Bepo and Gaeto Mongol Keep Mat Title In Garden Tag Team Wrestling Matches

You knew when Mossy Donahue walked in and the crowd went wild, that it was going to be a good night. Fans who can get it up for a man who loses elections to Kevin White are true believers. A good wrestling card needs good fans, and these were the best.

The card at the Garden Saturday night was a classic. For the main event, Bruno Samartino and Chief Jay Strongbow challenged Bepo and Gaeto Mongol for the tag team championship of the world. Crusher Verdue, Gorilla Monsoon, the Black Demon, and Little Brutus headlined the openers.

The oddsmaker had a tough time calling the tag team match. Bepo and Gaeto Mongol, who weight in at a combined 610 pounds, are an unbeatable team, but Bruno is everybody's favorite wrestler, and Chief Jay is the strongest thing ever to come out of Oklahoma.

Heavy Action

The action was heavy from the beginning. The Chief went in against Gaeto, the lesser Mongol, and the Mongols took the first fall when Gaeto tossed the Chief out of the ring and the Chief stayed there. Some fans were angry at the call, alleging that Gaeto got some help from his partner when the referee wasn't looking. Samartino fans were upset with the quality of the officiating in general. "The referees seem to spend most of their time advising the villains of their constitutional rights," said one.

Despite the refereeing, Bruno managed to take the second fall, pinning Gaeto to the mat after delivering one of his murderous death hugs. The match became a battle of the giants as Bruno took on Bepo, the 6'9", 390-pound Mongol. Aided by a few illicit power punches from Gaeto when the referee was distracted, which seemed to be most of the time, Bepo managed to do the impossible-he pinned Samartino and held him for the count. Fortunately, the ref wheeled around in time to see Gaeto sneaking out of the ring, and awarded the match to Bruno and the Chief on a technicality. The Mongols will retain the tittle, pending a rematch.

Might Makes Right

In the discussion period following the match, referee Tom McNeeley showed the form which made him New England Middleweight Boxing Champion ten years ago. His powerful left managed to convince both Mongol Bepo and his villainous manager, Tony Angelo, of the correctness of his decision. The crowd approved.

Joe Turco, wearing long hair and a red armband, lost a one-fall match to clean-cut Manuel Soto, delighting the crowd. Tony Marino downed the Black Demon with little trouble, but failed to unmask him, leaving the fans to wonder if he really is Frank Bellotti.

The great upset of the evening was when the ever-unpopular Russian champ, Ivan Koloff, threw the much-loved Manchurian champ, Gorilla Monsoon, into the ropes for the count. The fans were visibly upset by the defeat of the reconstructed former villain.

Although Victor Rivera defeated the despised Castilian Mauler, Crusher Verdue. some fans were unhappy with the decision. "I got no sympathy for the Crusher, but a fast count is a fast count," a Harvard graduate student in English commented.