September 26th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Kazuo Sakaruda\Kendo Nagasaki 1948
Happy Birthday:
David Sammartino (65)
Gabe Sapolsky (53)
Asuka (44)
Damian Priest (43)
Sanga (40)
Buddy Matthews (37)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Marianna Komlos\Mrs. Cleavage 9-26-2004 at the age of 35
50 Year Flashback
September 1975 Review of NWA Big Time Wrestling, San Francisco, California Territory
I’m trying to focus on a few territories with our Friday analysis space with our monthly reviews on territories we’re not quite doing episodes on the weekly podcast. My friend who probably knows the most about the territory was not able to commit to doing a few shows on it for us, and I haven’t located another San Francisco analyst as of yet. I’m still looking though and am open to suggestions.
The San Francisco pro wrestling territory in 1975 was run by promoter Roy Shire under the Big Time Wrestling banner (often referred to as NWA San Francisco). It featured regular events across cities like San Francisco (primarily at the Cow Palace for major cards), Sacramento, San Jose, Fresno, and others. Documentation for full event cards from this era is sparse, as many results were recorded in wrestling magazines, local newspapers, or fan recollections rather than comprehensive online databases. Based on available historical records, here’s what I could find for September 1975, focusing on known matches, results, angles, and storylines.
Babyfaces:
Pat Patterson (ch) NWA United States Heavyweight Champion
Don Muraco
Pedro Morales
Chief Peter Maivia
Moondog Mayne
Manny Cruz
Pablo Cordoza
Donna Christianello
Sandy Parker
Heels:
Angelo “King Kong” Mosca
Masked Invader I (ch) NWA World Tag Team Champions
Masked Invader II (ch) NWA World Tag Team Champions
Masa Saito
Rock Riddle
Karl Von Brauner
Gerhardt Kaiser
Vicki Williams
Jean Antone
Even though the San Francisco Territory had seen its better days, they were still drawing some money in 1975 and were carrying the average amount of wrestlers of their roster. A territory that was running somewhere around 20 shows a month would usually carry around 18 wrestlers to work their regular weekly towns and a few spots shows. There were always a few locals hanging around trying to break into the business that could help fill in on dates that had more than one show. The primary 8 to 10 wrestlers would always work the Cow Palace every time it was run. Big Time Wrestling ran weekly, or bi-weekly house shows, for the most part.
Pat Patterson (ch) vs Angelo Mosca for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship
This is the primary singles program in the territory.
9/9/1975: Cow Palace in San Francisco, CA, this was a rematch for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version), the top singles title in the territory and Pat Patterson walked away with a victory over Mosca and the title, making it Patterson’s 5th reign with the title.
9/12/1975: Civic Auditorium in Oakland, CA, another return match in Oakland across the Bay, giving Mosca his chance to get this title back.
Patterson-Mosca Feud and Title Controversy: This built from July 9, 1975, in Sacramento, where Angelo Mosca defeated Pat Patterson for the title, but the decision was held up specifically in Sacramento due to controversy. Patterson continued to be recognized as champion in other cities like San Francisco and San Jose, creating a “split title” angle that heightened local interest in Sacramento. The September 7 rematch resolved this, with Patterson regaining the belt outright. Mosca, a former CFL football star billed as a “madman” heel, often used aggressive tactics like brawling outside the ring or using foreign objects, while Patterson was the heroic technical wrestler and territory ace. This feud drew on Mosca’s real-life athletic background for heat, and it spilled into post-match brawls in other towns. A lack of heel challengers for Patterson after the Mosca program ran its course forced Shire to book the tag champ, Invader I in a singles series against Pat. Shire would try to remedy this with turning Muraco heel in October for a singles run.
9/20/1975: Cow Palace in San Francisco, CA, Pat Patterson (ch) defeated Masked Invader I by referee stoppage. The Invader I was cut and bleeding too badly to continue the match. As Roy Shire would often do in his booking by this time in the promotions, he was pretty burned out and he could be accused of “lazy booking”, by booking Patterson the champion as double duty with a partner against the tag team champions and busting up the tag champions for singles matches for the US Title. Shire was also going back to his roots as a wrestler in the 1950s learning under the bookers of the day who would book a 3-match card with two singles matches and a tag team main event or also in reverse order to run smaller towns and operate with a more thin roster, but Shire was operating in the United States 4th largest city and by this time fans who were long time ticket buyers could predict everything on the card even the finishes.
Primary Tag Team Program in the territory:
9/3/1975: Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, CA, The Masked Invaders (ch) defeated Don Muraco & Pedro Morales to retain the NWA World Tag Team Titles
9/5/1975: Uptown Arena in Modesto, CA, The Masked Invaders vs Patterson & Pedro Morales in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the NWA World Tag Team Titles
9/6/1975: Convention Center in Visalia, CA, The Masked Invaders (ch) defeated Pat Patterson & Peter Maivia to retain the NWA World Tag Team Titles
9/12/1975: Civic Auditorium in Oakland, CA, The Masked Invaders (ch) vs Pedro Morales & Peter Miavia for the NWA World Tag Team Titles
9/26/1975: Uptown Arena in Modesto, CA, The Masked Invaders (ch) vs Moondog Mayne & Pedro Morales for the NWA World Tag Team Titles
As you can see there’s no consistent story being told here with the tag titles with the exception that every babyface combination in the territory is flung at the Invaders with the masked team figuring out a way to keep the belts. Its perhaps that Shire knows he has to have a new heel tag team to get the territory to a more prosperous place. The primary heel team in the Summer of 1975 had been Angelo Mosca and Moondog Mayne, but Shire did a breakup angle with that pair and turned Mayne to a babyface. The Invaders, while good just didn’t draw that well with their main event matches at the Cow Palace drawing less than 6,000 fans. Shire will switch the tag belts off the Invaders in October, dropping them to Patterson and Morales, again putting all the eggs in the Patterson basket with both the singles and tag belts around Patterson’s waist. Booking the Invader I in a title match with Patterson just reinforced the shortage of credible heel challengers for Pat.
As far as a secondary singles program, Mosca is far and away the overall top heel and various combinations of the babyfaces are matched up with him, which would make more sense if he were holding the title, such as the tag team programs, but various babyfaces like Pedro Morales, Moondog Mayne and Peter Miavia trying to beat Mosca with no title around his waist after Patterson beat him for the belt would not seem to me to be a big ticket seller and Patterson didn’t really need the title to get over, he had been over for years, so I have a hard time trying to figure out the logic with this month’s booking, except that booking a territory is like feeding a monster and you have to stay ahead of it, Shire did not do that here very well.
Thank You for Reading
I’m Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
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