and won the WWC North American title from Buddy Landel in June 1983 then losing it to Sweet Daddy Siki in January 1984. Morales regained the title in March 1984 before losing it to Randy Savage in September of the same year. At this point Morales moved back to the WWF. Pedro never won another title and had reached an advanced stage in his career by the time of Vince McMahon Jr.'s national expansion of the WWF in the mid-1980s. He competed in the 1985 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Johnny Valiant and receiving a bye to advance to the third round before losing to Don Muraco. The following year, he defeated Rudy Diamond, Mike Rotundo and Nikolai Volkoff before losing the final match to Harley Race. Morales made his only WrestleMania appearance in 1986 when he was a part of a 20-man invitational battle royal at WrestleMania 2. He wrestled in a WWF ring for the final time in late 1987.

Retirement and legacy

After retirement from the squared circle, Morales became a commentator for WWF's Spanish-language TV programming. Pedro Morales was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1995. Despite living a low profile life following his retirement, he has been the inspiration for homages and mentions troughout the decades that followed. Professional wrestling critics and purists have discussed his contributions to the discipline in widespread publications. Fernwood Gold III and Thor Jensen of UGO Networks listed Morales as the 36th best face wrestler in history, noting how he appealed to the fanbase in New York. His run as the first Latin American Intercontinental Champions is universally lauded. Bill Barnwell of IGN Sports also included Morales in the site's list of Top Intercontinental Champions, placing him in the sixth slot. Jeremy Thomas of 411.com ranked him fifth as part of a debate among the website's staff. WWE itself ranks Morales in the ninth spot in the "Intercontinental Champions" entry of their Top 25 series. The promotion includes being the first wrestler to win the title twice and holding it for a combined record of over 600 days, more than any other wrestler, as merits for this recognition. However, Nate Scaccia collaborator of Bleacher Report, considers Morales the best Intercontinental champion of all time, ranking first in the title's entry at the website's WWE Champion Series. Michael Robinson and Will Baker writer for the same site also consider him the 31st best WWE wrestler in history and 11th greatest WWE Champion respectively. 

Outside of the WWE, he has received recognition as a Latin American and Hispanic pioneer in other promotions. On August 31, 2006, as part of a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling taping, Morales was mentioned by Konnan along Carlos Colón, Sr., Mil Mascaras and the Guerrero family, being ackowleged as Latinos that paved the way within the wrestling industry as part of an in-character celebratory speech following the Latin American X-Change's coronation as NWA World Tag Team Champions.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Boston crab
  • Caribbean Cannonball (Senton)

• Signature moves
  • Backbreaker

• Managers
  • Gorilla Monsoon

Championships and accomplishments

• Cauliflower Alley Club
  • Other honoree (1994)

• Championship Wrestling from Florida
  • NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Rocky Johnson
  • NWA Florida Television Championship (1 time)
  • NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) (1 time)

• NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions
  • NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Bing Ki Lee (1) and Ed Francis (2)
  • NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Hawaii version) (3 times)

• NWA San Francisco
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) (1 time) - with Pat Patterson

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Wrestler of the Year (1972)
  • PWI ranked him # 111 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003.

• World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)
  • WWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • WWA World Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Luis Hernandez (1), Mark Lewin (1), Ricky Romero (1), and Victor Rivera (1)

• World Wrestling Council
  • WWC North American Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Carlitos Colón

• World Wide Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Federation
  • WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)
  • WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
  • WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Bob Backlund
  • WWWF United States Championship (1 time)
  • WWWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • Triple Crown Championship (First)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Most Overrated (1981, 1982)

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links

• WWE Hall of Fame Profile of Pedro Morales
• Pedro Morales at Online World of Wrestling