Wrestling at Shea Stadium

While the sports world mourned the closing of Yankee Stadium, there is also another baseball stadium closing in New York this year. Shea Stadium, which will be closing on Sunday, was the home to three huge WWE events in 1972, 1976, and 1980.

The 1972 Event
This event featured a rare good guy vs. good guy battle as former WWE Champion Bruno Sammartino tried to regain the title from Pedro Morales. The match ended in a 75-minute time limit draw.

The 1976 Event
The main event of this show was a closed circuit telecast of the Antonio Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali fiasco. On that day, numerous wrestling events were held throughout the nation featuring that match as the main event. None were bigger than this Shea Stadium event that featured Andre the Giant take on Chuck Wepner, the boxer that Rocky Balboa is based upon. This match was broadcast via closed-circuit to many of the other wrestling venues that were holding events that day.

The 1980 Event
The big draw for this show was a steel cage battle between Bruno Sammartino and Larry Zbyszko. While Bruno won the match, Larry felt that he won the war against his former mentor. Since that glorious day three decades ago, Larry has proclaimed himself to be the Living Legend.

This show is now most known for a match that took place on the undercard. That battle pitted Andre the Giant against a relative new-comer known as Hulk Hogan. Seven years later, the feud between these two men would catapult wrestling to heights that were unimaginable at this time. However, in the run-up to their WrestleMania III battle, the WWE went out of their way to avoid mentioning that this match ever took place.

Suggested Reading

• The Results of These Three Shows
  
• The History of Boxers vs. Wrestlers
  
• The Feud Between Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan

_{Photo: Jim Cooper/Getty Images}